More and more Aged Care facilities have adopted the use of combi ovens in their kitchens. However many utilise only limited functionality of these modern cooking tools which can do so much more than a standard oven.
We spoke to Kim Wisneski, Corporate Chef at RATIONAL Australia about what is possible with their RATIONAL SelfCookingCenter®.
According to Kim, you can prepare many dishes using a SelfCookingCenter® (SCC), and get perfectly consistent results with a touch of a button. The technology allows you to bake, roast, steam, blanch, poach and much more, all in a single unit.
Kim provides training and support to hundreds of Aged Care Chefs and kitchen staff throughout Victoria, in particular in regional areas. She meets people with different knowledge, backgrounds and skills who are all able to prepare healthier, great-tasting food using the technology.
Kim has a number of tips for maximising the potential of your kitchen with a SelfCookingCenter®:
“The cooking intelligence of the SCC allows the unit to learn your preferences and cooking habits and then adjust its controls automatically to meet your needs. You won’t need to do any further checking or monitoring. What’s more, these settings can be saved to your unit so that the same quality of food is produced each time, regardless of who is operating the unit.”
The SCC is purpose-built for busy kitchens needing to prepare high volumes with consistent quality, texture and taste, so it can solve 90 per cent of the challenges experienced by Aged Care Chefs.
The SCC cooks almost every kind of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You can cook a tray of fried eggs for breakfast, croissants, braised beef, creamy porridge, pasta or a simple toasted sandwich all in a single unit.
Working against the clock every day, Chefs rarely have time to stand stirring a pot of porridge or making labour-intensive dishes like slow-cooked casseroles consistently and yet these dishes are everyday favourites that residents want on the menu.
The SCC can work 24/7 if you need. It can cook overnight, unsupervised, and clean itself. It also helps reduce OH&S risks in the kitchen by eliminating common lifting hazards, such as lifting heavy pots of water.
The SCC method often gets the tick of approval from dieticians. Fish and chips are a great example. Traditionally, you would cook this in a deep fryer using high quantities of oil. There is very little oil required to create the same result in the SCC. Similarly, vegetables can be steamed to a soft texture without losing the nutritional benefits.
According to Kim, many dishes can be enhanced with calcium and protein without changing the end result. Scrambled eggs can be enhanced, and the oven will intuitively adjust to deliver creamy, soft eggs. Adjusting cooking times for texture-modified diets is also easy to do with the unit.
One of the highlights of Kim’s training is seeing just how passionate and energetic Aged Care Kitchen staff are to create great-quality food for their residents. In Aged Care, everyone understands the importance of great food for residents.
Staff often learn much more than just how to use a combi. The Academy RATIONAL events offer face-to-face workshops, online forums and the opportunity to share all kind of tips and new recipe ideas with other Chefs and kitchen staff.
ConnectedCooking offers Chefs access to various online resources with step-by-step guides and recipes for all their cooking needs.
To learn more about the SelfCookingCenter®, ConnectedCooking or Academy RATIONAL contact +64 9633 0900.
