Specially Equipped
Chefs around the world reveal their favorite tools of the trade.
By Joan Marsan, Associate Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 9/1/2000
Heightened food safety concerns have brought a refined focus to kitchen equipment innovations in recent years. “We’re in a society that’s crazy about suing people,” says consultant Thomas Galvin, FCSI, Galvin Design Group, Winter Garden, Florida. So restaurateurs have been eager to install blast chillers, new ovens and refrigerators that feature thermal metering systems, touchless and monitoring hand-washing systems, and gadgets constructed of materials impregnated with anti-microbial agents. Lists of equipment specifications for contemporary kitchens increasingly look like descriptions of futuristic food laboratories out of a work of science fiction.
Chefs resoundingly approve of these new inventions that assure greater food safety. But when asked to cite their favorite pieces of equipment, their answers often hearken back to basic devices and simple processes that enhance flavor, increase efficiency and help to create signature dishes that reinforce each unique restaurant’s mission. Here, top chefs from around the world discuss their newest and most treasured pieces of kitchen equipment.
Christof Syre, Executive Chef, The Regent Hong Kong
With five restaurants, two lounges and Hong Kong’s biggest banqueting
operation, maintaining culinary consistency at The Regent Hong Kong
is a momentous task. Christof Syre’s best weapon is the tasting
spoon. “Recipes are not enough to get the flavors right and to
have a consistent quality in the dishes,” Syre says. “Food
needs not only to be tasted when it’s already cooked. It is equally
important to taste food during the cooking process.”
Cultural mores complicated Syre’s efforts to encourage tasting, as Asian chefs are not in the practice of sampling dishes as they are created. But the introduction of red-handled spoons, one for each of the hotel’s 150 chefs, has aided his campaign. The eye-catching hue captures the cook’s attention, reminding him to sample his fare in progress. And the colorful handles ensure that chefs do not confuse cooking spoons with tasting spoons, which must be clearly separated and stored in a special sanitizer to prevent-cross contamination.
Paul McCabe, Executive Chef, Enchantment Resort,
Sedona, Arizona
Yavapai, the fine dining restaurant of this resort steeped
in its desert canyon surroundings, features such signature
dishes as Maine lobster tamale with sweet corn flan and roasted Poblano
lobster sauce; cold-smoked buffalo tenderloin and wild mushroom potato
puree with a rioja reduction and jalapeno coulis; and rack of Colorado
lamb roasted with fresh herbs, dijon and pistachio nut crust with enhanced
sage and sun-dried tomato essence. The highly seasonal
menu makes use of the best produce available, and root vegetables make
their appearance on a regular basis—but their shape is, perhaps,
what makes them most noteworthy.
Employing his Japanese slicer, Paul McCabe piles ribbon-thin strips of daikon atop a sesame sea scallop salad, allowing the root to add not only flavor, but texture, color and height, to the dish. Sweet potato hay tops buffalo steaks in the fall, and Yukon gold potato ribbons piled atop a wild mushroom and arugula salad lend a subtle sheen. The US$60 tool, easily ordered through a variety of Japanese distributor catalogs, creates an inimitable, linguini-like look from vegetables, making it well worth its price, McCabe says. “To cut a daikon like this by hand would take at least three times as long,” McCabe says. “I’ve only seen an experienced Japanese chef do it.”
Stefan Schreiber, Executive Sous Chef, Hilton Tokyo
Induction cooking has been more popular in Europe than
in Asia or the United States, but the open kitchen
restaurant “Twenty
One” at the Hilton Tokyo has featured induction cooking since
its opening. The Japanese-made Nichiwa induction cooker, costing about
US$18,000 including installation, accomplishes every task but Chinese
wok cooking, Stefan Schreiber says. Specialties include a sautéed
foie gras on braised daikon glazed with a miso-port
wine sauce, seafood risotto with roasted lobster oil and baked French
onion soup.
Schreiber praises the induction cooker for its efficiency and safety and maintenance features. Heat passes to cooking utensils only, creating an 83% heating efficiency (compared with the 50% efficiency of gas cooking). Cooking times are reduced, chefs are more comfortable as the kitchen heats up less, and the absence of flame protects staff from burns. And maintenance is simple because spills are easily wiped off the flat top. “The heating surface does not get too hot during the cooking, so stains don’t get baked on,” Schreiber says.
Neeraj Katyal, Senior Kitchen
Executive, Râjvilas,
Jaipur, India
With tight kitchen quarters and an off-the-beaten-path
location, Neeraj Katyal appreciates kitchen equipment
that offers versatility and reliability. His favorite item in the Râjvilas kitchen is
the multi-functional Hobart ham slicer, which chefs use to cut meats
for a variety of dishes (Râjvilas has its own butcher shop). “Most
important are safety features, efficiency, and ease and promptness in
servicing of the equipment by the manufacturers—and availability
of spare parts,” says Katyal. “If equipment meets these
basic requirements, it would make an ideal buy.”
David Paulstich, Executive Chef, The Mark, New York
The burre mixer is the favorite tool of restaurant Mark’s Executive
Chef David Paulstich, so much so that he has a few. Whether it is his
industrial-size Dynamic brand burre mixer retailing for US$350-US$400
or his handheld, household-style Braun burre mixer that sells for about
US$19 at local retail stores, Paulstich’s item of choice enables
him to create sauces and soups that would otherwise be too labor intensive
to include on the Mark’s menu.
The large burre mixer offers a “1,000% return,” Paulstich exclaims, citing the tool’s ability to stir a 10-gallon stock in five minutes, a task that even the biggest blender could not accomplish. The handheld burre mixer allows Paulstich to finish toppings on the line. It chops and emulsifies to create creamy sauces, and it introduces air to lighten foamy concoctions that can be bubbled and dribbled across dishes. Paulstich uses the burre mixer to create signature dishes, pureeing black truffles that dot a frothy burre-mixed sweet English pea broth and blending butter, lemon juice and truffles to top a pan-seared black sea bass.
Sandro Gamba, Chef De Cuisine, Park Hyatt Chicago
“Recipes on my menu are actually complicated to prepare,” says
Sandro Gamba, 1999 James Beard Rising Star award nominee. “But the
end result is simple, light and fresh.” Keeping it light is key
to Gamba’s cuisine, and so he values foremost his Hamilton Beach
blender, a powerful model that quickly creates smooth, delicate vegetable
sauces. The machine emulsifies so well and so completely that Gamba can
eliminate butter and cream from his sauces and stocks while maintaining
a silky consistency. Specialties prepared in the blender include a chilled
white bean soup with black truffles and red vinegar and a pea, tomato
and lobster consommé.
Alex Rahmatulin, Executive Sous Chef and Production Manager, Radisson
SAS Daugava, Riga, Latvia
The Daugava’s restaurants, the American Café and the Grill
Room, offer cuisine reflective of the region’s fascination with
simple, straightforward dishes composed of fresh, pure ingredients.
As such, the center of Alex Rahmatulin’s line is his US$4,000
Electrolux grill. By no means is the Daugava’s grill a tool for
creating strictly casual, backyard barbecue-style cuisine. Rather, Rahmatulin
turns out such sophisticated, unusual items as a grilled dessert of
carmelized pineapple rounds served with creamy coconut sorbet. He proves
that the variety of grilled products is unlimited, from meats, poultry,
fish and seafood to grilled vegetables and fruits. “That’s
the grill,” he says. “At the first moment, so simple and
old-fashioned, but still on the top of the menus.”
Grilling allows the chef to preserve freshness, great taste and smell without adding fat, Rahmatulin says. But because it is so straight-forward, products must be top quality and fresh, and chefs must be particularly skillful. “The grill obligates,” he says.
Nigel Keen, Head Chef, Parmelia Hilton Perth, Australia
The Globe Wine Bar & Restaurant features an open kitchen allowing
guests and chefs to interact. Guests see the chefs in action, and chefs
become better acquainted with their clientele. Pride of place in the
stylish space goes to a US$4,000 tandoori oven, which allows The Globe’s
chefs to enrich the menu of “world food” created for the
hotel by Chef Cheong Liew. Nigel Keen stokes the tandoori oven daily,
using it to cook puffy Indian naan bread, succulent tandoori chicken,
lamb, pigeon and fish. In practice and as a visual centerpiece, the
tandoori oven reinforces The Globe’s international mission as
no other kitchen item can.
Jose Rocha, Executive Chef, Hyatt Regency Acapulco
El Pescador restaurant, located on the waterfront overlooking
Acapulco Bay, offers grilled seafood and meat specialties and a unique
Mexican-Oriental fusion cuisine. The newest addition to the kitchen
is a handmade Argentine parilla, or grill, built on the premises especially
for the restaurant. With the investment of US$1,500 in the parilla,
the restaurant increased guest satisfaction by meeting the demands
of a market looking for the freshness and enhanced flavor that charcoal
grilling permits.
Changes in the work patterns of the kitchen staff include a decrease in use of the gas grill, as all meat and fish now are prepared on the grill, and one specialist has been assigned strictly to grill work. But the grill hasn’t changed the hotel’s F&B mission. “It forms a part of my culinary philosophy,” says Carl Emberson, F&B director. “Keep things authentic, simple, stylish and tasty.”
Juhani Rautiainen, Executive Chef, Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Bergen,
Norway
Three Convotherm steam convection ovens, one 20-rack
and two 10-racks, purchased for US$45,000 top Juhani
Rautiainen’s
equipment list. While he uses these versatile ovens for sous vide cooking
and steaming, the regeneration capabilities have allowed Rautiainen
to increase productivity 20% in a year while maintaining staffing levels. “We
are able to do up to 400 people with platters looking exactly the same
for every table and with two cooks in the evening,” Rautiainen
says.
To better capitalize on the steam convection ovens’ capabilities, Rautiainen revisited the banqueting menu, highlighting dishes that better suit the regeneration of food while retaining a regional culinary flair. Located on the Bryggen, the historic harbor and waterfront district, the hotel restaurants’ most natural menu offerings have been Scandinavian fish and seafood specialties, and banqueting is no exception.
John Halligan, Executive Chef, The Regent Wall Street,
New York
Chef John Halligan is known for uncomplicated cuisine
that keeps flavors focused on a dish’s essential ingredients.
Menu items at 55 Wall that have received rave reviews include his potato-crusted
crab cakes, Vietnamese spring rolls with prawns and miniature grilled
brie cheese sandwiches. He likes to keep it simple, and for that reason,
he favors his US$35, 12-inch, diamond-coated EZ-Lap kitchen sharpening
steel. Diligent sharpening allows the blade to move easily and quickly
through food items, “increasing productivity and saving valuable
fingers that come in handy as a chef,” Halligan says. “The
return on investment? I can say that I have all 10 fingers still intact.” Not
a bad return for $35.
Florian Trento, Executive Chef, The Peninsula, Hong Kong
From the front desk to the back of the house and even
in the kitchen, The Peninsula specializes in employing
advanced technology and a personal touch to deliver attentive, individualized
service. In keeping with this high-tech focus on each unique guest, Florian
Trento favors his Pacojet, a powerful food processor
that allows him to create single-serving portions of specialty ice creams
and sherbets. While it can produce spreads, mousses, dumplings, soups,
sauces and purees, Trento employs the Pacojet only for his frozen creations,
which make use of overstocked or slightly overripe
fruits and berries. He places the ingredients with no added sugars or preservatives
in special Pacojet beakers, freezes them for 24 hours and then “pacotises,” or
processes, them.
“The process releases all the natural aromas and flavors of the ingredients used and the results are simply stunning,” Trento says. “The machine is also easy and fast to use, simple to clean, quiet, safe, and can be operated by unskilled staff. There is no other machine available able to do this.”
On the Side
Currying Favor When the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea reopened its Pacific Grill restaurant in April, featuring wok, grill and rotisserie specialties, the hotel invited 650 members of the local community to partake of the new menu items. Invitations were sent to a focused niche, primarily business leaders and members of adjacent residential communities.
In an astounding turnout, more than 400 guests attended the dinner event, assuring that more than a fair share of the hotel’s neighbors would be acquainted with the new dining outlet at the hotel, which relies on islanders to provide more than 30% of its F&B business. The hotel budgeted for the event by reallocating funds normally used for weekly meet-and-greet receptions, during which the general manager and hotel supervisors woo local businesspeople and residents with cocktails and hors d’oeuvre.
To help extend the message that the Pacific Rim provides an attractive venue for local diners, valets left loaves of bread that had been fresh-baked in the Four Seasons kitchen in each car (valet service was free) for guests to take home. A thank-you note was attached to the loaves, along with a message urging guests to return.
Upon their departure, guests were stating their intent to return, and within two weeks, repeat business had grown. Word-of-mouth and the general goodwill the event displayed toward the local community also have helped to boost business, and General Manager Thomas Steinhauer plans to repeat the event within two years.
You Can Take It With You The Peninsula New York offers a complimentary water bar with a choice of five bottled waters. The selections rotate, but the most popular of the five “flights” has been Poland Springs from Maine, housekeeping reports. Still water far outstrips sparkling in popularity. All still waters are offered in lightweight plastic bottles ideal for taking on the road where they serve as a reminder to appreciative guests of the thoughtful amenities provided by their hotel.
“We always have offered two complimentary bottles of water at turn-down,” says Niklaus Leuenberger, general manager. “We find that more than any other amenity, water is what guests use and appreciate most.”
Lounge Restaurants The TriBeCa Grand Hotel’s Church Lounge offers early- to late-hour F&B service geared to modern eating habits, with informal menu items designed by Executive Chef Rob Miketa, ranging from hors d’oeuvre-style dishes to full-sized meals to cotton-candy bar chasers.
Dishes are kept simple so as not to obscure the central ingredients. The Hudson Valley foie gras club is a lightly seared fresh duck foie gras accompanied by duck prosciutto, savoy cabbage and date marmalade on a buttery round of toasted brioche. The L.A. omelette combines egg whites, crab meat, avocado and sweet onions.
Even seating configurations are laid-back, consisting of low lounge furniture: slipper chairs, curved loveseats and cocktail tables.
F&B Appointments
- Patrick Lannes, previously Director of Kitchen at Le Bristol, Beirut, joined The Landmark Bangkok as executive chef...
- Andre Zotoff was named director of F&B operations, Inter-Continental and Crowne Plaza Hotels, New York...
- The Lucayan, Grand Bahama Island, named Mathew Mitnitsky executive chef and William M. Marshall executive assistant manager, F&B...
- Rosewood’s Hotel Crescent Court, Dallas, welcomes Richard Cooke, director of F&B, and Bob Conte, executive chef...
- Jeff Johnson has been named F&B outlet manager at the Orient-Express Charleston Place Hotel, Charleston, South Carolina... Enzo Fornito joins Palmilla, Los Cabos, Mexico, as executive chef...
- L’Ermitage, Beverly Hills, California, welcomes Director of Catering Christopher Cashman... Four Seasons Hotel Toronto appoints Marc Dorfman director of catering...
- Richard Hamper joins The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess as director of F&B...
- George Bikai was named restaurant manager, Caliterra, Wyndham Chicago...
- Radisson Cable Beach Resort, Nassau, Bahamas, appoints Dino Matsas assistant GM, F&B... The Desert Inn, Las Vegas, welcomes Head Chef Christophe Cornet...
- Stephen Marshall was appointed executive chef, The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, Hawaii...
- The Ritz-Carlton Washington D.C., appointed Josef “Peppi” Schuppler chef de cuisine.
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