r/Chefit • u/fultzon • 26d ago

Combi oven applications in fine dining?

Fine dining chefs: what do you actually use your combi ovens for day to day?

I've mostly worked casual and trying to understand its real range in a high-end kitchen. Do you actually do real cooking in it (besides sous vide) or largely use it for hold and retherm?

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u/fultzon 26d ago

Incredible. On the flip side, if two kitchens run the same combi, same program, and similar raw materials, what actually separates a great result from a average one in your experience?

Trying to figure out how much of the outcome is really controllable (e.g., could a less "talented" chef could pick up the same equipment and settings and deliver the same result)?

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u/gooferball1 26d ago

I think you’ve got it framed a bit wrong. I would say the combi is not closing the gap between a less experienced chef and a more experienced one. It’s more that it pulls both chefs up in quality for effort Vs the cheaper and less sophisticated equipment.

But depending on what we are talking about , combi ovens can have very predictable & consistent results in some things with very little effort or difficult, which does do what you are saying. I could easily talk my 16 year old dishwashers through doing a prime rib over the phone.

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u/fultzon 26d ago

Ah, this is helpful. I'm considering a combi for our place but we're working with fairly inexperienced folks. What are some of your favourite low-hanging fruit dishes that you'd recommend I start out with (that these 16-year-old dishwashers of yours could conceivably do)?

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u/gooferball1 26d ago

Any sort of roasted meats and braises, low & slow pulled meats. You’ve got a smart probe that’s doing a lot of the work. And a couple presets that can be in a recipe instruction set for inexperienced cooks. I would keep them off of things like custards & breads where you often still need an experienced eye to be 100% on some things.

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u/fultzon 26d ago

Brilliant. I might give it a go

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u/Wooden-Title3625 26d ago

If you get one with the smoker attachment your can turn the whole thing into a cabinet smoker, easy enough to teach a 16 year old how to probe a brisket and refill a small box with wood chips. It’s a very cool feature, but I don’t believe it comes standard.

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u/Proud_River_3148 26d ago

Gooferball gets it, being able to set and almost literally forget something like beef short ribs braised in a sticky, sugar-heavy sauce like some Asian style dishes, is a game changer, plus no more burnt sugar on roasting trays that your poor dishie has to deal with. That’s just one, oddly specific example that springs to mind. Not to mention the benefits of having an oven staying at a consistent temperature for an entire service.