lthough cook-chill has been around commercially since the late ‘70s, it wasn’t until the late ‘90s that technological advances turned a limitedchoice concept into an any-size, any-operation reality. What this means for a hotel in 2008 is the opportunity to mix and match cook-chill equipment to meet the individual needs of its kitchens, including:

• Blast chillers
• Ice water tumble chillers
• Combi ovens
• Steam kettles

Additionally, some manufacturers offer entire cook-chill packages of ovens or kettles and chillers under one brand, while others specialize in just ovens or chillers but allow for accessories like speed racks to be compatible with other brands.

“There isn’t one strategy that serves all unless you’re very small,” says John Jasper, director of marketing and sales, Tucs Equipment.

“Sometimes operators look at just cooking, chilling, or storing,” says Scott Applebee, director of marketing, Electrolux Professional North America. “But,” he adds, “they don’t look at the big picture.”

Each hotel can define its own “big picture” based on the following:

1. WHAT’S ON THE MENU?
“Menu is going to drive a cook-chill system. It all revolves around what you’re offering the guest,” says Robert Simmelink, executive chef and business development manager, Alto-Shaam. If a hotel has multiple outlets that use a lot of sauces and soups, kettles and a tumble- chiller could be an option. If it’s a kitchen that focuses on large banquets and plated food, combi ovens and blast chillers are another choice.

“I think you need both of them,” says Barbara Lum, director of cook-chill, Cleveland Range. “In many hotels, they’re doing something that needs to be cooked in a kettle, wrapped, and chilled with ice water. At the same time, they’re doing a lot of things that probably need to be blast chilled,” she adds.

2. HELP WITH HACCP
Cook-chill isn’t cheap, and even though prices have dropped by thousands of dollars in the last 10 years, an operator can still spend over $100,000, depending on the combination of equipment purchased. Because of this, there has to be another reason for a hotel to devote a large portion of its 2008 budget to cook-chill.

“The law does not require anyone to blast chill,” says James Piliero, product line manager, Traulsen Refrigeration, “but it does require them to have a food safety program.”

At its core, cook-chill allows an operator to consistently meet HACCP guidelines by bringing food below the danger zone of 41°F quickly and in a controlled system. It also has the added benefit of using sudden cold to lock in the cell structure of the food after it’s cooked, giving it better taste when rethermalized.

Some hotels might argue that they can do the same thing by putting prepared food directly into a walk-in cooler or freezer and save the money and kitchen space cook-chill requires. But manufacturers say that’s playing roulette with food safety.

“They think they’re blast chilling, but the core temperatures are sky high for hours. It is a disaster for all of us in the industry because if something bad happens, they say they were blast chilling,” Jasper says.

3. FOOTPRINT
Cook-chill is easier to install in a new-build kitchen because the space allotted can be a part of the original blueprint. However, if it’s an existing kitchen, it may require rearranging or removing current equipment and rerouting the electricity. But, with the wide range of footprints available in today’s cook-chill, there is a size to fit just about any space.

“The bottom line,” says Vinod Jotwani, marketing manager, RATIONAL USA, “is a smaller back-of-the-house means more prime real estate to make a profit in the front-of-the-house.”

4. CUTTING LABOR
A smaller back-of-the-house can also translate into smaller labor requirements. Creating large batches of food ahead of the event can relieve the crisis-mode mentality of same-day banquet plate-ups. It also frees staff to work on other projects, or not at all, saving payroll.

“I could knock off a minimum of 20 percent labor. At some casinos, they would have six people doing something, and now they have one, because of the leverage cook-chill gives them,” Jasper says.

5. EASE OF USE
As technology advances in cook-chill, manufacturers say it actually becomes easier for a culinary staff to operate.

“The more difficult a piece of equipment is to use, the less likely it’s going to be used correctly,” Piliero says.

Some of the end-user improvements available today include computerized HACCP monitoring and auto-labeling for storage, one-touch blast chilling, and food probes for timing temperature drops and rethermalization.

6. GOING GREEN
There are no Energy Star ratings for chillers yet, but manufacturers have taken the lead in 2008 by creating more efficient products, especially for tumble chill and blast chill.

Compressors for blast chillers use the most energy in the start-stop phase of maintaining a certain temperature. Many are being made smaller and use less energy as a result.

Tumble chillers also have been given a green makeover, using an ozonation process to keep the water free of bacteria and a filtration system to catch any debris.

“Now they’ve got clean water for six to eight months. In the old days, people would dump the water every day, which added up to thousands of gallons,” Jasper says.

RETHERMALIZATION & BEYOND
Current cook-chill technology also has streamlined the rethermalization process, especially from a banquet standpoint. The chilled food can be plated in large volumes during off hours, then brought back to temperature in a moisture-controlled combi oven all at once before the event.

“We’re rethermalizing the food on individual plates instead of bulk now, and that’s part of what’s driving a lot of the cook-chill systems,” Simmelink says.

It’s this versatility that will continue to evolve cook-chill in 2008 and beyond, allowing hotels to weave the process into the flow of their kitchens instead of turning their operations upside down to accommodate it.

“I think people will start supplementing their menus, using smaller chillers and doing a lot more of their à la carte food using cookchill,” Simmelink says.

Michael Costa is industry relations editor for HOTEL F&B