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Commercial convection ovens

Description

Countertop commercial convection ovens.

 

Commercial convection ovens are sophisticated cooking appliances designed for professional kitchens. Unlike traditional ovens, it uses a powerful fan to circulate hot air evenly around the food. This ensures uniform cooking temperatures and reduces cooking time.

Convection is the movement of particles through a substance, transporting their heat energy from hotter areas to cooler areas. Conduction, however, doesn’t necessarily involve particles moving. Instead, energy is passed from one particle to another upon contact, transferring heat.

Commercial convection oven chamber constructed from stainless steel.

The convection oven is one of the most important pieces of equipment in the kitchen of a restaurantcafeteria, or bakery. But what should you know to select the most suitable one?

Convection ovens excel at baking, roasting, and dehydrating due to their even heat distribution. You can bake cookies, cakes, pies, roast meats and vegetables, and even dry fruits or herbs effectively. However, convection isn’t ideal for delicate items like soufflés or custards that rely on even top browning. Dense, moist foods like large roasts or casseroles may take longer due to the dry heat. Also, be mindful of pan choices; dark or non-stick pans are recommended, and avoid covering items tightly, as this can trap moisture. Adjust cooking times and temperatures slightly, typically reducing the temperature by 25°F and checking for doneness earlier.

Doors

Convection oven hinged doors with only one handle

 

When choosing a commercial convection oven make sure the doors suit your needs. It seems like a simple thing but this can make a big difference. When shopping for a commercial convection oven, you will be faced with the choice between hinged and freestanding doors. Hinged doors only have one handle and pulling on it opens both doors. This is very convenient since carrying a tray in one hand you need only one hand to open the oven. On the other hand, freestanding doors have handles on both doors. And allow access to the oven without losing heat throughout the chamber. Also, ovens with hinged doors tend to hold up better over the years of use compared to ovens without hinged doors.

Depth

commercial convection oven baking trays of pastries

 

Commercial convection ovens are not one-size-fits-all. They come in various depths to accommodate different kitchen needs and cooking styles. While a standard model might have a chamber around 29 inches wide and 24 inches deep, some situations demand greater airflow. This is where deeper ovens shine. Increased depth allows for better air circulation around larger batches of food or bulkier items, ensuring even cooking and consistent results. Think of baking trays of pastries, roasting large cuts of meat, or cooking multiple dishes simultaneously. A deeper oven provides the space for optimal airflow, preventing hot spots and ensuring consistent quality.

Heating Element (Electric Oven), located around the perimeter of the oven chamber, provides consistent heat.
Heating Element (Electric Oven), located around the perimeter of the oven chamber, provides consistent heat.

Ceramic or Stainless Steel ovens?   

There are two material options for the interior of the commercial convection oven. These are available with stainless steel and porcelain interiors and each has advantages. Ovens with stainless steel interiors are the most economical models. They are also durable and hold up well to years of use, but they are more difficult to clean than porcelain models. Porcelain models are much easier to clean than stainless steel ones due to their smooth surface and they do not tend to harbor spills or bacteria.

Legs

Convection ovens with integrated legs offer practical advantages for commercial kitchens.

Convection ovens with integrated legs offer practical advantages for commercial kitchens. Firstly, they simplify installation. Without the need for a separate stand or base, the oven can be positioned directly on the floor, saving time and labor costs associated with constructing a support structure. This is particularly beneficial in smaller kitchens or during renovations where space and time are limited.

Secondly, integrated legs free up valuable floor space. In a busy commercial kitchen where every square foot counts, eliminating the need for a separate stand maximizes floor area for other equipment or workspaces. This can improve kitchen flow and efficiency. Additionally, the open space beneath the oven allows for easier cleaning and maintenance, preventing the accumulation of dust and debris.

This design feature combines practicality and efficiency, making convection ovens with integrated legs a smart choice for optimizing space and streamlining operations in commercial kitchens.

What are commercial convection ovens used for?

Commercial convection ovens are becoming a must-have equipment in fast food or takeaway restaurant kitchens. The versatile, tech-enabled cooking machines allow for precise temperature control and timing and can cook large volumes of food evenly at the same time.

Let’s take a look at the various uses of commercial convection ovens for fast food restaurants and takeaways, with real-life examples of how they can help to speed up service and make your restaurant more efficient.

As a fast food or takeaway restaurant owner, you understand the importance of having the right restaurant kitchen equipment. One piece of equipment that could be a game-changer in your operation is a commercial convection oven.

Commercial convection ovens are versatile appliances that can be used for a variety of cooking tasks. They are designed to circulate hot air around the food, cooking it quickly and evenly. This means that you can cook a variety of dishes at the same time, without worrying about uneven cooking or burnt edges.

Let’s explore the multiple uses and benefits of commercial convection ovens:

Low-temperature cooking

One of the main advantages of commercial convection ovens is their ability to cook at low temperatures. This is especially useful for cooking delicate items such as fish and slow-cooked meat dishes. Low-temperature cooking allows you to cook these items gently, even at temperatures below 100C.

This method can be used to cook fish precisely to the desired temperature or to dehydrate foods.

Another great feature of commercial convection ovens is their ability to monitor the internal temperatures of foods as they cook. You simply insert a probe into the food and the oven can be programmed to alert you when the desired temperature is reached.

This means that you can be sure your food is cooked to the correct temperature, for the perfect flavor and texture while reducing the risk of foodborne illness.

Automated cooking programs

In high-volume food service, efficiency and repeatable quality are paramount. Programmable convection ovens address these needs by allowing operators to pre-set cooking parameters for various dishes. This eliminates the need for constant monitoring and manual adjustments, freeing up staff for other tasks.

The example of roasting a chicken illustrates this perfectly. Instead of manually adjusting the oven temperature and cooking time, a chef can create a program that initiates the roasting process at a high temperature for optimal browning and then automatically reduces the heat to finish cooking the chicken to a specified internal temperature. The oven’s internal temperature probe ensures accurate cooking and prevents undercooking or overcooking. This level of automation guarantees consistent results every time, regardless of who is operating the oven.

Beyond temperature control, some advanced models offer programmable humidity levels, fan speeds, and even multiple cooking stages within a single program.

This allows for complex cooking processes to be automated, further enhancing consistency and efficiency. By reducing human error and ensuring precise control over the cooking environment, these automated features are invaluable in large-scale kitchens, catering operations, and food processing facilities.

Automated self-cleaning

Commercial convection ovens often feature automated cleaning cycles, a significant time-saver. These programs leverage the oven’s existing heating elements and, in many cases, introduce steam to loosen and remove food residue. The high heat helps to burn off or carbonize remaining debris, while steam aids in softening stubborn stuck-on food. Some cycles may involve a rinse cycle to wash away loosened particles. This automated process reduces manual scrubbing, freeing up staff for other tasks and ensuring a consistently clean and sanitized oven interior, ready for the next day’s food preparation. This contributes to both efficiency and food safety.

Steam cooking

The versatility of commercial convection ovens extends beyond traditional baking and roasting, encompassing the increasingly popular technique of steam cooking. This dual functionality makes them invaluable assets in professional kitchens. Beyond simply circulating hot air, these ovens often feature integrated steam generators, allowing chefs to precisely control the humidity levels within the oven chamber. This precise control opens up a world of culinary possibilities.

For a quick burst of moisture, ideal for reheating bread or adding a crisp finish to roasted poultry, chefs can inject a small amount of steam. This prevents dryness and adds a desirable texture. At the other end of the spectrum, convection steam ovens can operate in full steam mode, effectively transforming the oven into a steamer. This allows for gentle and even cooking of delicate items like fish, vegetables, and custards, preserving their nutrients, color, and texture. The combination of convection heat and steam also allows for faster cooking times compared to traditional steaming methods.

This ability to seamlessly switch between dry heat, varying levels of humidity, and full steam functionality makes commercial convection ovens incredibly adaptable. They can handle a wide range of cooking techniques, from baking delicate pastries to roasting large cuts of meat and steaming delicate seafood, all within a single appliance. This versatility saves valuable kitchen space and streamlines workflow, contributing to increased efficiency and productivity in a busy commercial kitchen.

Reduce costs and improve efficiency with a commercial convection oven

Commercial convection ovens are indeed a valuable asset for fast food and takeaway restaurants, offering a trifecta of benefits: versatility, efficiency, and cost savings. Their ability to handle diverse cooking tasks like low-temperature cooking, automated batch cooking, and steam cooking makes them adaptable to a wide range of menu items.

Low-temperature cooking, ideal for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat or slow-roasting vegetables, ensures consistent quality and reduces food waste. Automated batch cooking streamlines high-volume production. This allows staff to program cooking times and temperatures for popular items like french fries, chicken wings, or baked goods. It ensures consistency and frees up labor for other tasks.

The addition of steam cooking functionality further expands their versatility. A quick burst of steam can revitalize buns or add a crisp finish to fried foods. Full steam mode allows for healthy and efficient cooking of vegetables and proteins.

Beyond versatility, convection ovens contribute to cost savings through energy efficiency and increased kitchen productivity. The fan-forced hot air circulation ensures even cooking and faster cooking times, requiring less energy than conventional ovens. This translates to lower energy bills and a reduced carbon footprint. Moreover, the ability to cook multiple items simultaneously and automate cooking processes increases kitchen output, allowing restaurants to handle more orders and potentially minimize labor costs.

In the fast-paced world of fast food and takeaway, where speed, consistency, and cost-effectiveness are paramount, commercial convection ovens prove to be a smart investment that enhances both the quality of the food and the efficiency of the operation.

Pros and cons of industrial convection ovens

A commercial convection oven is a fairly versatile kitchen appliance that has gained popularity worldwide due to its economy and ability to preserve the beneficial properties of food products. They have a fairly wide range of applications:

Like any device, a convection oven has its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s consider all the nuances in more detail.

Operating principle of commercial convection ovens

The name derives from “convection,” the process of heat transfer through the movement of fluids (in this case, air). These ovens utilize forced convection, meaning a fan actively circulates the heated air within the oven chamber, unlike conventional ovens where heat rises naturally. This forced circulation is the key to their efficiency and even cooking.

As the statement explains, two crucial components facilitate this process: a heating element (electric) or burner (gas) to raise the air temperature, and a powerful fan to distribute that heated air evenly. This consistent airflow eliminates hot spots and cold spots, ensuring uniform cooking and browning of food products. This is particularly advantageous when cooking large batches of food, as it reduces cooking times and produces consistent results.

While the fundamental principle of forced convection remains the same, the heat source can vary. Electric convection ovens use heating elements, often positioned around the perimeter of the oven chamber, to generate heat. On the other hand, gas convection ovens utilize gas burners, located at the bottom or sides of the oven. Regardless of the heat source, the fan’s role remains constant: to circulate the heated air for optimal cooking performance.

This distinction in heating methods accounts for the “radically different” operating principles mentioned in the statement, even though the overall outcome – even heat distribution – is the same.   

Advantages of modern technology

  • Variety of models. There are both household and industrial ovens. The former are easy to install at home, have small dimensions, and are affordable. The latter have the highest productivity but are distinguished by impressive dimensions and high energy consumption.
  • Ease of control. Ovens are produced with two systems – electronic and mechanical, although this does not affect the complexity of use. The difference is that electronic control can be programmed for specific recipes, such as ovens from Unox.
  • Versatility. You can cook any dish in convection ovens without worrying about them burning, and the maintained humidity level will keep the products juicy. Although these devices are most often used to prepare bakery and confectionery products, nothing prevents you from processing meat and fish in them. A good example of the versatility of ovens are the products of the Broaster company.
  • Heating. This is not a joke, with the help of convection ovens you can easily cope with heating almost any room. That is why there are models that run on wood fuel. Although gas devices cope with this task no worse.

In addition, several other points can be attributed to the advantages of these devices – uniform distribution of heat throughout the oven, which makes it possible to refuse the use of oil or fat, and the ability to load any dishes except plastic.

Flaws in choosing industrial convection ovens

Despite the many advantages, convection ovens also have certain disadvantages, which, however, have little effect on the popularity of these devices. But still deserves attention when choosing. These include:

  • volume of the working space. In most models it is small enough that it does not allow for achieving high productivity;
  • high fuel consumption. This is especially true for electric furnaces, which require quite a lot of energy to operate;
  • additional space. For a convection oven, you should find a place in the kitchen and make it sufficiently heat-resistant, because during operation the body heats up quite a lot.

In addition, an important disadvantage of such ovens is the impossibility of cooking dishes that require different methods of processing. For example, it will not be possible to cook dishes that require steam processing and frying simultaneously. Steam convection devices can handle this, but not conventional ovens. This significantly reduces productivity and cooking speed, which can be quite an important point for catering establishments with a large flow of visitors.

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