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for ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs .’ I know this because I’ve seen it firsthand. I don’t mean to get preachy here, but
When it comes to cooking innovations... Maybe we have been asking for “faster horses” and not better equipment. “
the introduction and implementation of innovative kitchen equipment must be in lockstep with training, culinary culture development, and the democratization of culinary knowledge and skills via digital formats. As much as I love to do face-to- face training (and I have made a career of providing it for decades), I feel that it may not be sustainable in the long run, or that it may be useful only in certain areas, but not in scale. Now I’m getting nostalgic, NOT! I’m very excited to see how new platforms that provide training digitally are sprouting more often than ever with beautiful formats and very energetic bright people. LunchAssist and Fig are both great examples of these programs and run by good friends of mine. While I’m all over the place in this article (and hopefully you have stuck with me this far) let’s circle back to kitchen equipment innovation. There are a few exceptions to the slow pace of kitchen equipment innovation. For me, one of the most interesting examples is German combi oven technology. I’m not suggesting that anyone buy these types of ovens, just want to point out what I like about the technology that is being developed in this line of ovens. In some cases, it may not even make sense to own one, but in the situation Read On
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along. Cooking has evolved since it started over an open flame in the hunter-gatherer period to the open hearths of medieval times. With wood fire stoves, gas stoves, electric stoves, and now with combi ovens we are always looking to control cooking heat so that we can optimally serve our guests. But technology alone has never been the answer to better food. We have a pressing need to democratize culinary knowledge and skills, so that the implementation of innovative equipment can really be transformational. I’m using the term“innovative equipment”loosely since for some child nutrition operations a tilt skillet and an impinger oven can be perceived as huge innovations. In some cases even the introduction of a sectionizer is cause
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