Oven love

29 June 2000
Oven love

Combination ovens (combis) have become standard items in most kitchens since they first came on to the market about 25 years ago. Most operators are familiar with them and know how to use them but, with deskilling in kitchens across the industry, manufacturers have had to produce user-friendly equipment.

As is pointed out by Neil Roseweir, development chef at Falcon Foodservice Equipment: "Equipment needs to be straightforward enough for all to use, with easy-to-operate controls."

Often displaying an awesome array of dials, buttons and LED displays, combis must at times appear somewhat daunting to the uninitiated, so it isn't surprising that most manufacturers, responding to questions put by Caterer, listed "simple controls" as a prerequisite on the ovens. This doesn't mean an end to dials, buttons and LEDs, just that they must be easy to understand and operate.

We asked manufacturers, most of them members of CESA and/or CEDA, for the five most important features they would advise customers to look for on a combi, and a number of prerequisites were put forward. Quality of construction and reliability are at the top of the list for Randall Webster, joint managing director of Convotherm UK, followed by value for money, simple controls, and capacity. "It doesn't matter how sophisticated your control panel is," he says, "it's not going to help you if your oven has broken down and you can't get an engineer."

Reliability and product quality, together with after-sales care, are also important for RV Rutland, which also suggests that buyers check that an oven produces plenty of steam and that they look for a wide variety of programmes within the budget they have set.

Allan McDonald, managing director of Elro UK, favours a preprogramming facility, trolley loading facility, sous-vide facility, climate control and insulation. "The market has accepted combis as a staple item of equipment and has, therefore, developed a certain familiarity," he says. "This, in turn, means that purchasers know what they are looking for, know which features are important and which are superfluous, and have pushed manufacturers into providing ovens which suit their purposes."

Roseweir wants four cooking modes; programmability to ensure flexibility; a self-diagnostic facility, with display screen; internal/integral probes; and for the oven to be fan-assisted.

And from Zanussi, top among its tips is user-friendly controls, with busy chefs being given easy-to-use primary controls - for example, three knobs for selecting cooking mode, time and temperature - and service staff getting programmable touch pads for cooking or regenerating a wide variety of foods. Zanussi also recommends ovens that are gastronorm/euronorm-compatible and designed for linking to equipment such as blast chillers; a wide range of accessories; optimum cleaning and operational safety; and an integrated "fuzzy logic" (intelligent) control system.

Rational, which claims to have invented combi cooking back in 1976, has continued to introduce new technology, including climate control. And it is this factor which heads Rational's list of major features to look for. "Climate control allows dishes to be cooked in their ideal environment, by constantly adjusting the balance of dry air to moist air," says marketing manager Karen Farren. "Getting this balance right is an integral part of good cooking. Until now, chefs have had to baste, pour, or cover and uncover dishes to ensure perfect results - processes that require not only time and effort, but also considerable experience and intuition."

Training for the life of the machine is also a priority which Rational lists, together with a maximum temperature of 300ºC and ease of programmability. Other "musts" are a food core temperature probe, a rapid cool-down facility, an auto-reverse fan, slam-shut doors, an air-baffle system, a halogen interior lamp, and self-diagnostics.

The latest innovation from Rational is the self-cleaning oven, CleanJet. Developed for the CPC range of Clima ovens, it features a robotic cleaning arm which comes into action after the oven's interior has been automatically sprayed with cleaning materials by a unit in the roof. The arm rinses away all the cleaning materials and waste by saturating the oven's interior with water, using a rotating spray nozzle and methodically moving up and down the cabinet. Rational has also introduced CalcDiagnosis, a process that shows the accumulation of limescale and alerts the user when the steam generator needs cleaning.

More general advice from Bonnet Cidelcem is that, before buying, caterers should ensure that there is a good supply of softened water and plenty of power to drive fans, heat elements and generate steam. Of its own Equator Combi ovens, Bonnet says that the five most desirable features are having both direct steam injection and a boiler; the 80mm spacing between levels, for good circulation of air and steam; simple operation, with one button for each function; stainless-steel finish; and the increase in the number of fans as the ovens get larger.

Welbilt's Houno combi is claimed to have been among the first range of pass-through combis, a facility which the manufacturer lists as the most essential feature. This technological breakthrough aids flexibility of flow in the kitchen, the company says. All its ovens, available in three different series to meet differing requirements, are fitted with a self-diagnostic automatic error code system. They are built in modular format for stacking, and the CM series automatically cools down quickly from roasting to steaming temperature.

Ahead of the game

Welbilt may have been ahead of the game initially but there are now a number of companies manufacturing pass-through combis. Bourgeois' combi, for instance, has picked up accolades at two major trade shows. At Equip Hotel in Paris, it won the Prix Apria 99 for "outstanding technical innovation", and at London's Hotelympia 2000 the 20-grid oven took a gold medal in the New Product Awards as "a major breakthrough in kitchen safety".

The in-out door system is the most important feature of the oven, says Bourgeois UK sales director Rod McBeath. "It allows raw or cook-chilled food to be placed into the cooking cavity through one door, with cooked or regenerated food retrieved from out of the opposite door, ensuring that food need never double back on itself," he says. "It's a built-in food safety factor."

Other questions that new buyers should be asking themselves before committing to a purchase, says McBeath, include: Can the humidity be increased or decreased at will, and can it be completely exhausted out of the oven to "finish" the food?

"Caterers may need to steam-roast for a period, for example, to produce a moist and succulent meat product, then follow with a high dry-heat setting to finish something like crisp crackling to pork," he says. He also suggests that buyers need to consider the oven range's size options, recognising that, for some menus, two six-grid models might be more flexible than one 20-grid.

Hobart, too, has introduced a pass-through combi to its range of commercial ovens. As well as the elimination of health risks, the oven allows for better use of space in the prep and finishing areas, the company claims. "Pass-through combis work particularly well where food is on show to the customers, allowing the combi to be incorporated into a dividing wall between the back of house kitchen and the front of house servery," says Hobart's marketing support manager, Alan Tomlinson.

The future

The Hobart range of pass-through combis comes in six-, 10- and 20-rack capacities. All are fitted with user-friendly, touch-sensitive controls, with instant visible checks of the oven's status. Among Hobart's tips for the ideal combi are double-glazed doors for safety and insulation; easy-clean facilities; digital controls ("daunting to some, but the future"); and rapid cool-down.

Electrolux was another award winner at Equip Hotel last year, when its FCV3 won an Apria award for "technological innovation in commercial catering". The oven is small enough to sit on a worktop, operates from a 13amp socket and requires no plumbing. It has capacity for three half-gastronorm containers or shelves, and its "unique" design incorporates an integral water reservoir and drain pan that allow continuous steam operation for as long as one hour. An external water tank with a steaming capacity as long as three hours can be tucked under the worktop for longer cooking cycles.

Lincat is another player with a new range of combis, marketed under its Opus brand, with 25 models divided into three groups - ClimaPlus Control, Combio Vario and Combi Steamer. They come in gas and electric versions, with table-top or free-standing units available.

MCE offers the Franke series of Swiss models, the 2005 range of Handy & Easy combis, which include automatic fan reverse action, integrated exhaust vent and air brake, three-speed fan control and the Franke AQA system.

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