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Equpiment SolutionsCovering equipment and trends for successful foodservice operations
Hold on to what you've gotCabinets designed to extend food holding timesby Russell L. Bean, CFSP
Keeping hot food hot and cold food cold is fundamental to safe food handling. Keeping bulk food or plated meals hot is a necessary part of efficient kitchen operations and a fact-of-life with buffet and banquet meal service. Cold-side holding is a no-brainer. If ingredients or meal components are served cold or at room temperature, they must be kept at refrigerated temperatures to retard spoilage, maintain texture and a fresh appearance. Hot food holding is more of a challenge. While cook-to-order production, immediate plating and instant service-at-table is the ideal, the reality is all batch prepared foods, deli or buffet service items and banquet meals must be held and kept hot for extended periods. Fortunately, there is a new generation of holding equipment designed to hold foods at temperature and maintain product texture and eye appeal. There is a number of equipment products designed to help hold food, including pass-through heat strips, lamps, holding drawers, hot and cold tables, and various combination units used to cook and hold or warm and serve. Most holding cabinets have wheels or casters for basic mobility. Banquet carts or “mobile heated cabinets” used for hospital and correctional tray delivery always have heavy caster, plus bumpers and secure door latches designed for easy movement between floors and even remote delivery by truck to satellite serving facilities.
The Real Challenge with Hot Food HoldingWhile safe food holding is a well-documented issue of temperature maintenance, there are different theories and solutions offered for the best way to hold different foods HOT, for extended periods, from the perspective of maintaining their flavor, color, texture and character. Humidity or vapor pressure has been long recognized as a factor in maintaining hot foods. The challenge is that different foods require different environments to maintain optimum moisture levels and appropriate texture. Fried product and bakery goods require a different hot holding environment than meats or steamed vegetables. Some hot holding cabinet manufacturers incorporate a water reservoir and controls that can measure humidity and add moisture to the compartment, based on the needs of the product being held. The goal is for inherently dry products to stay dry (and crisp), while high-moisture products stay moist. With their low-end temperature range and accurate humidity control, these models can also be used for proofing, when not holding foods. Some manufacturers add small fans or air channels to move hot air to maintain uniform temperatures from top-to-bottom. Other manufacturers strive for gentle still-air heating throughout the case, to avoid the desiccating effect of moving air. When faced with the challenge of holding and transporting different products, split cabinets with separate heat and humidity controls will help tailor the environment.
Alto Shaam, Menomonee Falls, Wis.Alto Shaam created the slow-cook & hold oven category based on the gentle heating provided by their Halo Heat technology. It didn’t take them long to migrate that technology to holding cabinets and later make those cabinets part of an integrated cook-hold-serve system. Alto Shaam’s Halo Heat uses electric thermal cable running through the bottom and sides of their cabinets to provide gentle radiant heat that preserves a product’s natural moisture; without hot or cold spots, fans, hot air movement or added humidity. Halo Heat technology is used in their stationary and mobile hot holding cabinets, even their drawer warmers. Alto Shaam also has rack-loaded roll-in holding cabinets designed to be matched with their Combitherm oven-steamer and blast chillers, to provide a complete cook-chill production system. Foods can be cooked in their combi and held in their cabinet or rapid chilled, using the blast chiller. Those refrigerated foods can be stored for up to five days then reheated in the combi and transferred to the holding cabinet just prior to service. They even offer an optional control and software documentation package that can monitor product temperature and provide the records needed for Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) program documentation.
Cambro Manufacturing Co., Huntington Beach, Calif.Cambro isn’t a name you normally associate with plug-in equipment, but Cambro has introduced their line of Ultra Pan Carrier and Ultra Camcart H-Series mobile warming cabinets. These insulated cabinets have door-mounted plug-in electric heating units designed to keep contents at 150-165*F and they will recover-to-temperature in three minutes, when the door is opened. These H-Series transporters have a tough polyethylene shell and door, filled with thick polyurethane foam insulation which can maintain safe temperatures for hours and stays cool to the touch. Their H-Series transporters are available in two sizes, a single Ultra Pan Carrier and a double Ultra Camcart with 5-inch casters. A related product, their Camtherm Bulk Food Holding Cabinet, earned National Restaurant Association (NRA) 2008 Kitchen Innovations recognition. These models use energy efficient thermoelectric technology for either heating or cooling in the same cabinet, with no compressor, heating coil or humidifier. Currently only their H-Series mobile warming cabinets are ENERGY STAR qualified.
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Eagle Group, Clayton, Del.
