Plates: origin, types, selection and care

Among the connoisseurs of beauty, there are those who love to choose and buy new dishes. In the department of ceramics and porcelain, they run up their eyes, and the table setting gives them a special aesthetic pleasure. Plates - this is what is chosen most often. Small dessert and refined large for serving cuts, plates for soup and pies, partition cards and other interesting specimens. Only the hostess herself knows what is in her dish arsenal and why it is worth updating.

The plates appeared before the knives and spoons, they appeared in the Neolithic era. Then the plates were sculpted from clay, burned and used for food. A modern plate looks a little different, because its analogue of our ancestors is more correctly called the word “capacity”. And these capacities changed: from rather coarse they became graceful. A man experiencing a natural craving for beauty decorated the dishes with patterns and ornaments, covered them with glaze.

In ancient Rome and ancient Greece, pottery reached its peak. In those days there was a separation of dishes on the front, everyday and decorative. China gave the world porcelain: they began to make it there in about 600 AD.

In Medieval Europe, large plates were put on the table, they were originally common. Everyone could take food from them by hand or use the help of servants: there were no personal plates. Centuries have gone so that people realize the need to use individual dishes for food.

By the way, the word "dish" in Russia is known from the XI century: on a dish they also served food for several people at once. Clay, wood, tin, steel, silver - that’s what plates were made of. The royal dishes were golden.

The origin of the word "plate" is no less interesting: the kings rewarded their servants with so-called plates. For special services they received beautiful dishes decorated with monograms, designed to be displayed in a prominent place.

The plate (the original - it. "Thaler") came to replace the word "bowl". Variations were such: Toler, thaler, plate. At the end of the 18th century, a dish became a necessity when eating, and the individual use of a dish became widespread.

There are two classification branches of the types of plates. The first divides the dishes according to the purpose, the second - according to the material of manufacture.

Plates for the purpose (use) have many varieties.

• Deep dining or soup plate. In such dishes, soups, broths and other variations of the first courses are usually served. The diameter of the soup plate is 20-24 cm.

• Small dining room. Crockery is designed to serve the second course, the optimal diameter - 27-32 cm.

• Snack Bar. It serves snacks, a distinctive feature of this dish - it is absolutely flat.

• Dessert Name saying: dishes are needed for serving desserts and fruits. The diameter is small - only 20 cm. Often such dishes have wavy edges.

• Saucer. This cute word is called the smallest round plate, which is used as a stand for a cup or a glass.

• Showplate (serving plate). Suitable for serving other plates, its other name is wildcard. It is necessary in order to put another plate on it, for example, deep soup.

• Patty. Serves for serving sliced ​​bread, buns and pastries. Sometimes they bring cheese and fruit on it.

• Broth cup and saucer. If you want to serve liquid soup or broth to the table, it is better to do this in cups, rather than in deep soup plates. Not to be confused with drinking bowls - in such cups without handles they serve koumiss or green tea.

• Plate with a deep bottom. There are also such special plates in which it is convenient to serve spaghetti, pasta, etc.

• Creamer. So called a vase on the leg, made of glass. It brings ice cream, fruit and dessert cocktails.

• Plate chill. Suitable for snacks (for oysters, for example). It can also serve salads and vegetable stews.

• Salad bowl. Portion salad bowls - for each of the guests, common - to serve the entire volume of salad on the table. Both options are relevant, do not contradict table etiquette.

• Herringhead. Herring and cold canned fish are served on such a plate.

In some services there is a special lemon saucer. Also included can be elongated plates for meats and cheese cuts. But there are no strict requirements for their form and volume. How to apply cold cuts or cheese platter, the hostess decides for herself.

Another interesting type of plates - partitioned dishes (in some sources they may be called intereniches, this is a regional variation). In essence, this is a plate-puzzle, equipped with removable segments, which are full-fledged dishes. It is installed on a special stand.

Usually when serving the table, the partitioned table is used as a dish for serving salads. But it happens in an interesting way: In each cell there is a separate ingredient, in one of them - the sauce, and the salad is served on the table in a separate form. Before the meal, the hosts or one of the guests combines the components and mixes them with the sauce.

A variety of materials from which the plates are made, allows you to choose dishes of a variety of options.

• The most familiar material for dishes - ceramics. And although often these plates are relatively thick and heavy, there is little strength in them. They often fall badly and fight. The main raw material for ceramic dishes is clay with additives.

• Faience. It can be said that this word refers to improved ceramics. Improved her special supplements and single roasting. From above the faience is covered with glaze or enamel.

There is a flaw in the material: the dishes are porous, and therefore quite fragile. But if you take care of the earthenware carefully, it will definitely serve for many years.

• Porcelain. These are also dishes of the clay group, but its distinctive feature is that the best grades of clay are used to make it. The product is burned several times at high temperatures. Unlike other materials, porcelain is thin and light, but due to the lack of pores, it is quite durable.

The most expensive dishes - from solid porcelain. Despite its outstanding performance, Do not expose porcelain to such stress as a microwave oven, very hot water and concentrated detergents.

• Glass. On the table, glassware looks stylish and modern. You can buy plates of any size and diameter, deep (250 ml) and saucers. The decorative side suggests a modest version (just a transparent plate without a pattern) and various shades of glass, drawings, plots, ornaments, structures.

• Metal. Dishes exclusively for camping conditions and situations close to them. You cannot put a metal plate in the microwave, but please - on the grill grate.

• Plastic. The dishes will help out in a situation where there are no catering places nearby, and you cannot take ceramics or its alternative with you. Not suitable for reusable use, the level of environmental friendliness of such dishes is very low.

• Wooden. More often it serves for decorative purposes, but recently wooden salad bowls and fruit boxes have returned to fashion.

If you do not like to buy things without a brand in your house, you will have to compare the dishes by the manufacturer’s reputation. Someone is an adherent of one brand and rarely dilutes a collection with another brand, someone likes to collect dishes from different manufacturers in the kitchen and in the buffet.

We offer options that are most often addressed by the hostess.

• Tescoma. Such dishes are almost completely made of Czech glass. There are products matte, there is transparent. But the main thing is that these plates will fit in almost any serving, will merge with any interior.

• Luminarc. Flagship in the manufacture of glass products. The manufacturer relies on a classic design and focuses on practicality. Therefore, acquiring this dish, you can be sure: the plates are made of impact-resistant glass.

• Posud de Luxe. The brand offers both high-quality ceramics and exquisite porcelain. Products of this company will appeal to those who appreciate the original shape of dishes and non-trivial design.

• Helfer. Austrian porcelain often choose restaurants. Probably because it is quality, classic and dazzling whiteness.

• Krauff. Once the manufacturer was engaged in the release of stainless steel dishes. Today, the company offers china dinnerware. A distinctive feature - bright lace patterns.

This is just a small list of trademarks that are widely known, and the quality of which deserves the buyer to consider this option.

First, decide for what you need plates. Someone is sorely lacking dishes for a festive serving, someone wants to update the dishes for each day. Certainly, for the solemn presentation, the version with the service looks more ideal. This is not a “hodgepodge” of plates, which neither stylistically nor in color match each other. In the service, everything is harmonious: the shape, design, and color.

Another very fashionable option is a rotating (or rotating) plate. And if to speak correctly, then it is called cake cooker. But this is not always practical, though spectacular: just in case it is better to have a classic cake stand in the buffet.

Rules of care depend on the material from which the dishes are made. Although the basic principles are universal: preserve, wash and dry in a timely manner, store in a specially designated place.

There are several recommendations that will help in the care of the dishes.

• Pottery perfectly washed with soapy water. These plates should always be kept open. If you cover with a lid, the smell will be not pleasant.
• Faience and porcelain like warm soapy water. But from very hot water can crack the icing.
• To reanimate the whiteness of porcelain, you need to wipe the porcelain plate with salt or baking soda.With stains on porcelain, liquid ammonia is excellent.
• And to porcelain plates longer preserved their splendor, they should shift the white paper.

The dishes, above all, you should like visually. If its decor attracts, if the food in it looks appetizing, if the plates are perfect for your cozy kitchen, these are the main selection criteria. But the quality should not be forgotten.

The following video will tell you more about tableware.