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Is there an oven for all purposes ?

post #1 of 6
12/1/08 at 3:54am
Thread Starter 
Hi,

My partner is studying as a chef in Hong Kong and is intending to set-up in business on her return. I am in the process of sourcing commercial equipment with the intention of being ready to run on her return.

The one item that is obviously key to get right is the oven and I need some advice.

We are looking at a varied range of food to include: Breads, Cakes, Pastries, Cookies, Meats and Pies.

Space (and money !) are at a premium but she is also a perfectionist :crazy:, so is there a single oven that will do the job without noticably compromising the results ?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks,

Mark.
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post #2 of 6
12/1/08 at 7:21am
I had good results with a convection oven. Fairly small footprint for the oven and it provided quite satisfactory production levels.

There is another type of oven that has a ferris wheel assembly inside. These can be quite large but there is a model that will hold one sheet pan per rack with something like 6 or 8 racks on the wheel. Again small footprint but good production levels for a small shop.

Shop carefully for good used equipment, it will save you money. Food service operations tend to go out of business pretty quickly so there is usually some fairly new equipment on the used market. The deals don't seem to be as good as they used to be but careful shopping may pay off in the long run.
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post #3 of 6
12/1/08 at 8:32am
Blodgett combi synergy bc-20G.......the most important feature?....the steam
regulator.....great for retherm....grate for breads, meats, etc.....thing is....its
pretty expensive....if you do by a combi oven.....be careful buying used....two half sized double stacked would allow you to cook different things, but, even more expensive...there are some other brands to choose from....look into it....its a really cool type of oven......and really gives you a lot of flexibility.....good luck!
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post #4 of 6
12/2/08 at 9:10pm
Ther is no such thing as a perfect oven.

A perfectionist baker will demand a deck oven--separate controls to regulate heat intensity for top and bottom as well as the front 1/3

A perfectionist meat roaster will scream at a regular plain-jane convection oven--most of them tend to dry out the meat and give far lower yeilds of roasted meat.

The Rational type (which includes some Blodget models) are very, very good for most meat roasting, but as a convection oven you can not regulate top and bottom heat. The "regeneration mode" on these ovens is a wet-dream for caterers though....
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post #5 of 6
12/4/08 at 4:43am
Thread Starter 
Thankyou for your replies, you have answered my questions.

I suspected it was too good to be true for the Rationale type of oven to be a ‘fit all’ solution and will be looking at seperate ovens for baking and roasting.
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post #6 of 6
12/5/08 at 5:07am
Hello everyone,

In the olden times, I remember my grandparents saying that ovens were more of a brick lined small tunnel in the ground or in rooms. The brick lining is still used in some big bakeries to bake breads and pastries. I dont know if one has to construct them or they can be installed.

However, the regular convection oven is a good substitute. You will have to try and test a few batches before you start your business
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