Putting The Blast In Cook-Chill
One of the most essential pieces of kitchen equipment for
any dealership to make available to foodservices or restaurants,
who are looking to do cook-chill production,is an appropr iately
sized blast chiller.Blast chillers ensure that bulk-cooked foods
of all sorts can be rapidly cooled to safe temperatures,allowing
them to be inventoried in cold storage for future service with
little or no product degradation.
Cook-Chill Benefits
Blast chiller-supported cook-chill programs offer many advantages
to commercial and noncommercial foodservice operations,
most notably the enhancement of food safety.
Because blast chillers can reduce panned cooked foods' internal
temperatures from above 160
o
F to 38oF or below faster than
pathogens can form, they ensure that meal items can be
re-thermed or served cold from reach-in displays with minimum
risk of spoilage.This ability also creates another benefit that
E&S dealers can bring to operators and consultants - optimum
food quality,since blast chilling brings products through the
temperature 'danger zone' quickly enough to prevent the
formation of cell-bursting ice crystals that degrade foods taste
and texture.
Most end-users who install blast chillers also enjoy a reduction
in product shrinkage when blast chilling protein items such as
roasts or meat loaf as part of a cook-chill program.What's more,
blast chilling extends the shelf-life of menu items ranging from
mousses to baked goods, sauces,gravies and stews by up to
three weeks.This allows foods to be prepared and chilled less
often in larger amounts,reducing labor requirements and making
inventory management and menu planning more efficient.
Blast Chiller Advances
More and more operators and equipment specifiers are
coming to realize that blast chillers are not only indispensable
to maintaining food safety and improving operational performance,
they are also right for an increasing variety of kitchen applications.
In fact, any restaurant or foodservice that prepares foods for
inventory,satellites prepared products to remote prep/service
points, runs a banquet program or reheats leftovers can now
find a blast chiller of proper size and capacity,regardless of the
scope of their operations.Victory, for instance, offers a reach-in
blast chiller as small as 28”x 32” x 36”in its nine-model line-up.
The growing popularity of reach-in and undercounter blast
chillers with smaller operations, as well as the mounting use
of larger roll-ins at higher-volume foodservices,is now being
matched by the increasing number of foods that operators are
learning to blast chill. Items ranging from loin roasts to freshbaked cookies and even chocolate-dipped strawberries are now
all being blast chilled for future service at chain restaurants and
foodservices.This trend is indicative of operators' growing
application of the technology.
Of course, maintaining safe food production with blast chillers
depends strongly on units' location in a cook-chill or cook-serve
kitchen. Most dealer-designers and consultants advise positioning
high-output roll-in blast chillers as close as possible to cook
lines, to minimize foods' transport times between safely chilled
and heated environments. Operational safety is also enhanced
when smaller blast chillers are stocked with meal components
and positioned behind serving lines to ensure that these food
items are as cold as possible when they are put out on refrigerated
make-up tables or in display cases and sold for later consumption.
A further food safety-enhancing feature available with Victory
blast chillers is a three-step control panel that provides built-in
alarms, a 'fail safe' system that assures proper equipment
performance and four chill-time pre-sets keyed to the amount
of products to be cooled.Victory blast chillers also employ
probes that transmit a signal to kitchen staff when foods have
been cooled to safe temperatures.
Other market-leading blast chiller features that dealers should
be able to promote include: digital displays of cabinet and
food temperatures,easy-to-read print-outs that create records
of HACCP-compliant food production,direct connections to
back-office PCs for data transfer and the ability to capture
information formatted by the NAFEM Data Protocol.All of
these features are available now on Victory blast chillers.
What's more, because Victory's refrigeration equipment is among
the leaders in energy efficiency in every model category, the
company was selected by ENERGY STAR
®
as a 2006 Manufacturing
Partner of the Year - the first foodservice equipment maker ever
to be so honored in ENERGY STAR's 14-year history.
The Time For Blast Chilling Is Now
Blast chillers, including those
manufactured by Victory,are now
available in sizes and capacities
suitable for a wider than ever range
of foodservice programs. Dealers
can now help to maintain food
safety by recommending these
units for just about any operation
that prepares foods for future service.
While there still may be some operators
who are hesitant about making an
initial investment in blast chilling
equipment, most E&S dealers agree
that selling the best technology
available to preserve food safety
is both responsible and pays for
itself many times over by helping
to prevent outbreaks of foodborne
illnesses. So,while there are many
types of rapid-cooling equipment
on the market, only Victory can
offer blast chilling at its best.
Press
to select blast chill
or storage.
Press to select hard or soft chill
Press to select from four time
options (30, 60,90 or 240
minutes) or temperature
probe termination of the
chill cycle.
Press to start the blast chill
process.
FEATURES & BENEFITS
Control Panel
• The easy-to-use 3-Step Control Panel, featuring built-in alarms,
has a fail-safe system that ensures proper and safe operation, and
can be taught to anyone who works in a professional kitchen.
• Control panel can be set with either four preset chilling times,
depending on the quantity of food to be chilled; or with food
probes, which sound an alarm when the proper internal
temperature is reached.
• Cabinet and food temperatures are digitally displayed for easy
reading and to assure desired temperatures have been reached.
• A built-in printer makes documentation and HACCP record
keeping simple and easy.
Cabinets
• Heavy gauge stainless steel interiors and exteriors maintain an
attractive appearance through years of heavy use.
•
Over two-inch thick, foamed-in-place polyurethane insulation
throughout the cabinet ensures the ultimate in energy efficiency.
Doors
•
Magnetic balloon gaskets prevent cold air from escaping,
maximizing energy efficiency.
• Door heaters prevent condensation from forming on the
cabinet fron
t.
• Self-closing doors are securely mounted on hinges that have
a lifetime guarantee. Roll-ins have a 90º stay-open feature.
Refrigeration System
• Self-contained blast chillers remove heat quickly during the
blast chill process,then convert to a +38ºF storage refrigerator
after the blast chill cycle is complete.
• Roll-ins have a “POD” refrigeration system that allows the
cabinet to revert to +38ºF storage mode after the blast chill
cycle is complete.
Construction
• Roll-in blast chillers are made from walk-in type cam-lock
panels and are delivered knocked down for ease of installation.
Panel assembly is required on site.
Operation
Operating a Victory blast chiller is as easy as 1-2-3.
You can operate the blast chill cycles using pre-set
chill times or using the food core temperature probes.
All Prices and Specifications subject to change without notice
We use the Victory Blast Chiller
for many different foods,from
meats to sauces to salad ingredients.
We often put 20 pounds of pasta
or 50 pounds of chicken into sheet
pans and blast it down right off
the hot line. We just couldn’t
handle the daily volume and maintain
the quality our customers expect
and deserve without our Victory
Blast Chiller.
Michael Martin-Vegue
Executive Chef
Bytes Cafe
More Safety. Less Cost.
Victory Means Blast Chilling At Its Best