This is the second in a four-part series on designing or upgrading a school cafeteria. The series is tailored for school nutrition directors but information on how various areas of equipment can improve the quality of meals, food safety and energy efficiency are of use to any commercial kitchen operation. Our four areas of discussion are 1) Dish machines and cleaning, 2) Combi ovens, 3) Serving lines, 4) Walk-In Coolers and Freezers. For the benefit of school nutrition directors, each post will address how these pieces of equipment can help in the following areas: 1) improve the quality of school meals, 2) improve the safety of food served in school meal programs, 3) improve overall energy efficiency of school nutrition operations, 4) improve or expand participation in national school lunch program or school breakfast program. We hope you find this series helpful.
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School Nutrition and Kitchen Equipment: Combi Ovens
SUMMARY READ: Upgrading to a combi oven can:
- IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF SCHOOL MEALS through a more efficient cooking process. A sealed chamber, coupled with more efficient heat exchangers and air flow, results in a faster and more even cook. Low temperature steaming allows vegetables to keep nutritional value. Precise control settings prevent product from drying out, allowing proteins like breaded chicken to be cooked to a crispy exterior while keeping a moist, flavorful interior.
- IMPROVE OR EXPAND PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL LUNCH OR SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAMS by increasing your cooking yield, adding menu variety and producing a more attractive product. Meal prices are kept low and products like broccoli come out a crisp and brilliant green instead of limp and soggy. Combi ovens also allow you to serve more students by cooking up to 25 percent faster.
- IMPROVE THE OVERALL ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF SCHOOL NUTRITION OPERATIONS by automatically idling when not in use to conserve energy in certain models. Cleaning costs can also be greatly reduced on models that sense the amount of chemicals needed to thoroughly clean the unit. Rational’s SCC White Efficiency model is ENERGY-Star rated.
- IMPROVE THE SAFETY OF FOOD SERVED IN SCHOOL MEAL PROGRAMS by offering a cooking process that is repeatable every time. Certain combi oven models also produce exportable logs that help with HACCP compliance and have internal temperature probes which ensure products are cooked to a desired and safe temperature.
Combi ovens have been called the “Swiss army knife” of a modern commercial kitchen.
Combination ovens, often shortened to “combi,” are both a convection oven and a steamer, allowing a kitchen to save space, time and money by using only one piece of equipment. A combi oven can also use hot air and steam at the same time, creating flexibility for nearly all cooking styles including steaming, poaching, roasting, baking, blanching, re-thermalizing and proofing.
A combi oven can improve the quality of meals in your school kitchens and cafeterias through precise control of the cooking process. The end result is food that comes out with a better taste, high moisture content and in some cases, more nutrients. Low temperature steaming allows vegetables to keep nutritional value as chlorophyll breaks down at higher temperatures. Food stays more hydrated when using steam and convection together giving products like “fried” chicken a crispy exterior while keeping a moist, flavorful interior.
In addition to better taste and nutrition, this precise control also improves cooking yield and the appearance of your food. Both allow you to expand participation in school lunch and breakfast programs by limiting meal price increases and making your food more attractive. Children, more so than any other age group, eat with their eyes as much as their mouths and a combi oven will have product like carrots coming out a crisp and brilliant orange. We’ve heard stories from school nutrition directors who have said students ask questions like, “Did we get new hamburgers?” because of the improved taste when cooking with combis. Combination ovens also allow you to serve more students by cooking up to 25 percent faster, also saving on labor to keep costs lower, and by expanding your menu possibilities.
Rational Self Cooking Center White Efficiency model
Upgrading to a combi oven can improve your overall efficiency both during the cooking process and when cleaning. Units like Rational’s SelfCookingCenter White Efficiency drop into idle after 20 minutes, staying at 150 degrees to conserve energy but keeping the cabinet warm and ready for use. Rational’s SCC also reduces energy use when cleaning by reading exactly how soiled the unit is and only using the amount of cleaning product and water needed. This reduced use of energy, water and chemicals can lower operator costs by up to 40 percent.
Combi ovens also can improve the safety of food served by offering a cooking process that is repeatable every time. Units like Rational’s SCC are programmable so it only takes one touch to prepare the menu item you select. Readouts also produced to follow Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) guidelines that all schools receiving National School Lunch Program funding must comply.
Dine Company recommends two manufacturers for combi ovens in school kitchens: Rational and Vulcan.
