Catering Equipment
Prime Cooking
Barbeques
Boiling Tops
Combination Ovens
A combination oven (also referred to as a combi steam oven or steamer ovens) combines several cooking functions in one piece of kitchen equipment and the shortening of the description combination is how a combi oven gets its name. The combi oven uses dry heat and steam which is injected into the oven when the food being cooked needs it.
Combination oven benefits
A combi oven is the most versatile piece of equipment any professional kitchen can have. Below are some of the benefits of steamer ovens;
Meat – Dry roasting means up to a third of the weight of a piece of meat can be lost, by using steam in a combination oven minimises weight loss and produces a tenderer joint.
Fish and vegetables – Cooking in steam produces a delicate product and vegetables keep more of their nutritional value and natural colours.
Baking – By operating as a fan-driven convection oven, baked goods are evenly and crisply cooked. A slight injection of steam can also enhance some baked foods such as bread.
Regeneration – Food which has been pre-cooked and correctly chilled prior to service can be rapidly brought up to serving temperature, avoiding the need to hold food hot for long periods which leads to flavour loss and drying out.
Combi ovens to suit all whatever your business
A combi-oven is not just for big food operations, they are available in a range of sizes, from the small independent caterer as well as the very high volume outlets.
The Combi-oven is the workhorse of the kitchen and one of the most versatile items of prime cooking equipment any kitchen can have. It can steam, bake, roast and “dry-fry” chips, breaded and battered frozen products using the residual fat in the coating.
To speak to one of our sales teams or to request more information from 3663 Catering Equipment about our range of Combi-ovens please call 0370 3663 960.
Fryers
While called a deep fat fryer, all food floats in hot oil, cooking in the top two inches of the fryer. This can easily lead to a kitchen having an electric fryer or gas fryer that's far too big, heating up more oil than really needed.
A common mistake when buying a commercial fryer is to base your needs of a deep fat fryer on a particular day of the week. For example many people take a particular day when frying capacity is high, such as fish and chips being popular on Friday, and buy a commercial fryer as if demand were that high every day.
Some establishments simply cook more than required during a busy time and ensure that the food is kept warm using a chip scuttle.
In a busy operation it makes sense to have more than one deep fat fryer, one kept exclusively for chips, the other for frying anything else.
An industry wide performance measure for a deep fat fryer is usually given in weight of chips per hour a commercial fryer can cope with.
Gas fryer or electric fryer?
There are no clear answers to whether a gas fryer is better than an electric fryer or an electric fryer is better than a gas fryer without understanding the needs of the user, but there are distinctive advantages. The general rule of thumb is that an electric fryer is cheaper to buy and maintain than a gas fryer. An electric fryer is generally designed for low to medium volume output and a gas fryer designed for higher volume levels, however for high usage a gas version can work out cheaper than the equivalent electric one.
Features of a gas fryer
In a gas fryer there are one of three types of heating systems generally used which include tube burners, exterior jet systems and infra red heaters. A tube burner has wide tubes running across the lower inside of the tank which contain gas jets that heat the oil through the tubes.
An exterior jet system uses a series of gas jets around the exterior of the tanks, while infra red heaters use similar systems providing high heat outputs.
Good deep fat fryer practice
A problem associated with all deep fat fryer systems is that rapid transfer of heat into the oil through a metal well can lead to oil burn in the base of the fry tank. This happens when food debris falls to the base of the tank and carbonises because of the intense heat. This leads to oil taint and a breakdown of the oil.
Manufacturers try to avoid this happening by integrating a feature called 'cool wall' into their commercial fryer units. This normally means that there is a sharp depression in the base of the commercial fryer tank which is below the level of the gas burners. Food debris drifts down through the oil and collects in this cool depression, which can often be up to 30 degrees Celsius below that of the cooking area of the fry tank.
An electric fryer with heating elements within the tank have less of a need for a cool zone, but some do still have them on bigger commercial fryer units.
Safe and efficient oil filtration
Most deep fat fryer fryer models rely on the user to filter the oil, usually in the traditional way of using a bucket, a sieve with a tea towel in it and pouring the oil into the bucket through the sieve. It is quicker, more efficient and safer to buy a freestanding commercial fryer with a filtration system built in that at the touch of a button cleans the oil. This will help improve health and safety in your kitchen.
The filtration system used in a commercial fryer works by pumping hot oil through a set of filters on the bottom of the tank, and takes a matter of minutes.
To speak to one of our sales teams or to request more information from 3663 Catering Equipment about our range of commercial fryer systems please call 0370 3663 960.
Gas & Electric Ranges
3663 Catering Equipment stocks a wide range of commercial cooking ranges from standard open top ranges to solid top ranges from top brands including Electrolux, Lincat and Garland.
The cooking range is the traditional heart of a kitchen. There is little that can’t be cooked in one. The three main types of commercial cooking ranges are;
Open top burners
Commercial open top cooking ranges have either gas burners or electric radiant’s with an oven underneath. The common configuration for commercial ranges is to have either four or six burners/radiant’s. A big advantage of commercial open top burners is fuel efficiency, since almost all of the heat is directed at the cooking pan and not into the kitchen environment. Direct contact with the heat source also means pans can be heated very quickly. Having one burner/radiant bigger and more powerful than the rest can be very beneficial when larger pans are used or when more heat is required.
Solid Tops
Commercial solid top cooking ranges have a solid cast iron top that’s heated from beneath, either by strategically placed gas jets or electric elements. Solid top cooking ranges generally have an oven underneath the same as an open burner range. A major advantage for choosing a commercial solid top range over an open top burner is that size for size; they can accommodate more pans which can also be moved around from the fierce direct heat to a cooler part of the top. A downside is that energy can be wasted where there are unused areas of the top being heated.
Boiling tables
Commercial boiling table ranges have tops the same as standard cooking ranges, but without an oven. These are designed for people who already have sufficient oven capacities. The main advantage of commercial boiling tables is that the cost to buy one is far cheaper than standard open top burners due to the lack of oven. The space below can act as a convenient storage area for pans.
To speak to one of our sales teams or to request more information about our range of commercial cooking ranges please call 0370 3663 960.
Griddles
Grills
Induction
Microwaves
Microwave ovens are a hugely important aspect of every professional kitchen. As a standard microwave-only oven they can perform essential functions such as safely re-heating frozen or chilled food, which is at the heart of many menus in informal dining restaurants and pubs or in room-service for hotels.
Get the best of both worlds with a combination microwave
Where they get much more versatile is when they become a combination microwave oven. The combination in combination microwave is the addition of convection oven hot air and a grill. This transforms a simple re-heating cabinet into a multi-function cooking oven. Jacket potatoes can be softened then crisped, pastry dishes can be reheated and crisped, in fact almost all of the functions of a standard oven can be performed in the combination microwave oven (also known as a combi microwave). The main limitation is of load capacity and the absence of steam in a standard-size combination microwave. Although it is possible to buy a large combi-oven which incorporates microwave energy.
A general rule of thumb is that a microwave is only for re-heating, a combination microwave is for reheating and primary cooking.
Commercial microwave is a must for any professional kitchen
There is a minority view among caterers that all microwaves are the same, the only difference between commercial microwave and domestic microwaves being the power and price. This is completely untrue. There are clear cooking, construction and food safety differences between a combi microwave designed for home use and those designed for the professional kitchen.
A domestic microwave oven often has a low power rating, which means they take far longer to reheat, defrost or cook food than a commercial combnation microwave. While a combi microwave designed for home use may have power ratings from 600 watts to 900 watts, a commercial microwave can be rated up to 2000 watts. The term watts is a unit of measurement for the heating power of a microwave oven.
The device which produces the energy waves which heats food in microwaves, whether a domestic or a commercial microwave, is called a magnetron. A domestic version usually has a single magnetron while a commercial microwave usually has two magnetrons which are built to a higher specification, making them faster, more efficient and longer lasting.
A commercial microwave oven is built to withstand hard use every day, while a domestic microwave oven is designed to be used just a couple of times a day, which repeated use of a combi microwave oven designed for home use can lead to a loss of power with the associated food safety risks.
Enhanced operation and a flat base improve throughput
Microwave energy needs to be evenly spread around the oven cavity to ensure that all parts of the food inside are safely heated. Where chilled or frozen food is not thoroughly heated, harmful bacteria within the food is unlikely to be killed, risking food poisoning.
Many domestic microwaves use simple turntables to try to distribute the microwave heat, while commercial combination microwave ovens generally dont have turntables but have a flat base and use a sophisticated heat mixing system in the oven cavity. This means that a commercial combination microwave without a turntable, but with a flat base generally has a bigger cavity than a combi microwave with a turntable. By using a flat base this eliminates the need for a mechanical motor system rotating a turntable. The oven cavity size on a commercial microwave with a flat base is usually designed around the gastronorm system, making it easier to accommodate industry standard sized food dishes. A great benefit of the flat base system means its easier to clean the interior of a combi microwave with a flat base as there are no small or removable compnents where grime can easily build up.
The casing of most domestic microwaves are painted mild steel which can easily chip, corrode and cause food safety hazards. A professional combi microwave normally has casings made with hard-wearing stainless steel which is easy to keep clean and will not corrode. A commercial microwave generally has far more sophisticated cooking programmes, often push-button pre-sets, so staff can reheat properly and easily every time.
To speak to one of our Catering Equipment sales teams or to request more information about a commercial combination microwave, please call 0370 3663 960.
Ovens
Pasta Boiler
Steamers
Toasters
