Foodservice Kitchens: Is a Combi-Oven Right for You?
Multipurpose combi-ovens are ideal for high-volume kitchens that demand speed and quality.
By David Farkas, Contributing Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, November 1, 2009
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| Upscale SugarToad relies on a combi-oven. |
Director of Foodservice Kimberly Radzinski of Glenview Public School District 34 in Glenview, Ill., first purchased a combi-oven because she needed to replace a convection oven and a steam kettle in an elementary school with a cramped kitchen and 275 kids to feed daily. After watching a combi-oven demonstration at a manufacturing plant in a nearby suburb, she ordered a unit and tried it out on pizza. The students thought they were eating a new, better product because the pizza was hotter and tasted fresher than it had in the past, she says. The cafeteria sold 50 more orders than usual that day.
Now five of the school district’s eight kitchens have combi-ovens. Cooks use the ovens to prepare pizza, pasta with meat sauce, tacos, chicken patties, pancakes and French toast. “The combi does many more things than a convection oven would do,” Radzinski says. “It’s one unit, and it’s not taking up a lot of space.”
Getting more production from a single piece of equipment is paramount for foodservice operators, for whom kitchen space is nearly always at a premium. Combi-ovens also work especially well for high-volume operations that require few or no cook-to-order applications, such as Radzinski’s, and they’re well-suited for the myriad cooking methods that kitchens with varied menus demand.
From Sous-Vide to Smoking
Operators who use combi-ovens often comment on their versatility given the relatively small size. After all, the high-tech devices can cook with steam, dry heat or a combination of both. Chefs toss in everything from eggs to pizza to short ribs, and some even get creative with the equipment’s applications, adding wood chips to replicate a smoker’s cooking process.
Yes, wood chips, says Adam Busby, director of education at The Culinary Institute of America’s campus at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif., where students learn to use combi-ovens in a course on braising and stewing. “We put the wood in a little metal box, light it, blow it out and then put the box in the combi-oven,” he says. “Then we turn the oven on low, and it slowly circulates the smoke and cooks the meat. You don’t have to have someone stoking the fire all night.”
At SugarToad, a fine-dining restaurant at the Hotel Arista in Naperville, Ill., Chef de Cuisine Geoff Rhyne uses the banquet kitchen’s combi-oven to mimic the benefits of sous-vide cooking, in which vacuum-sealed foods cook slowly in a water bath at a constant temperature.
Rhyne, whose specialty is short ribs, says the oven eliminates the need to cook the food in water because it holds temperatures steady while the meat cooks on the steam-only setting. “We first sear the ribs, then chill them down and put them in a bag,” he says. “We make a red-wine reduction and put 2 tablespoons of the liquid into the bag with two short ribs and then vacuum-seal it.”
The ribs cook in the combi-oven for 18 hours at 158F. “The process keeps the texture of the meat intact—firm but tender,” Rhyne says. “They’re like butter to eat.”
Production Rules
For Ray Bullock, assistant chief of foodservice at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the biggest advantage that combi-ovens provide is large-scale production. Bullock oversees a 43,000-square-foot facility that pro-duces food for 6,600 prisoners.
“Combis are great, especially if you have to knock things out real fast and quick,” Bullock says. His staff uses the facility’s two combi-ovens primarily to hard-cook eggs, steam pasta and roast whole-muscle proteins. “I can take 15 dozen flats [of eggs], cut the tops off the cartons, put them on sheets pans and load them onto the racks. I set the combis for full steam for 13 minutes and then roll them out and into the blast chiller.” Voila! Hard-cooked eggs.
Learning Curves
The downside of combi-ovens’ multifaceted functionality is that some models can be complex to operate.
Drawbacks include “the complexity of controls, the cost and [managing] loading schedules to keep up with demand,” says Rick Shoffstall, vice president of client services for WD SRE, a Miami-based consultancy specializing in foodservice operations engineering.
The CIA’s Busby says being computer-savvy doesn’t necessarily make operating the ovens any easier. “The combi is unlike any piece of equipment anyone would have to use in daily life,” he says. “You have to read the manual.”
Still, Michael Palumbo, a salesman for a Chicago-based manufacturer who has sold combi-ovens for several years, says the situation is improving. “A few units are very user-friendly, with pictures on touch pads,” he says. “It’s getting easier and easier to operate them.”
Operators also can seek help from equipment manufacturers, who provide unit training. Radzinski says a salesman helped her program cooking methods for menu items into one of her schools’ combi-ovens. After experimenting with using the oven’s “convenience foods” setting, she downloaded her cooking sequences of choice onto a flash drive. Then she went from school to school to upload the methods into all of the district’s combi-ovens. “Now every school cooks the products the same way consistently,” she says.
Bullock, too, says learning to use the combi-ovens isn’t a problem. Manufacturers’ representatives helped him train his staff. “They are happy to come out and go over the machine,” he says. “It’s a step-by-step process. [The combi-ovens] are not that hard to operate.”
Contact writer at riedit@reedbusiness.com
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Just to clarify... my kitchens could only support one piece of equipment due to the size of the hoods(the buildings are old), so instead of replacing old convection ovens with new convection ovens, I chose combi ovens as they are more versatile. Either could break down at any given time, so my staff could face an emergency either way. We have 8 schools and would transport food in either case, not serve peanut butter sandwiches- too many allergies. Also, my program is self supporting, as are all well run school food service operations
Kimberly Radzinski - 11/18/2009 8:18:00 PM PST -
theater of kitchen is modern style in food service industry within life cooking in front of the guest,especially in(American fine dining/American casual dining/Italian restaurants/Thai restaurants/main dining room/grill room/Lebanese restaurants/Indian restaurants/piano cafe/sandwich boutique)within selection of utility presentation(horse radish sauce/soya sauce/french dressing/Worcestershire sauce/remolad sauce/chili kitchup/garlic mayonnaise/tartar sauce/holandaise sauce/sweet and sour sauce/)with appropriate entertainment life music show accordance nationality of kitchen(American/Italian/Lebanese)if dining etiquette could be as show room it means statement of considerable factor in new revolution on dining etiquette standards at global restaurants industry and global hotels industry within supporting profit,supporting recruitment and building loyal relationship between customer and brand and establish reputation of biggest chain
Hossam aboueissa - 11/5/2009 9:02:00 AM PST -
I would have to completely disagree with putting combis in schools. I'd hate to be in that woman's kitchen feeding 275 kids when the combi goes down! I would love to be able to have an article on how much more beneficial it is to have convection ovens next to steamers instead. I have several consultants, customers, etc. that would agree that combis can be very problematic, cost a bunch to buy up front, expensive to fix, and not energy efficient. Plus, you lose two pieces of equipment at the same time when it does go down. Again, put the consultant who designed that kitchen in there with a broken combi and tell them to try and feed those 275 kids. They're eating PB & J's that day!
Also, I can't tell you how many times I've talked to schools that have combis that tell me they use it to strictly for steaming veggies. That's it! Pretty expensive steamer isn't it?
This isn't duck or ribs they are cooking here in schools. They are cooking pizzas, chicken fingers, and fries for goodness sake. School Districts really need to look at what they are spending on these combis in upfront, utility, and maintenance costs and think. Is the combi really that great? This is taxpayer dollars and these schools don't have this kind of money!
Is the combi nice, yes, for upscale operations. For schools? No, it isn't right.
Travis Airgood - 11/4/2009 11:12:00 AM PST
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