About Restaurant Ovens
Instead of the direct heat of a burner, an oven cooks food by surrounding it with heat. Roasted and baked foods are typically cooked in ovens. Delicate custards can also be cooked in an oven. There are various types of ovens, and a restaurant's menu, needs, budget and available space will determine what type of oven or ovens will work best in their kitchen.
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Range
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The flattop or range/oven combination is similar to a residential stove/oven combination in that the burners or a flattop or both are on the top of the unit, while the ovens are situated below the cook top. Smaller commercial ranges of this type are popular in residential gourmet kitchens. The ovens are larger than a residential oven, yet work in a similar fashion.
Convection
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A convection oven will cook food faster than a traditional oven. This is because hot air is forced through fans and is circulated around the food. This cooks the food quickly and evenly. Some models are designed to add moisture to the oven. Some convection units can be operated as a convection oven, or with the fans off, to cook like a traditional oven. These are available in gas and electric with stainless steel exteriors, and can include a convection/microwave combination.
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Deck
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The heat source of the deck oven is located below the floor of the oven. Deck ovens can have a firebrick or ceramic base. They are available in gas, electric charcoal or wood-burning. Instead of a wire rack, the food is placed directly on the deck or shelf. A deck oven might consist of two to four decks. This type of oven is typically used for roasting.
Conveyor
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Conveyor ovens move the food through its cooking chamber. Another term used for this type of oven is continuous oven. This type of oven can be a counter unit, which sits on top of a stainless-steel table. It allows for greater volume. The food is placed on one end of the machine, and as it moves through the conveyor more food can be added; the finished product moves out the other side of the unit.
Specialty
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There are other specialty ovens built to meet specific needs of the restaurant's menu. The pizza oven is designed to hold the unique size of a pizza, wide with minimum headroom, and to cook using the heat method best suited to baking a pizza. They often include several openings, allowing the restaurant to cook multiple pizzas. These can be free-standing or countertop. Other specialty ovens include rotary ovens used for spit roasting and rotating deck ovens.
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- Photo Credit A. Johnson
