A tureen is a large, deep serving dish with a lid, used to bring soup or stew to the dinner table. Picture a fancy, bowl-shaped container big enough to hold soup for your whole family, with handles on the sides and a matching lid on top to keep everything hot.

Tureens became popular in Europe during the 1700s, when elaborate dinner parties meant serving multiple courses from beautiful dishes. A host would place the tureen in the center of the table, lift the lid dramatically, and ladle steaming soup into everyone's bowls. Some tureens were shaped like animals or vegetables and decorated with intricate designs, showing off the family's wealth and taste.

Today, most families serve soup straight from the pot on the stove. But tureens still appear at holiday meals and formal dinners, especially for dishes like French onion soup, lobster bisque, or traditional stews.

If your grandmother brings out a covered dish with handles at Thanksgiving and starts serving butternut squash soup from it, you're looking at a tureen.