Mastering Cooking with a Combi Oven: Techniques, Benefits, and Menu Innovation
Are you looking for an oven that can do it all? A combi oven is the commercial kitchen’s super multi-tasker.
With a combi oven, you get the best of several cooking methods in one unit: convection, steam, and a combination of both. In other words, a combi oven lets you bake, roast, steam, poach, grill, and more—all with one oven.
Raise the Bakes: Combi Ovens Benefits in a Commercial Kitchen
There are three main “modes” for most combi ovens. They have plenty of room for multiple dishes and are compact enough to replace multiple appliances and pieces of equipment.
The primary jobs of a combination oven or “combi” oven are as follows:
- Convection Mode: Using dry, circulated hot air to cook food—works similar to a standard oven, but more efficient. Perfect for roasting, baking, and grilling.
- Steam Mode: The steam setting uses moist air in the oven cavity or chamber to cook foods that benefit from steam, like fish, vegetables, and some types of bread.
- Combination Mode: Lets you control the humidity and temperature to get the perfect balance when cooking meats, pastries, and other complex dishes.
With a combi oven, you get plenty of control over humidity levels and temperature, so you get precise, perfect results each time you cook. You’ll hit the perfect balance of moisture and crispiness with a combi oven.
Through the Cooking Glass: Maximizing Your Creative Cooking Potential with a Commercial Combi Oven
You can perfectly cook a wide array of dishes with a combi steam oven. Thanks to the combination of steam and dry heat, it’s one of the most versatile options for cooking in a commercial kitchen.
- Meats: Get juicy, evenly cooked poultry, roasts, and seafood with a combi oven. The steam keeps meat tender and succulent, and the convection mode crisps up the outside perfectly.
- Vegetables: Vegetables become a textural delight in a combi oven. You get soft, flavorful interiors with caramelized, crispy edges.
- Bread: High humidity does wonderful things to bread dough—giving you moisture control for that perfect crust and soft, pillowy interior.
- Pastries: Croissants, pastries, and rolls are excellent candidates for a combi oven that gives them the perfect balance of moisture and heat.
- Rice & Pasta: As for lasagna, risotto, and other delicate dishes, a combi oven will yield evenly cooked results without drying out the dish.
- Desserts: Finally, cheesecake, custards, puddings, and more turn out perfectly every time with the gentle, even steam function (no cracks)!
No doubt, you’re already running through the many possibilities for expanding and innovating your menu with a combi oven. If you’re looking for a few fun and delicious ways to branch out with a combi oven, try:
- Sous-vide Cooking: Using a combination of low temps and controlled humidity, you can mimic the results of sous-vide cooking in a combi oven (no vacuum bags needed).
- Infusion Cooking: Infuse your dishes with spices, herbs, and aromatics for new and exciting flavor enhancements.
- Smoking: Yes, some combi ovens offer smoking, letting you add distinctive flavors to all your dishes.
- Slow Cooking and Braising: Precise temperature control and humidity make a combi oven the answer for slow-cooking tougher cuts of meat.
A combi oven lets you play around with different textures, flavors, and cooking methods. It can make your menu fun and exciting with endless possibilities for creative customization. Many of these abilities come from the controlled humidity. You retain moisture, get crispiness and caramelization, and consistent, even results. If you’re ready to level up your cooking, a combi oven gives you a world of options.
All You Can Heat: Simplifying Kitchen Operations with Combi Ovens Through Programming and Automation
Commercial kitchens require attention to detail and time. Everything that comes out of the kitchen and onto a customer’s table should be consistently high-quality. There’s no margin for error.
With a combi oven, you get the ability to program and automate features to help you streamline the cooking process (even when things get hectic in the back of the house). When you’re in the weeds, a little pre-programming can keep you on track.
Automated Controls in Combi Cooking
The automated features of a combi oven let you manage several different cooking processes without stress. You can set up automated cooking cycles to switch between steaming and roasting modes without manually changing the oven. That means that dishes will still come out perfectly even if someone gets distracted or tied up in the kitchen.
Combi ovens let you monitor the humidity and temperature of the oven—many options even make automated adjustments, so you don’t need to worry about over or under-cooking a dish. This control lets you get the levels exactly right for superior results.
As for multi-stage cooking, combi ovens are your BFF. You can break down a recipe’s different stages, like searing, steaming, and baking, in a single cooking session. This feature is especially helpful for dishes that require a lot of exact timing and temperature changes, such as specialty baked goods.
When it comes to standard dishes, pre-programming and automation still shine. You get consistency, ensuring that customer favorites turn out exactly the same way each time, regardless of who happens to be on shift.
Automation in the kitchen saves you time monitoring and making manual adjustments. Workflows flow much easier when kitchen operations are set up to process automatically. Introduce new and seasonal dishes to your menus with ease, knowing that staff will nail the landing every time thanks to the easy programming process.
By increasing your speed and efficiency, lowering the need for constant monitoring, having a combi oven is almost like having another person in the kitchen. It frees up chefs to oversee the complex and creative dishes that make your menu stand out. It helps ensure that food is always top-notch.
Because combi ovens use the functions of a convection oven, they cook dishes a little quicker, too. The exact controls and multi-tray capabilities allow you to cook many dishes simultaneously without worrying about flavor transfer, too. Fewer mistakes mean less waste and less stress. Customers love and expect consistency, and a combi oven can help your culinary masterpieces get there.
Give and Bake: Tips for Recipe Adaptation and Cooking Traditional Dishes in a Combi Oven
How does a combi oven do right out of the gate? Is there a learning curve? Adapting traditional recipes from your menu to maximize the combi oven’s quality results requires some experimentation. Heat and cooking times, as well as humidity levels, may take some trial and error.
Here are a few key factors to remember when you’re adapting your recipes:
Convection heat cuts the cooking time by about 25-30% in most dishes. To nail the faster cooking time, start by reducing the cooking time a little and monitor the results to make sure the timing is right.
Similarly, the heat efficiency of a combi oven means that you can often reduce cooking temperatures by 25-50°F compared to your more traditional commercial oven. Again, the time and temperature might require some testing and experimentation to get it right.
Remember that roasting and baking work best with convection mode to get that golden crispy exterior. Steam mode can help infuse moisture into dishes like casseroles and vegetables that can otherwise get dry. For recipes that call for a balance of moisture and dry heat (like baking bread and roasting meats), the combi mode does it all. Cook large batches of food without stress or hassle.
More Tips to Help You Get Combi Cooking Right
- Start with Similar Recipes: As you adapt recipes to the combi oven, choose familiar items that you’ve cooked before. You’ll be familiar with the standard and can make slight adjustments as needed.
- Adjust Humidity Gradually: Humidity is a big part of the combi ovens power, but it can take some trial to get it right. If you want a crispier exterior, increase the dry heat and reduce the humidity. For moist, tender results, bring the humidity levels up. Start with humidity between 30-40% and adjust by 10% until you find the right balance.
- Keep Notes: Every great cook knows the importance of taking notes. When you’re using a combi oven, those notes can help guide you a lot going forward. Note the times, temperatures, humidity levels and results. Eventually, you’ll build a collection of great recipes.
- Monitor Closely at First: The first few batches will require a close eye on your cooking process. Combi ovens cook much faster than traditional ovens, and you may need to adjust further as you go along.
- Make the Most of Pre-Programming: Many combi ovens feature pre-programmed settings for certain dishes like bread, meats, and vegetables. These programs can help you find a baseline for your own dishes and recipes.
Be a Heat Freak: Get the Benefits of Combi Oven Cooking from Eleven36
If you want the ideal results of steaming and convection cooking, then commercial combi ovens are a wonderful choice. Although they may be a bit more complex than traditional commercial ovens, they’re well worth the learning curve and investment to boost your culinary game.
Combi ovens let you create perfect pastries, delicious crusty breads, juicy meats, and flavorful caramelized vegetables. They’re a workhorse in the kitchen that can help you achieve more and branch out with your menu. With regular maintenance, your combi oven will continue to give your commercial restaurant the best results possible.
When you look for a piece of kitchen equipment like a combi oven, you want to invest in a high-quality machine that comes with an excellent reputation. At Eleven36 we carry the top brands in the business, so you can rest assured that you’re always getting the best.
Some of our most popular combi oven options include:
- Blodgett Stainless Steel Combi Oven
- Vulcan Mini Jet 4
- Alto Shaam 7 20 G Pro
- The Alto Shaam 20G Pro Right-Hinged
Combi ovens are available from top brands in gas and electric options, sized to suit your needs. Whether you’re running a boutique bakery or a large-scale catering operation a combi oven will expand and streamline your menu.If you have any questions about choosing a combi oven (or any piece of equipment) for your commercial kitchen, reach out to our team. We’re happy to help you find the best option to open a world of new possibilities for your kitchen.