Traditional Cooking Equipment

Falcon Chieftain Bratt Pan

Prime cooking equipment is the essential kit in most kitchens – the main hobs and ranges, the ovens, the steamers and grills, the boilers and bratt pans.

There is a host of more specialist kit available, some of it multi-purpose, some of it claiming to do almost everything prime equipment can do.

But almost every kitchen will have a selection of the standard prime cooking equipment, where quality and toughness are far more important than high-tech complexity.

Home on the range: Gas, ceramic, induction?

The range is the ‘home’ of the kitchen, the visible vocal point of cooking activity. So, however you use the rest of your equipment, you’ll likely spend a lot of time and money on selecting a range and positioning it centre stage.

Gas ranges: There is a continuing demand for ‘real flames’ and with good reason – it’s switched on in a trice, is visible and reassuring, and works with almost any range. Another common reason for choosing gas is where sites might have problems getting adequate electric loads into the kitchen.

Induction ranges: Cool-to-touch surfaces and low energy consumption make them safe and popular with their users. More expensive, but the energy savings can offset this quickly.

Ceramic hob ranges: Still largely domestic in nature, partly because of the time they take to heat up, but they can be useful in smaller sites where ‘wipe-clean’ hygiene is important.

Island ranges: Increasingly popular, island ranges allow a larger number of staff to work opposite each other, keeping contact more easily. However, they can take up a lot of space and keep opposite ends of the kitchen further apart.

Traditional ovens: Traditional ovens remain popular for their simplicity, low cost and reliability. Even if you have a combination oven, you will probably also want a traditional oven if you do a lot of dry-air baking and roasting, since this will free up the combi for other tasks.

Bratt pans: These large, rectangular tilting pans still have a place in larger kitchens for mass catering, with built-in heating (gas or electric) and are a versatile cooking device. They can boil, braise, steam, poach, stew and fry – either deep or shallow frying. Advanced bratt pans can be plumbed in so that water can be added for cooking or to help wash out.

Steam kettles: More specialist prime cooking equipment includes steam jacket kettles, designed not to boil but to gently simmer and maintain serving temperatures. They cook by indirect heating through a hot water jacket. Gentle heat reduces the risk of sauces separating and sticking, or of soups burning.

Grills (salamanders): Available in gas or electric versions, the gas models are most popular for their speed of response. Cleaning is a big problem with all grills. Check how easily they strip down to remove traces of carbonised food and fat.

Fortius Dual Control Griddle

Griddles: Flat griddles are simple to use and popular for breakfast preparation, burgers and other thin food items, but are slow to cook thick portions of meat such as steaks or chops. Available in steel or more expensive chromed versions, they cook the same but chrome tends to be more non-stick in both cooking and cleaning.

Chargrills: Popular for the barbecue look and taste they bring to meat, fish and vegetables. Almost all chargrills use gas, in two varieties. The familiar lava rock gives a traditional barbeque taste and small. However, it can create a lot of smoke in the kitchen. Another variety, which is considered to be easier to clean, uses gas jets which are shielded by a protective steel shroud.

Steamers: Losing popularity to combi-ovens, but are still useful for fish, vegetables or steamed puddings. Pressure less steamers are good for delicate foods such as fish, while pressure steamers allow the steam temperature to rise, so cooking faster and tenderising tough cuts of meat.

Energy Bar

Saving energy is only half about common sense, working patterns and management. It is also about choosing the best and most efficient catering equipment and installing it properly.

One of the biggest advances in energy saving in recent years is induction cooking. Induction ranges are still expensive to buy, but they are one of the more energy-efficient forms of prime cooking. Induction creates a powerful magnetic field that transfers heat directly to the pan, so you need to use pans made of magnetic material, such as cast iron. Induction cooking is fast – two litres of water could boil in under a minute – because 90% of the energy goes straight to the pan, compared with 60% in conventional electric hobs and less than 50% on gas hobs. And unlike the older technology, induction hobs don’t waste heat when the pan is off the hob. But they remain costly, and a major capital investment. If you continue to use conventional non-induction ranges, the traditional energy-saving messages still apply: Don’t leave range burners on when your aren’t cooking – or you’ll see your profits rise up and disappear through the ventilation system.

The above is exraction from the CESA equipment buying guide 2009. See the December issue of Eat Out magazine for more details.