Smart kitchen sees Scots College score big at RCA awards
When there are 270 hungry students to serve in 15 minutes, commercial kitchen equipment that makes a kitchen up to 50% more efficient was a smart choice for the Trippas White Group at Scots College in Bellevue Hill in Sydney.
Having been awarded Institutional Caterer of the Year at the HOSTPLUS Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence, it’s easy to see how much can be gained from one small piece of equipment. We caught up with Trippas White Group’s Head Chef Damon Spooner to see how the new Comcater equipment has changed his operation.
The Scots College is one of the oldest and most reputable boys’ schools in Australia. It is a non-selective Presbyterian GPS boys’ school for day and boarding students.
Trippas White Group provides a premium catering service to The Scots College providing healthy, nutritious food for boarding students and staff across multiple campuses as well as providing special event catering for the many support groups and functions at the College.
A RATIONAL VarioCookingCenterr® 311+ was recently installed in the kitchen to complement a range of RATIONAL combi ovens and Tecnomac blast chiller. The results and impact have been dramatic, according to Head Chef Damon Spooner and Sous Chef Tim Kleinmann.
Spaghetti Bolognese is a favourite of the students and now with the VCC up to 40kg of mince can be used to prepare a Bolognese sauce in 15 minutes rather than 90 minutes it used to take in a bratt pan. Plus with the even heat and accurate temperature control of the unit, Tim has confidence the sauce won’t stick to the base or burn.
As for pasta, 16kg can be cooked unattended in 14 minutes saving up to another 40 minutes waiting for brat pans to boil to blanch pasta.
The 270 students are on a tight schedule so the kitchen needs to have the food ready when they are. During lunch the boys are offered a choice of 2 hot dishes and have to be served in a 12-15 minute window during their lunch break. “They eat a lot of food”, quipped Damon.
On the lunch menu today was Gourmet Bangers and Mash. Sausages were cooked in the RATIONAL’s (300 degrees at 20% moisture) and were ready in 4 minutes and according to Damon, “were just as good as a BBQ.”
For a dinner that evening, 300 cooked chicken breast schnitzels were cooling down in the Tecnomac blast chiller. Later they’ll be run through a Rational Finishing® program so they are crisp and moist for service.
According to Damon and Tim, RATIONAL and Tecnomac work hand in hand to deliver a smart solution for high volume production and improved efficiency for the kitchen at The Scots College.
If you would like to learn more about this kitchen setup, fill in our form to get in touch with the local team today!