Most Used Equipment in Food Service

The technology behind food. The most used equipment in catering.

The most used equipment in catering. catering is not just made up of food, ingredients and the human hands that knead them. In restaurants, bars, ice cream parlors and catering activities of any kind, another factor comes into play: machines.

Some of the most common types of machines in restaurants are refrigerators, dishwashers, and ovens.
This information doesn't surprise me at all, because these things account for about half or more than 50% each in the inventory list of an average restaurant! In addition to these three broad categories there is also a sink from which many kitchens source supplies, such as the utensils used during prep work before starting to cook; Extra sheets/towels that can be stored easily without taking up too much space within your space by placing them on shelves according to the required dimensions rather than stacking them.

Think of equipment such as chip fryers in fast food restaurants, refrigerators for storing fish in warehouses, etc. Well, today Ristomanager will let you explore the most used equipment in catering. It will take you behind the scenes of the dish you enjoy at the table. It will reveal the technology behind food.

1)Most used equipment in catering: Professional kitchens

The most used equipment in catering

Even those who have never been in the restaurant kitchen know that it is not like the one at home. As shown in the photo, every restaurant dish is prepared on the hobs of these stainless steel kitchens. Kitchens which, depending on the size of the room, can be one or more. In addition to cooking, professional kitchens are responsible for washing dishes and ingredients. They, obviously, not unlike our home kitchens, also have shelves for storing pans, colanders and crockery of all kinds.

2) The blast chillers

The most used equipment in catering

In any establishment in the catering sector, from the fish restaurant to the ice cream shop, the blast chillers allow the preservation of food. To eliminate bacteria, bitter enemies for the customer's health and for your business, the blast chillers use rooms with temperatures at -45° C, in which they cool the food in two ways:

• with chilling, bringing the temperature of the product to +3° C
• with freezing, which drops the product temperature to -18° C

However, there is no danger that a blast chiller could affect the organoleptic properties of the product. The air jets of the internal chambers prevent the formation of ice crystals in the products stored there.

Two recommendations for those who use a blast chiller in their business:

1. not to store food at temperatures lower than 18°/20° C
2. not to store them for longer than 7 days

3) The sales counters

The most used equipment in catering

The sales counters are those where food products are on display, ready to be chosen and purchased by customers. The counters can be in wood orsteel (or in both materials), but they always have the inevitable windows from which to choose the take-away pizza or the flavors of your ice cream cone. In the case of the sales counter of an ice cream shop, the inevitable metal containers for displaying the flavors for sale are also included. There are benches of various sizes and compositions based on the size and internal layout of the room.

4) The slicers

The most used equipment in catering

The slicers are a must not only in delicatessens, but also in restaurants since there is no shortage of cold cuts or meat-based appetizers. The most renowned brand of slicers is Berkel, which has been producing and selling them tirelessly since 1898.Professional slicers are divided into two categories:

• flywheel, i.e. the traditional ones that you have already seen behind the counter of a butcher's shop, for slicing cured meats
• electric, which instead ensure more precise cuts and are also used in home

5) The mixers

The most used equipment in catering

Forget the chef who kneads pizza with his bare hands: in pizzerias that have to produce in industrial quantities this role falls to the mixers. Based on the type of dough they are divided into three types:

• plunging arms, in which a spatula and a fork which, each connected to a disc, rotate at the same speed but in the opposite direction to the other while working the dough. With this type of mixer you can obtain voluminous dough (like that for panettone), but in longer times. The dough also allows the pizza dough to rise in a more oxygenated way thanks to the movements from the bottom up. This involves slower kneading, which however allows for more manipulation during the kneading process, with the addition of more ingredients. The latest generation mixers also allow the extraction of the bowl and the adjustment of the kneading at two speeds. However, the dough remains slower than in immersion and spiral mixers. The fork mixer is suitable for any type of dough, but highly recommended for hard and medium hard ones. As its name suggests, the spiral mixer has an internal spiral perpendicular to the mixing surface. This spiral is suitable for doughs of all types, but is perfect for speeding up the time of those that require long processing. Like the fork mixer, it has a two-speed dough: one for the initial mixing of the ingredients and the other for the actual dough, the final one.