[Sca-cooks] Salamanders

[Gorgeous Muiredach]

>Why and when would you
>want to flash heat plates? I assume you mean the plates that the food
>is served on? So that you don't have a cold plate cooling down the
>food? So the customer thinks the food is fresh off the stove instead
>of having been sitting in a warming oven?

Well, in a commercial setting, you would have your plates sitting in
something to keep them warm to start with.  Often, you have a two oven
combo, one that you use, the other that is off, with your plates in
it.  The heat from the other oven keeps the plates warm.

It's not so much to give the customer the impression the food is fresh vs
warming oven.  More to ensure that the food is actually hot.  No matter
what you do, the food will cool down while you plate it, and a quick trip
in the salamander gives it a bit of a warm up.

Many places don't keep the food in a warming oven or steam table, that is,
many self respecting place :-)  But say I cook a steak for an order, and
they want it well done, while someone else at the same table ordered a thin
piece of fish.  The fish will be cooked, and ready before teh steak.  You
may keep it for the short time it takes to finish cooking the steak.  So
yes, it is kept in a warm area, but not indefinitely as your
comment/question seemed to suggest.  As I say, food can cool down real quick.

> From what you've said, it sounds like the commercial salamanders are
>hotter than the broiler under home stoves,

I suspect they aren't all that different.  Broiler is about 500F, and so is
a salamander, however, the food sits much closer to the burner in the
salamander.

>so is this why you
>specifically mention flash cooking "thin" pieces of meat/fish?

I'm thinking slices of fish that would be a couple of milimeter thin (abotu
1/8th of an inch).  It works wonders when you want to cook the fish but not
over cook it.  You can plate your dish with cooked and warm-to-hot veggies,
put the plate in the salamander for a moment and you get fish that is
cooked perfectly, with piping hot veggies.

It should be noted that I do not condone using the salamander as a sole
heating agent, lest you burn the outside of some things without really
cooking/warming the inside.

>I thought "au gratin" was done in an oven. Are you suggesting doing
>all the cooking in the salamander? Or baking this and then just
>browning it under the salamander?

Well, it depends...  You can get the result by baking entirely in the
oven.  That is often optimal.  But sometimes you can go straight to the
salamander if everything you have is already hot.  Say for example you are
doing a dish called "chicon au gratin", which is a typical OOP Belgian dish
of endives wrapped in ham slices, covered with a cream sauce and mashed
potatoes, then with ementhal or gruyere, and gratinee.  If all your
elements are hot when you assemble it, and you just want to brown the
cheese, then a trip in the salamander is called for.

Another option might be if you have several individual dishes, like say
individual lasagna dishes.  Keeping them all in the fridge.  To warm them
before serving, you can microwave them, then add some cheese on top and do
the au gratin in teh salamander.

>What is "gratinee"? I assume
>something similar to "au gratin" but....

Well, typically, au gratin involves cheese that has been "gratine".  That
is, browned and often rendered a little crisp.

Gratinee doesn't always involve cheese.  For example, the hollandaise sauce
in the so-called eggs benedict (calm down Master A, I'm not talking about
Oeufs Benedictine...  <grin>).  The dish *should* be put under the
salamander until the sauce takes a bit of a brown glow to it.

I hope this helps.

You know, Stefan, you weren't asking nearly so many questions at Pennsic!  LOL

Gorgeous Muiredach the Odd
Clan of Odds
Shire of Forth Castle
Meridies
mka
Nicolas Steenhout
"You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry