Welcome to my little corner of culinary delights.  This time, I wish to cover some of the preliminary cooking procedures that I failed to cover earlier.

One of the first things I regard as important in a kitchen is to heat water on the back burner.  It is always good to start this first, since it takes time to get a large volume of water up to a boil.  This is mostly done in commercial cooking for reasons you shall soon learn.

In regular cooking, hot water is useful if you decide to poach an egg or hard cook eggs and have not the time to wait on it to reach a boil.  If suddenly you find a need to steam vegetables or reheat cooked spaghetti, the water is there and ready. 

If you need to melt chocolate or butter in a double boiler or to heat egg yolks or whites for beating, your water is ready for you.  It also comes in helpful if you decide to blanch tomatoes in order to peel off their skins or to blanch almonds in order to slip their skins off.  There are many uses for hot water in regular cooking.  And if there is any left over, use it in with the dish water or to sterilize a cooking utensil before use.

In commercial use, hot water is constantly needed.  Naturally it would be needed for the same things as listed above and more.  If there is a buffet line, it will have a steam table and/or chafing dishes. 

Steamtables are no problem since they are self contained and able to bring large volumes of water up to a simmer efficiently and quickly.  Chafing dishes use Sterno heaters and to bring cold water up to simmer would be most expensive. 

Therefore, boiling water from the stove can be poured into chafing dishes.

For the men’s breakfast at church, I purchased three chafing dishes and a portable steamtable.  All four are size equivalent to a full hotel pan.  For the chafing dishes, first thing I do is to get a stockpot full of water heating on the back burner. 

By the time I have the breakfast items done and ready to serve, the water is boiling.  Simply divide the water between the chafing dishes and put the burners under them to keep the water up to temp.  If then you need to use a chafing dish for one of your parties or church functions, you have these easy tips to follow.

I ate at a fine restaurant once and noticed three Sternos under each chafing dish.  This was a waste.  The BTU output calculated for two Sterno heaters provide more than enough heat for a chafing dish to maintain a simmer.  Water at atmospheric pressure can only go up to 212°F.  Additional heat is a waste and also boils away the water faster.  The same applies in cooking.

Until next time, peace to all.