A Few Tips for Holding Food to Maximize Flavor, Texture, and Freshness
If you know in advance that you will need to cook and hold food on a regular basis, then it is important to educate yourself how best to keep your food hot and fresh until it is time to serve. Of course, your method is greatly influenced by what sort of dish you are trying to keep hot.
Primary Considerations
Your primary considerations should be to ensure that your food can be kept within the safety zone temperatures and that your hold time will not exceed recommended times. According to the FDA, hot food must be kept at 135 degrees or higher for no more than four hours, although certain individual dishes cannot be held that long and preserve their freshness. (It should be noted that foods being reheated should first be brought to an internal temperature of 165 before they can be safely held at a lower temperature.)
Secondary Considerations
Next, you must evaluate how different dishes should be treated during their holding times. While some foods require occasional stirring, others fall apart if subjected to such treatment. Be sure to investigate each dish ahead of time and communicate with your staff regarding which dishes are to be carefully tended and which are to be left alone.
Holding Options
When it comes to holding hot foods effectively, your best option is to invest in a professional holding cabinet. Hot food holding cabinets not only allow you to regulate temperatures with scientific exactitude, but they also are specially designed to help hot foods retain their moisture and freshness.
Here at Thermodyne Foodservice Products, Inc., we provide high-quality slow cook and hold ovens for commercial and industrial kitchens. If you have questions or comments about this, or if you would like to hear more about our product lines, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to serving you.
Posted in: Cooking Tips & Recipes