Some Like It Hot B
Transcription
Some Like It Hot B
Some Like It Hot How to choose the right oven for your store, menu By Abbie Westra B reakthroughs in cooking technologies have opened the doors for foodservice operators to offer a wider variety of foods with less labor and space. But what are the differences between them? Which piece of equipment is best suited for your food program? Advancements in accelerated-cooking ovens allow retailers to make high-quality hot foods in a limited-service format. Be it a TurboChef, Merrychef or some other chef, these ovens quickly zap countless kinds of food from hundreds of programmed recipes, often without the need for a ventilation system. But an accelerated-cooking oven may be all wrong for you. Perhaps your store is best suited for a combination (combi) oven—a technology that may be intimidating at first go, but which has been used widely in Europe for decades. Countertop mini combis work well for small-store applications. Or what about the trusty conveyor oven, which has also been upgraded in recent years with user-friendly functions and a technology referred to as “air fingers”? Even microwaves have advanced beyond their perceptions as residential popcorn-poppers. Multifunctionality has been a big focus for equipment manufacturers in recent years, and retailers should look at equipment pieces that will perform multiple tasks throughout the day and work in tandem with other pieces of equipment. Perhaps you shouldn’t buy a mini combi oven just to batch-cook french fries; but if you’re also using that combi to cook par-baked breads, bake brownies bites, prepare chicken tenders and cook and hold breakfast sausage patties, then the ability to bake french fries may be another reason to make the purchase. Following is key information to help you build or expand upon your cooking platform. Know the different types of cooking technology, think about the future of your menu and test-drive any equipment before choosing the best oven for your operation. Cooking Technology, Defined • Air Impingement: The type of heat transfer often used in conveyor ovens, particularly for the cooking of pizzas and subs. Air jets direct columns of high-velocity, heated air perpendicular to the food surface as the food travels through the oven on a wire mesh conveyor. These “air fingers” that create the air flow are positioned below and above the conveyor. • Combi Ovens: Ovens that cook using • Convection: Baking technology that steam, convection heat or a combination of the two. In the convection mode, the oven circulates blasts of dry heat around the cabinet. The steam mode injects water into the oven for moist heat. The combination mode uses both dry heat and steam to maintain exact humidity levels. Larger combis hold food at desired temperatures. uses fans to force air around the cooking cavity to ensure even cooking. Used in combi and accelerated-cooking ovens. • Microwaves: Used alone and in accelerated-cooking ovens in tandem with impinger heat and/ or convection heat to cook the inside of products for moist, evenly cooked results. T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R F O O D S E R V I C E A T R E T A I L • W W W. F A R E M A G A Z I N E . C O M 37 Equipment Comparison Key Features: •Best for immediate consumption of one-at-a-time items (see Holding Evolution below for pairing your cooking platform with the proper holding equipment). •Cooks up to 15% faster than traditional convection ovens. •Most can be programmed with hundreds of recipes (with different cook stages) across all stores. •Built-in catalytic converters mean operators don’t need a ventilation system. •Metal cookware can be used inside the oven, even with microwaves. TurboChef C3 Accelerated-Cooking Ovens How It Works: A convection fan pulls in air and heats it through impingement plates (which speeds up the heat transfer) for an even heat pattern and a browned exterior. Meanwhile, the microwave uses moisture in the food to heat from the inside while keeping food moist. All three elements are used together or individually depending on the food being cooked. When Not to Use One: Accelerated-cooking ovens are not ideal for cook-and-hold applications, nor any ingredients or menu items cooked in batches. Key Players: Amana AXP20; Merrychef 402S and EC503; TurboChef’s suite of accelerated-cooking ovens. Price Range (list price): approximately $6,000-13,000 Conveyor Ovens How It Works: Food travels horizontally through a heated cabinet on a conveyor belt. Technology such as impingement heat delivers jets of hot air to the top and bottom of the food. Key Features: •Best used for continuous, automated production, such as a high-volume sandwich shop. “Conveyor ovens have a higher throughput, but less versatility,” says Al Harvey of TurboChef, Carrollton, Texas. •New technology delivers faster bake times, a thoroughly baked surface, improved texture and crisping, and higher yields with greater moisture retention. •Conveyor ovens offer consistency, helping reduce waste. •A familiar format easy for store-level employees to run. When Not to Use One: Conveyors are great for continuous Savory Synergy Oven output, when you have an employee manning the oven at all times. If you don’t need continuous output, consider a smaller conveyor toaster. Conveyors also take up more space than accelerated-cooking ovens and mini combis. Key Players: Lincoln FastBake Impinger Oven; Savory’s Synergy Conveyor Toaster; TurboChef’s HhC2020 Price Range (list price; countertop): approximately $4,000-9,000 Holding Evolution Recent advances in holding equipment have allowed for improved quality and consistency as well as reduced labor and waste costs. “There’s a huge shift in the industry to holding models,” says Richard Arthur, director of marketing at Duke Manufacturing, St. Louis. “Every QSR had some sort of holding environment before—cabinets, steam tables. But it wasn’t very efficient.” 38 With the advent of better holding units, operators are able to expand their menus and increase volume without adding more staff or ovens. Solutions include Web-based tools that allow multi-unit chains to streamline functions across the company. Duke’s Product Holding Units (PHU) allow managers at each store to go to their company’s Web site and download all holding times and temperatures FA R E M A G A Z I N E F E B R U A R Y/ M A R C H 2 0 1 0 onto a flash drive, then upload the information via USB port directly into the units. Arthur recommends operators take a look at the entire operation before creating or expanding a cook-and-hold platform. “It’s an operational shift and a training shift. There’s a lot of testing that needs to be done. You need to understand the ebbs and flows of your restaurant—there is a science to it.” Combi Ovens How It Works: These ovens Electrolux Libero mini combi Key Features: cook using steam, convection heat or a combination of the two. In the convection mode, the oven circulates blasts of dry heat, ideal for pastries and breads. The steam mode injects water into the cabinet for moist cooking. The combination mode uses both dry heat and steam to maintain exact humidity levels— keeping food moist, reducing shrinkage of product and yielding consistent results every time. •Combi ovens are ideal for batch production, and some models can hold food items at the desired temperature after cooking. •Once relegated to high-volume hotels or schools, new countertop models allow small retailers to try out the various cooking applications of a combi oven. •Programmable with hundreds of recipes and multiple steps per recipe. •Most countertop combi models feature a boilerless injection system for steam, and some models, such as the Electrolux Libero mini combi, require no water or drain connections. When Not to Use One: Combis take time and brain power to master all the functionality, so a dedicated foodservice manager should take on the project and properly train store-level employees. Cook times are longer in a combi, so it is not ideal for heat-to-order applications. Key Players: Cleveland mini combi oven-steamer, Electrolux Libero Line mini combi, and Alto-Shaam Combi-therm combi ovens: •Cleveland mini features the following cooking modes: steam, hot air, slow cooking, Crisp and Tasty (de-moisturizing), combi, retherm and cook and hold. •Electrolux Libero mini combi features the following cooking modes: max steam, low steam, combi cooking, convection heat and cooling function (for transitioning between cooking functions). •Alto-Shaam Combi-therm oven/steamer features the following modes: steam, convection, combination and retherm, as well as a hot or cold smoker and Gold-NBrown finishing settings. Price Range (list price): approximately $3,000-10,000 The Right Cooking Method Desserts: Prepare batches in a combi oven; heat individual orders in an accelerated-cooking oven. French Fries: Deep-fat fryers are never going away, but combi ovens are a good solution for operations without the manpower for complete oil/fryer maintenance, or the necessary fire and safety precautions. This is especially true if you are leaning toward a combi to complete other cooking tasks. A combi oven can cook a batch of fries in 8 minutes, and some manufacturers offer special french-fry baskets. Toasted Subs: Part of this decision is based on output and volume: continuous heating vs. one-at-a-time. For example, Potbelly Sandwich Works, where all the subs are toasted, uses conveyor ovens; Subway, which has just a few toasted subs on the menu, uses accelerated-cooking ovens. Labor is also a factor. Conveyors require more hands-on labor to grab the sandwich off the belt, while accelerated ovens are less automated and require more technical attention than a conveyor. Accelerated-cooking ovens often take less time because it’s heating the sandwich within a self-contained cavity, whereas conveyor ovens offer consistency sub after sub. The conveyer sub will yield a drier, crisper sandwich due to the direct heat, whereas accelerated-cooking ovens use microwave technology, “so you’re actually aggravating the moisture molecules to create heat, keeping it moist,” says Alison Cullin-Woodcock, corporate chef for Manitowoc Foodservice, Tampa, Fla. “It really depends on what the gold standard is for the products you are going to serve.” Breads: Par-baked and thaw-and-serve bread products work well in mini combis as well as accelerated-cooking ovens; it all depends on output speed (accelerated-cooking ovens) vs. volume (combi ovens). Also, look beyond the traditional roll or bun. Pita bread, naan and other flatbreads are actually more forgiving than breads and rolls because they were designed to stay moist and warm longer, and they’re very portable as well. Some bread varieties such as focaccia are made with oil, which helps keep the product from drying out. Onion Rings: One fry basket cooks in 5 minutes in a mini combi such as the Convotherm; six pieces cook in one minute in an accelerated-cooking oven such as the Merrychef. Hashbrown Sticks: A 12-piece batch cooks in 12 minutes in the mini combi; a 6-ounce portion cooks in three minutes, 30 seconds in a Merrychef. T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R F O O D S E R V I C E A T R E T A I L • W W W. F A R E M A G A Z I N E . C O M 39