Equipment Focus: Steam Kettle

Whether you are overseeing the operation of a restaurant, a university kitchen, or a catering service in a correctional facility, you can be sure: time is money. For fast-paced kitchens that require a lot of food processing, steam kettles are a godsend. These kettles have an external cooking chamber that uses superheated pressurized steam to easily cook large amounts of food without scorching.

What is a steam kettle?

A steam kettle or kettle with a steam jacket is a free-standing version of a large soup pot used for cooking on a stovetop. Chefs who often cook foods such as sauces, pasta, puddings, stews, jams, jellies, soups, rice, eggs (and even delicate foods such as chocolate) can make a lot of money with a kettle with a steam jacket.

Why choose Steam jacketed kettle?

Since the steam kettle is indirectly heated by blowing the outside of the kettle cooking chamber with superheated pressurized steam, recipes based on cream and milk and delicate foods such as chocolate are not easily burnt.

Not only that, but compared to other tools such as pots and pans, kettles with steam jackets consume 35% less energy than pots on open burners, and can increase the output of the kitchen in several ways:

1. High-energy steam can cook food faster.

2. The hot surface area of the steam pot is larger than that of the soup pot and can heat food in all directions.

3.There are no hot spots.

Provides even cooking and reduces the chance of scorching.

4. With the help of precise temperature control, you can easily change from slow stewing to boiling.

5. In addition, the steam kettle can also help reduce food wasted due to over-cooking and burning, heating meals easily without over-cooking, simmering food for a long time without over-cooking, and can simplify recipes and recipes Development.

Choose steam jacket kettle

There are two different types of steam sandwich kettles: 2/3 jacket and full jacket. The type of steam kettle that is best for you depends on the scale of your operation, the cooking frequency and the food you cook most often.

l 2/3 jacket: Usually, the inclined kettle will have a 2/3 jacket with nozzle, which can easily pour the contents of the kettle.

l Full jacket: Full steam jacketed kettles are usually limited to large fixed kettles, which usually do not have nozzles.

size

Whether you are serving small or large catering services, steam kettles are available in various sizes to meet various needs. When choosing the ideal steam kettle size and volume for your operation, two points need to be considered:

l The size of the food batch you are cooking

l How often do you plan to use the steam kettle

If you often cook large amounts of food, choosing a larger fixed model will provide you with the quantity, speed and quality you need.

If you want to cook a small amount of food (or don't eat a large amount of food often), it is worth choosing a smaller bench-top steamer and cooking a few batches, which will help you save equipment costs and provide a higher quality end result.

Fixed or inclined?

The main difference between the various Steam cooking kettles is the way they are emptied. Although there are both large-capacity fixed kettles and inclined kettles, all small kettles and countertop kettles are tilted.

Tilted kettle: Tilted kettle with steam jacket is easier to empty, especially when the amount of food is small. When using a tilt model, the entire kettle body will tilt forward to distribute food and liquids and make it easier to clean.

Fixed kettle: The fixed kettle has a sanitary drain valve to drain the liquid in the kettle. These types of steam-jacketed kettles are often used with large amounts of food because they are easier to clean, and some operators prefer the easy-to-control flow provided by the nozzles of fixed steam jacketed kettles.

Tip: If your kitchen regularly cooks recipes that feature large chunks of food, such as stews that may clog the nozzles, then choosing a tilted kettle may be more effective.

Overall, there are many types of steam kettles, and they provide many different functions to help you fine-tune your cooking operations-not to mention that they can save you a lot of time and effort!