What's new?
Blue Seal's bigger oven
Birmingham-based equipment manufacturer Blue Seal has launched a new version of its E31 electric convection oven with 20% greater capacity. It now takes 4 x 40mm deep standard gastronorm containers.
The counter-top model includes a three-hour roasting timer, one-hour baking timer, internal lights and twin-pane glass doors. Power source is a standard 13amp socket.
Price: £1,270
Available from: Blue Seal 0121 327 5575
www.blue-seal.co.uk
South American chocolate
Venezuelan chocolate producer El Rey has long been a favourite source of chocolate for top chefs in the USA and Japan. The company - the world's only producer of 100% Venezuelan chocolate - has now targeted Britain and has already attracted the custom of Michelin-starred London chefs.
The El Rey Carenero Superior range of chocolate, made from a single bean type, includes two extra bitter sweet types, Apamate (73.5% cacao solid) and Gran Saman (70%); two bitter sweet types, Mijao (61%) and Bucare (58.5%); a dark milk chocolate, Caoba (41%); and Icoa, a white chocolate made with pure prime pressed cacao butter.
All types are available in packs of 3 x 1kg blocks, or 5kg boxes of discs.
Price: about £7 per kg according to type
Available from: Aldous Lamont 020 7736 8206, info@elrey.co.uk
Foodafayre pastry cases
Pre-baked pastry cases are now in widespread use where high-production of desserts and canapés is needed, but they are produced mostly from short pastes. Foodafayre has now widened the choice by introducing Filocrown - a small cup of filo pastry.
The cases are pre-cooked and made ambient stable by airtight packaging. They come packed in bags of six, 15 bags to a case, so only the required number of cases need be opened.
They can be filled with sweet items with no further bake-off needed, but if a savoury filling such as cheese is used and needs extra baking, the cases will allow it. There are two sizes, 3in and 5in diameter. Unopened, the cases have a nine-month shelf life.
Prices: 3in cases 33p, 5in cases 47p
Available from: Foodafayre 020 8805 2330, info@foodafayre.com
Brake goes organic
For many caterers and consumers, the jury is still out on organic products, but there is a niche for them in catering. With this in mind, Brake Bros has introduced an organic food section to its frozen food listings. The organic range reflects the spectrum of Brake Bros products from prepared meals to bakery goods, vegetables and desserts.
The vegetables used are grown without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilisers and come with Soil Association approval. In prepared meals there are also vegetarian organic items such as vegetable lasagne or Indian potatoes with rice.
Prices: Organic Vegetable Lasagne, Indian potatoes with rice - both £23.50 per pack of 12
Available from: Brake Bros 0845 606 9090
www.brake.co.uk
Arkady hand-held pizza
Coinciding with the market repositioning of its frozen snack products under the name of Bon Vivant (subdivided into three ranges - Buffet, Takeaway and Centre Plate), Arkady Craigmillar has launched a hand-held calzone pizza in its Takeaway range.
The folded mini-pizza is stuffed with ham, cheese and tomato and is a mix of uncooked, part-baked and fully-baked elements.
Sample price: Mini Calzone 85p
Available from: Arkady Craigmillar 0151 343 1600.
Take-off for bake-off
The bake-off market continues to grow as a means of delivering a high-quality product for convenience takeaway and quick-service food outlets. The products are getting better and the equipment bigger and more sophisticated, but there remains a need for smaller bake-off equipment to meet the need of lower-volume production.
Recognising this, Atlas Equipment has introduced a small bake-off oven that requires only a 13amp plug to power it, but will deliver fast bake-off times. The AT-2 is 82cm wide, 66cm deep and just 50cm high.
It takes two 60x40cm baking trays, comes with a two-hour timer, damper control and a thermostat with a maximum setting of 275ºC. There is a downward-opening double glazed door and heat distribution is through a reversible circulating fan. Optional extras include a steam injector.
Price: from £1,000
Available from: Atlas Equipment 020 8801 3195
