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12 Attractive Serving Platters For When You’ve Spent A Year Learning How To Cook
Now that you can cook, let’s work on presentation.
Across the board, we’re pretty much all better cooks now. Even if you entered quarantine with some very respectable culinary skills, those have most likely only increased. And if you could previously only microwave a plate of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, you’ve probably at least learned how to bake or fry them. But now that having people over and showcasing your skills is a viable Friday night activity, there’s something else you need to keep in mind: presentation. Your newfound skills deserve pomp, circumstance, and really nice serving platters. Here’s a roundup of the best ones we’ve found, ranging from a bowl that looks like half a hollowed out watermelon to some quality handmade pottery and plenty of shiny, festive things to really make those chicken nuggets pop.
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A Do-Anything Bowl
Whether you’re making salad, noodles, chicken, or an extra-large serving of cereal for your very best friends to share, this big bowl from East Fork can handle it. Handmade in North Carolina, this is the sort of piece that you use as an excuse to cook more food. (And it comes in a bunch of different colors.)
Get an East Fork Weeknight Serving Bowl ($150) →
A Vessel for Your Sides
Here we have the same quality pottery, just in smaller form. Toss some guacamole or pickles in here.
Get an East Fork Popcorn Bowl ($80) →
A Centerpiece for Your Table
When it comes time to serve whatever’s been hanging out in your oven for the past six hours, you’re going to need the proper the showcase. These handmade platters are great for everything from a massive pork shoulder to a pile of cinnamon buns, and their crinkly edges provide just enough panache.
Get a Handmade Crinkle Edge Platter ($105-130) →
Dishes That Work for Just About Anything
With their flat bottoms and raised edges, these stoneware dishes are perfect for housing just about any sort of food. Nachos? Sure. Juicy greens? Absolutely. Maybe even carve a whole roast bird, and throw it in the big one (which is 9.5 inches across).
Get Straight Edge Deep Dishes ($52-64 for 2) →
The Cheese Board of Your Dreams
When you close your eyes at night, you see a big wooden board. And you have an urge to cover that board in meat, cheese, veggies, or any leftover Halloween candy in your home. But what does this dream mean? It means you should get this specific ash wood tray from Hasami Porcelain.
Get a Hasami Porcelain Wood Tray ($100) →
A Terracotta Stunner
Yes, you can put a few lemons in this highly attractive serving bowl from Sylvia K. Ceramics, but you should probably just fill it with all the bread, cheese, apricots, and summer squash that it deserves. The piece is terracotta, and it’s crafted by hand in the UK.
Get a Large Oval Serving Bowl ($325) →
A Quick Pop of Color
A colorful glass serving platter will unilaterally make your greens or root vegetables seem much more impressive than they actually are. These ones come in two shades and clock in under $40 each.
Get a Lulu Serving Platter ($38) →
A Bowl to Leave Out at All Times
The same color principle applies here. Fill this festive glass bowl with fruit, and, when the time comes, empty it out and use it to serve your famous potato salad.
Get a Lulu Serving Bowl ($38) →
The Glass Bowl Upgrade
As you continue to develop as a human being who’s excessively good at both cooking and entertaining, you should consider investing in a glass serving bowl that will tell everyone that you mean business. This one from Luisa Beccaria has a lovely purple/blue gradient.
Get a Duccio gradient-glass serving bowl ($263) →
A True Statement Piece
Not only is this watermelon bowl an excellent Mother’s Day gift, it’s also the fastest way to tell your dinner guests that you have style, taste, and a predilection for things that look like fruit but aren’t actually fruit.
Get a Bordallo Pinheiro Watermelon salad bowl ($76) →
A Very Soothing Dish
Another Portuguese entrant, this earthenware vessel is, quite possibly, serotonin in bowl form. Just look at the soothing shade of grey, the smooth edges, and the subtle tapered base.
Get an Alev large earthenware bowl ($85) →
The Understated Bowl
If you’d like to keep things simple, there’s no shame in that. It’s simply a different aesthetic, and this porcelain bowl from Snowe will help you stay in touch with your inner minimalist. At 13 inches across, it can handle a big mound of rice or noodles for the whole table.