Elevate Your Everyday Eggs With A Simple Plate Trick

You know the line: The quick "Careful, the plate's hot!" as your server hands you a steaming platter of bacon and eggs. It's a restaurant standby. But what's the deal with all the hot plates, anyway? 

When you serve food at home, the plate is usually cool — but maybe it shouldn't be. Sometimes, the hot plate is a byproduct of the cooking process; For example, a chef might pop a plated sandwich under a broiler to melt the cheese. But some restaurants intentionally serve food on hot plates, too. A hot plate keeps the food warm while you eat, ensuring that the food doesn't go cold by the time you finish the meal.

Just as freezing your glass elevates a cocktail, warming plates at home can turn everyday offerings into a restaurant-quality meal. And for foods like scrambled eggs — where temperature makes the difference between delicious and revolting — it's a game changer. After all, even the fluffiest scrambled eggs taste unpleasant when they're served cold.

Don't take my word for it: Just look to "Good Eats" host Alton Brown for the answers. (Famous for hacking any egg dish, Alton Brown's bacon fat trick turns egg salad into breakfast.) But Brown recommends warming plates before serving scrambled eggs, too. "I strongly suggest you park an oven-safe [plate] in a low oven or in hot water while you're cooking," the star told Food Network as he gave fans the lowdown on his perfect scrambled eggs. "Cold plates suck the heat right out of food."

A warm plate helps ease the food to a proper temperature, too. You might have heard that you're supposed to leave eggs slightly underdone: The theory is that residual heat from the stove (or a warm plate) will finish the job. If your plate is too cold, it could eliminate any resting state cooking. Of course, you'll want to avoid making it so hot that the plate itself ends up over-cooking the food. 

Many restaurants use specialized plate warmers, which keep the plates from getting too hot. They're useful for preventing delicate foods, like steaks, from overcooking — while keeping diners from scalding themselves at their tables. But for the rest of us cooking at home, it's easiest to take Brown's advice and use hot water or a low oven to warm your dinnerware. Dishes fresh from a spin in the microwave or dishwasher work, too. Just be mindful when you present the food. In the words of many a restaurant server, the plate's hot — and, for your eggs, that's a good thing!