Efficient Technologies

Cooking with Electricity

The benefits of cooking with electricity

Electric cooking offers you:

• Appliances that generally outperform gas appliances
• Ease of use and maintenance
• Safe, flameless appliances
• Very precise temperature control
• Equipment that lasts longer

Your competitive edge:

• Reduced ventilation requirements since little heat is lost and no fuel burns
• Capital costs sometimes lower than for gas appliances

Type of electric cooking appliances

Induction cooktop

Whether you want to braise, sauté, brown or fry, induction cooktops (plates or woks), combine speed and top precision. They have no gas equivalent.

Plate

Wok

Uses

Sautéing, browning, frying, braising, simmering, keeping dishes warm and last-minute food preparation.

Description

• The induction-cooking plate has a flat glass-ceramic surface on which the pan containing food to cook is placed.
• The induction wok cooker has a concave glass-ceramic surface to fit the wok.

How it works

• Alternating current flows in a flat coil (inductor) which creates a high-frequency magnetic field.
• A current is induced in any ferromagnetic material in the field. Currents move through the bottom of the cooking vessel, heating it and it alone.
• The heat is transferred directly into the food.

Electrical specifications

Power supply: 208 or 240 V, single-phase; 208 V, 3-phase

Features

• No gas equivalent
• Accurate temperature control
• Highly portable
• Very safe (no hot element)
• Easy to clean
• Energy efficiency of 90%
• Induction only heats the vessel, not the surrounding area
• Only works with cooking vessels made of a ferromagnetic material such as stainless steel

Deep fryer

More durable and efficient than gas deep fryers, electric fryers let you set the temperature exactly and keep it even with minimal loss of heat.

Types

• Automatic
• Programmable
• Pressure

Uses

• Searing and cooking food
• Conduction cooking

Description

• Insulated container filled with cooking oil
• One or more baskets hold the food to cook

How it works

• Cooking oil heated to a high enough temperature (350°F or 177°C) to sear and cook food while not burning it or breaking it down
• Heat provided by electrical elements placed in the container

Electrical specifications

Power supply: 120, 208 or 240 V, single-phase and 3-phase

Features

• Lasts two to three times longer than a gas deep fryer
• Electricity heats more efficiently than gas since elements are immersed in liquid
• Cooking efficiency
  • Gas: 45%
  • Electricity: 70%
• Some models are specially equipped with a performance-boosting:
  • continuous filtering system
  • electronic thermostat that controls temperature to within one degree

Combi-oven

Three ovens in one!
The perfect combination for versatility: convection cooking, hot air (conduction) or steam cooking, or combination cooking (dry and moist heat).

Uses

Bake, roast, cook au gratin meat, fish, vegetables, rice, bread and pastry, or warm up pasta

Description

• Insulated enclosure
• Heat produced by electric elements
• Ovens sized to handle the quantity and type of food to cook
• Efficient in terms of design, engineering and versatility

How it works

• Dry-heat convection oven with moist-heat mode produced by injecting water or pressureless steam
• Three ovens in one: conventional (conduction) oven, convection oven and pressureless steamer
• Programmable cook-mode sequencing and timing

Electrical specifications

Power supply: 120, 208 or 240 V, single-phase and 3-phase

Features

• Simultaneous cooking of several dishes in the same oven
• Superior energy efficiency compared to gas ovens:
  • Gas: 45%
  • Electricity: 70%
• Superior steam-generation efficiency since elements are immersed in water
  
  In general, priced lower than a gas appliance
  
  Cleaning (descaling) recommended after 300 hours of steaming, depending on hardness of water (both for electric combi-oven and gas appliances)

Steamer

Steaming preserves food color and taste in the shortest of cooking times. Take advantage of electric steamers' high efficiency!

Types

• Pressureless steamer (212°F or 100°C)
• Pressure steamer (212°F to 500°F or 100°C to 260°C)

Uses

• Cooking or reheating fresh or frozen foods like vegetables, meat, fish, seafood or poultry
• Warming up pasta
• Pressureless steaming for delicate items
• Pressure steaming to shorten cooking time of hard foods such as potatoes

Description

• Air-tight vessel holding food for pressure or pressureless steaming
• Built-in or stand-alone steam generator

Electrical specifications

Power supply: 208 or 240 V, single-phase and 3-phase

How it works

• Steam is fed into the vessel to cook food by direct contact
• A gram of steam has more energy than a gram of water of equal temperature

Features

• Food color is preserved
• Short cooking time
• More energy efficient than gas appliance
  • Gas: 40%
  • Electricity: 70%
• Steam generator generally lasts longer than a gas appliance
• Price roughly the same as a gas steamer

Microwave oven

Microwave ovens are equipped with very accurate controls for defrosting, warming, blanching or cooking food.

Uses

• Defrosting
• Reheating refrigerated or frozen food
• Blanching, basic cooking and final cooking

Description

• Closed compartment
• Magnetron generates electomagnetic waves that excite food molecules, producing heat

Features

• No gas equivalent
• Cooking continues after magnetron stops (time needed to reach uniform temperature)
• Accurate temperature control

Electrical specifications

Power supply: 120 ou 208 V, single-phase

How it works

• Magnetron-generated waves are fed into oven
• Food molecules set in motion as waves are absorbed, causing food to heat
• Result: cooking by convection inside the food

Low-temperature cook-and-hold oven

The low-temperature oven uses dry or moist heat to cook food. It lets you roast at low temperatures or warm up food.

Uses

• Roasting and cooking at low temperatures, then holding at the desired temperature
• Reheating
• Precise temperature and humidity control for both cooking and holding

Description

• Insulated enclosure
• Heat produced by electric elements
• Ovens sized for required production
• Efficient in terms of design, engineering and versatility

How it works

• Cooks both with dry and moist heat
• Elements heat air inside the enclosure
• Hot air circulating inside the oven heats food
• Cooking temperatures from 225°F to 260°F (from 107°C to 128°C)
• Holding temperatures from 140°F to 160°F (from 60°C to 71°C)

Remarks

Precise hold-temperature control is crucial. If temperature falls below 140°F (60°C), bacterial growth can occur. If temperature exceeds 160°F (71°C), cooking continues.

Features

• No gas equivalent
• More even cooking and less food shrinkage
• Meat tenderized by low-temperature holding, generally for 1 to 12 hours (holding 1 hour equals aging for 24 hours)
• Flexible and mobile: oven can be installed and moved almost anywhere since no ventilation is required
• Suitable for meeting high demand at banquets and receptions

Electrical specifications

Power supply: 120, 208 or 240 V, single-phase and 3-phase

Cook-and-chill system

With this electric system, you can cook food and cool it within the time you set. This lets you stretch storage life to up to 45 days.

Definition

An integrated system for preparing, storing, packaging and distributing food.

How it works

• Cooking, then quick cooling and storage of food, with precise temperature control at every step
• Storage at near-freezing temperature to minimize bacterial growth

Benefits

• Lower food costs
  • Reduced shrinkage from low-temperature cooking
• Lower power bills
  • Reduced ventilation costs
  • Low-temperature cooking more energy efficient
  • Some units can operate at night on cheaper electricity
• More compact than conventional equipment for high-volume production
• Centralized production

Methods

Two ways to chill:

• Blast chilling
  • Traditional equipment like kettles, braising pans, steamers and convection ovens are used for cooking
  • Once cooked, food is placed in containers then put in blast chiller
  • Method based on blasting food product with frigid air to chill it quickly
  • Bags are used so food reaches desired temperature in prescribed time
  • Storage life: 5 days
• Immersion chilling
  • For cooking, kettle with agitator for pumpable food products, cook-chill tank for other food like cuts of meat
  • Once cooked, food is pumped to a fill station
  • Food is pumped into 1- to 12-litre bags
  • Bags are immersed in cold water to lower temperature to 40°F (4°C) in 120 minutes
  • Storage life: up to 45 days
  
  

N.B. storage life includes food preparation and temperature adjustment time

Cook-and-chill equipment

Kettle with agitator

Description

• Large-volume kettle, ranging from 40 gal. (150 L) to 400 gal. (1,500 L)
• Designed to fit a food pump
• Heat for cooking from boiler-generated steam
• Kettles have agitators that gently lift and turn food to reduce cooking time

Options

• Programmable cooking
• Probe monitoring

Fill station

• Designed to pump cooked food from the kettle and put precise amounts in bags
• Valve sized to let through cubes in stews and similar dishes
• Filled bags are sealed before plunging in an ice bath

Cook-chill tank

• Specially designed for immersion cooking of vacuum-packed products like meat
• Cooking in water bath at low temperatures, from 150°F (66°C) to 190°F (88°C):
  • Reduced losses from meat shrinkage
  • Enhanced tenderness
  • Natural juices and flavor better preserved
• Once cooked, food is chilled quickly to 40°F (4°C) by replacing cooking bath with an ice bath
• Once chilled to 40°F (4°C), food is removed from tank and stored
• Overnight unsupervised operations for units under automatic process control

Ice-water chiller

• Designed to chill bags from 180°F (82°C) to 40°F (4°C) in 30 to 60 minutes
• Bags are loaded in tank manually or by conveyor
• Ice water circulates continuously for optimal chilling
• Cooling rate depends on product composition and density

Ice builder

• Designed to produce ice water continuously for ice-water chillers and cook-chill tanks
• Can also produce ice

Blast chiller

• Designed to quickly chill most food products, from soup to prepared dishes
• Suitable for chilling food that cannot be handled by a tumbler-chiller, such as breaded meats
• Food cooked with conventional equipment is divided into portions on covered trays
• Food is chilled from 165°F (74°C) to 38°F (3°C) in 90 minutes
• Chillers, most of which accommodate carts, are sized for daily throughput
• Most equipped with an air or hydraulic compressor for better cooling capacity

Low-volume units

• Combined unit: cook-chill tank and ice-water chiller for low-temperature immersion cooking, then rapid chilling
• Greatly reduced floor space