warming-ovens-msg - 6/1/08
Using warming ovens for SCA feasts.
NOTE: See also the files: ovens-msg, camp-ovens-msg, headcooks-msg, Fst-Menus-art, kitchen-clean-msg, fst-disasters-msg, Fst-Managemnt-art, feast-serving-msg.
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Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 10:49:54 -0500
From: "Gaylin Walli" <gwalli at infoengine.com>
Subject: SC - warming ovens
Okay, I'm finalizing my preparation timing and things to do list
for a feast (70 people, 2 courses) I'm cooking at the end of this
month. I've been told that I have a warming oven available to me.
A big one. Only problem is, I've never used them before.
How can I best take advantage of this boon? What will benefit and
suffer from being put in a warming oven once it's been cooked? Can
I use it to reheat items that are precooked? Are there other things
I should consider? Any advice appreciated.
Jasmine
jasmine at infoengine.com
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 08:11:49 -0800
From: Anne-Marie Rousseau <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - warming ovens
hiya from Anne-Marie
we are asked about warming ovens.
I get one for my banquet this weekend. I plan on using it to hold food at a
servable temp. Specifically, we'll be making batches of frumenty, and as
they get ready, put them into the warming overn until they're all done.
That's what they're for, I hear...holding food at a safe but servable
temp. They usually have shelves, or atl east brackets to hold big
commerical baking sheets. I'm putting my frumenty into foil pans to sit on
said shelves.
good luck!
- --AM
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 11:58:10 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - warming ovens
Gaylin Walli wrote:
> How can I best take advantage of this boon? What will benefit and
> suffer from being put in a warming oven once it's been cooked? Can
> I use it to reheat items that are precooked? Are there other things
> I should consider? Any advice appreciated.
Basic rules include not trying to reheat large, cold, perishable items,
like whole birds or chunks of beast, in the warming oven. They'll spend
a long time in the temperature zone where bacteria grow, and you don't
want that.
I'd say the best use for warming ovens would be to hold long-cooked
items like stews, placed in there while hot, for service, and for
warming/reheating things like breads and _small_ perishable pre-cooked
items like single-serving quiches (you _might_ even get away with a
nine-inch shelled tart if it's not too high), beef or veal birds, etc.
Basically you need to consider how high the food item is on a scale for
potential danger (on a scale from one to ten, with shortbreads being one
or less, and rare roast beast or salmon being much higher) and consider
how long the food is likely to spend with an interior temperature
between 40 degrees F. and 140 degrees F. High-risk foods should never be
allowed to spend more than two hours in this range, with one hour or
less being preferable.
Adamantius
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 13:39:46 EST
From: RoseThstle at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - warming ovens
Our barony has used a huge warming oven for years and with good success.
Specifically, one builds a fire and gets a good bed of hot coals started in
the oven itself.. A seperate fire is built to add to the coals as the
origianal coals burn. Like charcoal in a grill for barbaqueing, there
shouldn't be flames, just a red hot glow. You can determine the heat by how
many coals are added. If this is your first time to use a warming oven, I
suggest you ask someone who has to be on hand to give you a hand on getting
it started. It's not hard once you get the hang of it. Just some work. It
gives the food a terrific flavor.
Caitlin
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 19:49:51 -0000
From: "David Gavin" <ticoyama at globalnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: SC - warming ovens
With reference to your warming oven,
They are for keeping food hot only although they will reheat bread. Do not
assume they will reheat food as they do not have enough heat to raise the
foods temperature fast enough through the bacteria danger zone to ensure
minimal bacteria growth, remembering that although the heat may well kill the
bacteria in the end, some leave toxins that themselves will cause food
poisoning.
Food should be held for as little time as possible, mainly because it will
continue to cook a little and will thus spoil.
keep anything inside covered with foil, or baking paper, this will stop
liquids from skimming over.
Warming ovens are great for heating plates & bowls.
Deep fried things will go soggy, loosing their crispness.
On the bacteria front, warming ovens are designed to keep food above
63 degrees C, at this point salmanella is not a problem.
Do not put your wonderfully cooked rare joint in to keep warm, it will be a
bugger to carve and will continue to cook.
Sliced meats if covered in gravy/sauce will keep but again the rare will
become well done in a very short time, Lamb suffers very much from being
held as it should never be more than medium.
Basically the idea of a warming oven is to allow you to assemble a meal and
then serve it all at once without the guests waiting for the veg to arrive
etc, if it is your oven and you know it well then you can get away with more
as you will know exactly how it treats food. A warming oven used properly is
a wonderful device and no kitchen should be without one.
Have a great evening and watch all marvel as the food arrives in volume at a
great rate of knots c/o the warming oven.
Dave Gavin
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 21:17:16 -0600
From: Heitman <fiondel at fastrans.net>
Subject: Re: SC - warming ovens
>I've been told that I have a warming oven available to me.
>A big one. Only problem is, I've never used them before.
>Jasmine
I've now read several posts on warming ovens. some I agree with, some I
vehemently don't. Pretty standard for this list.
You don't give any information describing the device. Given the regional
differences in nomenclature, this could lead to significant differences in
the correctness of what we tell you. Can you elucidate?
The ONE thing I will advise is: if you don't know how to use a particular
piece of equipment, DON'T! You have a better chance of problems than not.
The easiest place to get instructions on what you have is for and how to
use it is a purveyor of foodservice equipment. Tell them a brand name and
model number and they can tell you EXACTLY what you have and what it can
do. They will even give you recommendations on how to specifically enhance
your feast using that equipment.
Being that kind of a reference is how those people sell equipment. They are
a wonderful resource which we as cooks often overlook. (DON'T trust
somebody who rents the stuff. *most* of them don't know anything more than
what the thing is called and how much it rents for.)
If you can describe it here, I may be able to tell you more. But please,
don't try to do anything but hold already hot food, and for no more than 1
hour if possible.
Franz
Calontir
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 12:04:35 -0700
From: Susan Fox-Davis <selene at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] renting warmers
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
We don't typically have the budget for this kind of rental, but the one
time we were working in a kitchen which had them, we thought they were
brilliant! And we were total heroes, all the hot food was by damn HOT!
Selene
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise wrote:
> My brother rented electric warmers for his wedding dinner (he's been a
> caterer and a friend of his did the catering). They were remarkably
> cheap to rent. Has anyone on the list done this for SCA events? I'm
> wondering if I can scrape up the rental out of my feast budget for June
> to relieve my autocrat's fears of cold food.
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 15:36:53 -0400
From: patrick.levesque at elf.mcgill.ca
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] renting warmers
To: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
I rented steam warmers for my last feast - they were about 20$ CAN each (rented
4) and I actually passed them in the site cost, not the feast cost, because I
had a rather small kitchen.
I don't understand how I lived without them before!!! :-) They are very useful
indeed and make planning a lot easier.
Petru
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