Commercial Combi Ovens are versatile machines that can greatly enhance a restaurant’s efficiency and food quality. They simplify cooking by combining convection, steam, and combination modes, providing a wide range of functionality. This guide will help you understand their benefits, features, and factors to consider when purchasing.

What is a Commercial Combi Oven?

A Commercial Combi Oven (combination oven) is a professional kitchen appliance that blends three cooking functions together. They integrate:

Convection: Hot air circulates the food for fast, even cooking.
Steam: Cooking with steam maintains food moisture, perfect for vegetables and dough.
Combination mode: Merging convection and steam to cook quickly while preserving food texture and flavour.

These functions make Commercial Combi Ovens an incredibly versatile tool ideal for a variety of cooking tasks.

Benefits of Commercial Combi Ovens

When using Commercial Combi Ovens, restaurant and catering businesses can benefit in the following ways:

Versatility: As these ovens operate in three modes, they can bake, steam, grill, roast, and even poach.
Efficiency: With the capacity to cook multiple dishes simultaneously without flavour transfer, they significantly reduce cooking time.
Consistency: With precise temperature and humidity controls, food cooks evenly, resulting in consistent high-quality dishes.
Space saving: Multiple cooking abilities in one appliance free up kitchen space.

Is a Combi Oven Better Than a Convection Oven?

Yes, absolutely. Comparing a combi oven to a convection oven, it’s clear that both have their unique benefits. However, a combi oven offers certain advantages that may make it a better choice depending on your specific needs.

Firstly, while a convection oven can produce high-temperature conditions for quick cooking, its main function involves cooking with dry heat. This makes it great for baking and roasting tasks. However, a combi oven takes it a step further as it operates using three modes: convection, steam, and a combination of both. This means a combi oven can not only handle all the tasks of a convection oven but also steam cook, which is useful for dishes that require moist heat, like vegetables, steamed rice, and fish.

When it comes to functionality, a conventional convection oven offers straightforward settings for baking, roasting, and broiling. On the other hand, a combi oven offers a vast array of cooking options all in one appliance. Whether you’re poaching delicate seafood, baking a cake, or slow-cooking a stew, the precision temperature and moisture control of a combi oven ensures excellent results every time.

In addition, both types of ovens boast impressive cooking speed. For example, a convection oven cooks about 25% faster than conventional ovens due to circulating hot air. However, a combi oven’s ability to apply convection and steam simultaneously often means that foods cook even faster.

Ultimately, if your kitchen depends heavily on dry-heat cooking methods, a convection oven would work just fine. However, for greater versatility and control over your cooking – not to mention the space-saving benefits of owning one appliance that can do it all – a combi oven would be a better choice.

What Can You Cook in a Combi Oven

A combi oven is incredibly versatile, allowing you to cook a wide variety of dishes using the different functions it offers (convection, steam, and combination mode). Here are some examples of what you can cook in a combi oven:

Baked goods and pastries: Cakes, bread, muffins, croissants, and other pastries can be baked evenly using the convection mode.
Roasting and grilling: Meat, poultry, and fish can be roasted, grilled or broiled to perfection using the combination mode to achieve a crispy exterior and tender, juicy interior.
Steamed dishes: The steam function allows you to cook vegetables, rice, dumplings, and even delicate seafood while preserving their natural flavours, nutrients, and textures.
Casseroles and gratins: The combination mode can be used to bake dishes like lasagne, shepherd’s pie, and vegetable au gratin, giving them a deliciously crispy crust.
Slow-cooked dishes: Stews, braises, and tenderizing tougher cuts of meat can benefit from the gentle and consistent heat provided by the combi oven.
Reheating and defrosting: Combi ovens allow for efficient reheating and defrosting of dishes, ensuring even heat distribution and avoiding overcooking or drying out the food.
Poaching and sous vide: The precise temperature control of a combi oven can be used to poach eggs, fish, and poultry or even cook sous vide dishes with consistent results.

These examples demonstrate the versatile cooking options offered by a combi oven, making it a valuable addition to both professional and home kitchens.

Features to Look For

When shopping for Commercial Combi Ovens, there are certain features that you should look for:

Size: Available in multiple sizes, go for the one that fits your kitchen space and meets your output needs.
User-interface: Opt for a model with an intuitive interface, possibly with programmable recipe settings.
Cleaning features: Look for self-cleaning features, which can save a lot of hassle and time.

Key Takeaways

Commercial Combi Ovens are an excellent addition to any commercial kitchen, offering a multitude of benefits from versatility and efficiency to consistent high-quality results. Before purchasing any cooking equipment, keep in mind to consider factors such as size, user-interface, and cleaning features.

Maintaining proper cleaning and care for your Commercial Combi Ovens will ensure their longevity, helping your food business thrive with delicious and consistently well-cooked meals. Hopefully, this article has provided you with the essential knowledge about Commercial Combi Ovens, aiding you in making the best choice for your culinary needs.