With speedy cooking times and the addition of steam to the process, Rational combi-ovens are resulting in perfectly baked pies and fish for The Cod’s Scallops
Each day across the five Cod’s Scallops takeaways and restaurants the menus can boast up to 20 species of fish including big hitters such as cod, haddock and salmon as well as lesser-utilised varieties such as hake, mackerel and Cornish sole.
In addition to offering these options fried, The Cod’s Scallops will bake them for customers in a range of homemade butters and relishes, the most popular being garlic, lemon and herb. To ensure the fish retains its flavour and moisture, owner John Molnar has installed Rational combi-ovens which cook with heat and humidity.
John comments: “About 30-35% of our fish sales are baked and the great thing about baking them in the Rational is that we can cook a piece of fish as quick as you can batter it, which means there isn’t a time lag for a customer ordering one battered and one baked fish.
“It also makes it less daunting for the staff because they know when they drop the battered fish to pop the baked fish in too. If they use a less efficient oven they would have to remember three minutes into cooking the baked fish to drop in their battered fish.”
Using the steam/roast programme, which John sets at 45%, gives a consistently baked piece of fish. “Because the Rational has the steam element, it keeps the fish really moist, plus it’s a bit more forgiving than a conventional oven.”
Staff also use the Rational for baking pies, which are made centrally at The Cod’s Scallops’ flagship site in Mansfield Road and distributed frozen.
“With the pies, we get a more even bake in the Rational with no soggy bottoms, as Mary Berry would say – and we can bake from frozen in 35 minutes,” says John. “It’s a very consistent oven, there are no cold spots, and when you’ve got a lot of product in there the temperature doesn’t dip. Some other ovens if you’ve got 10 pies in, say, and four different baked fish and the door is continually being opened and closed, the temperature will drop but vary rarely with the Rational will you see that.”
At the close of play, the Rational ovens have the ability to self-clean, freeing up the crew at The Cod’s Scallops to focus on other duties. All that is required is to add the cleaning tablets when instructed, switch on the combi oven and leave it overnight.
“It looks like a washing machine,” says John. “When we come in in the morning, we just give it a quick rinse and a wipeout and it looks brand new. Sometimes we’ll put our oven trays in there and they come out sparkling too!”
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