Why Do I Need a Blast Chiller for My Restaurant?

By Scott Leger, Corporate Chef – Omcan

Chef: “I would like to have a blast chiller in my kitchen”

Owner: “Why do you need a blast chiller?  Seems like a luxury item.  Can’t you just use our walk-in or reach-in freezer?”

More and more kitchens are equipping themselves with blast chillers – but why?  Blast chillers are now becoming more common in today’s commercial kitchens and bakeries as chefs and owners alike are discovering the many benefits of having one.

Owner: “What is the difference between a blast chiller and our freezers?”

Chef:

• “Regular freezers are designed to hold food at a below freezing temperature. Bringing a product from warm to cold/frozen will take time and the integrity of the food will go down.
• Blast chillers will use a fan to blow cold air all around the product and will cool or freeze food to a desired temperature in a quicker, more efficient and safer way without compromising its integrity. Then the frozen product will be transferred to our regular freezer for holding”

Owner: “That’s interesting but seems like a big investment just for that.”

Chef: “Wait…there’s more!”

Unlike regular freezers, blast chillers will cool or freeze the core of your product in a much more rapid way.  Fans will blow chilled air all around the product and rapidly lower the core temperature to minimize bacterial growth.  Remember that bacteria in the danger zone (40 – 140 degrees F) will double its growth every 15 minutes.  So, getting your temperature to the right place is crucial for the quality of the food and the safety of our customers.  Blast chillers also have an advantage over traditional freezers because of the speed in which they work – as the food will also produce much smaller ice crystals resulting in minimal damage such as oxidization or freezer burn.  And if the product is planned to be reheated, it will maintain its original structure and texture as opposed to freezing slowly in a traditional freezer where not only oxidization and freezer burn will happen, but also there will be more surface moisture from the slowly frozen food once the product is thawed or cooked.  We want our food to be the same as it was before we froze it.

Owner: “Ok, so it ensures our great products are staying great.  But I need to know more before I invest in something like this.  Could this be something that would help us save money?”

Chef: “Yes, by reducing the amount of food being thrown out because the quality has deteriorated in our walk-in or reach-in freezers.”

Since we pride ourselves on having a high standard in the food we serve, we must ensure that we aren’t serving inferior ingredients due to damage caused by our freezers.  Whenever we must throw food away due to freezer burn, ice crystals and/or loss of moisture during our cooling periods, that is money down the drain.  A blast chiller will help eliminate this kind of waste. 

Sometimes we must buy out of season ingredients at a higher cost as well as being less flavourful.  Now we can buy in bulk when it’s in season and blast freeze for a later use while still having that maximum flavour as if it were still in peak season.

Oh, and without a blast chiller, the way we need to cool down our products quickly in order to get it out of the “danger zone,” we are placing the products into our regular fridges and freezers.  This is not what they are designed for and is causing our units to operate beyond its designed capabilities. Thus, resulting in more energy consumption and more service calls.  A bonus would also be that our staff won’t have to monitor the cooling down process and can turn their focus onto other preparations resulting in more efficient labour costs.

Owner: “Wow!  I had no idea that these units could play such a positive role in our day-to-day operations!

Chef: “It will also allow me to feel more comfortable in expanding our menu and ingredients while giving me the confidence in knowing that they will be treated the best possible way.”

We can now I.Q.F (individually quick freeze) our products just like the suppliers do to maximize our quality when stored in the freezer.

Adding raw fish to our menu will be simple with the fish sanitizer feature. There is a preset program that will allow us to put fresh fish that have inevitable parasites in them such as anisakiasis and will kill them without damaging the fish quality.  Sushi, Sashimi and Poke bowls will be a great addition to our menu.

There will be so many other opportunities to gain with this unit.  I can’t wait to capitalize on everything these units have to offer.

Owner: “I can see that you are as passionate about this equipment as you are with your food.  Let’s do it!”

Visit Omcan.com for all of your blast chiller and/or equipment needs.