Ready, Aim…Extinguish!

The last time you were at a hotel show kitchen, did you notice portable fire extinguishers? No? Maybe they were cleverly located. Maybe they were not located at all. This is not only a violation of international fire-safety codes, but a risky gamble on the lives of staff and guests.

In commercial kitchens, it is insufficient to rely on only the fixed fire suppression system installed within the exhaust hoods above the cooking equipment. A secondary mode of fire-fighting is required as stipulated in NFPA 10, and this is provided by Class K portable fire extinguishers. The term ‘K’ refers to its suitability in hazards where there is a potential for fires involving combustible vegetable or animal oils and fats. They shall be within 10 metres of travel distance of areas with heat processing equipment for food, using combustible cooking media. The fire extinguishers should be securely mounted on the wall or inside a visible cabinet, without obstruction. Class K portable fire extinguishers use potassium acetate as the extinguishing agent because of its ability to cool and form a crust over the burning oils.

Inspection, maintenance and testing are required for portable fire extinguishers. They must be fully charged and operable at all times. An annual maintenance check and recharge by a trained person are mandatory. For optimum service, fire extinguishers require hydrostatic testing every 5 to 12 years. The annual service and periodic testing must be documented on the fire extinguisher service tag.

Finally, and equally important, employee training is required and it must cover the general principles of fire extinguisher use, the hazards involved with beginning stage fire fighting and information on building fire extinguisher locations, along with evacuation maps, which could be marked within the locations.

Masonry ovens for artisan bakers and chefs.

People get nostalgic when they see bread made from masonry ovens. They are in a class of their own. A unique flavor is added to breads baked in these ovens. These masonry ovens are becoming a grand feature in bakeries and restaurant. They are also known as brick ovens or stone ovens. Today, bakers and chef prefer these ovens for their artisan crafted bread and pizza. These ovens were widespread during the medieval times in Europe.

A masonry oven is an oven consisting of a baking chamber made of fire bricks,  concrete , stone or clay. Traditionally, this oven was wood-fired or coal-fired but modern masonry ovens are often fired with natural gas and even electricity. This masonry oven can be custom made to the size and shape required.

The function of a masonry oven is to trap heat and radiate from a fire that is built within the oven itself which is called the “Roman or black“ oven , or in a firebox that vents into the oven which is called the white oven. These ovens are generally built with fire-resistant materials like firebrick or clay or directly cast from refractory cement.

Masonry ovens built for bread baking are generally quite heavily built to store several hours’ worth of heat after completely burning the load of wood. Those built for pizza or other live-fire cooking techniques can have a thinner construction. The oven is normally egg shaped, the ceiling is arched over the baking surface. If the doors are not sized properly, these ovens will not function efficiently. The “white oven” has a more complex design which pipes heat in from an external firebox without routing the smoke fire through the oven.

In fact it is becoming mandatory to use wood burning oven for producing Neapolitan pizza.

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonry_oven http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/AE_masonry_oven.html

“Worked to Death”

Kitchens have evolved greatly over the past two decades. The advent of the show-kitchen concept has brought new challenges to kitchen operational needs. The operator has had to work more hygienically and more efficiently within a tighter space. Still, the show-kitchen also brings to view the bad parts of the industry, i.e. long hours and an even more demanding schedule. Customers can now sometimes visibly see staffs that are sick preparing their food.

In the culinary industry, we use the term “Worked to Death” to describe our current situation, or even past situations. Sadly in reality, this is the unfortunate fate for some of our chefs young and old. Just lately, a 23 year old chef working at the “Tate Modern” in London passed away due to a common treatable illness. It was further revealed that the chef pushed himself to work 27 consecutive 24-hour day shifts while he was ill.