Paella in the Hospitality Industry
There are dishes which, due to their importance or popularity in the gastronomy of a place, require professional cooking equipment designed exclusively for their preparation. One of the most important dishes is paella.
Although there is no single recipe for making paella, the ideal cooking implements and equipment for the best preparation of paella are always the same: the paella pan and the gas paella cooker (or the paella oven in kitchens with a heavier cooking load).
Preparation of paella
Paella is a dish with a long tradition. The container used for its preparation, the paella pan or paellera, a wide pan with a shallow bottom and two handles, is what gives the dish its name.
Although the original cooking method was to prepare it with firewood, nowadays the preferred method of cooking is with gas cookers, also known as paella cookers, hobs or gas paella cookers.
These paella cookers are specifically designed to adapt to the size and characteristics of the cookware used to prepare paella. It is important that the heat is distributed throughout the paella pan and that its intensity is correct at all times so that it does not dry out or become too soupy. To achieve this, gas paella cookers are always built in the form of circles or rings with fires, to cover the entire surface of the paella pan.
Another important quality of a paella cooker is to be able to regulate the flame quickly, so that the temperature is just right for the rice to be cooked to perfection.
The paella cooker unit for the hospitality industry: professional gas paella cookers
Although there are small gas paella cookers for making paella at home or at specific times, for the modern hospitality industry that prepares paella on a regular basis, the ideal way is to use gas paella cookers. These cookers have many similarities to a classic stove cooker with design changes to make it easier to prepare paella dishes quickly without losing quality and maintaining hospitality standards.
The first feature is the size of the burner. This must be in accordance with the size of the paella cooker to be used, which at the same time depends on the number of portions to be cooked in each preparation. The diameter of the outer ring should be about the same as the diameter of the paella pan so that the heat covers the entire surface of the pan and the rice is in the centre rather than on the outer edge.
Another important change in the hobs of commercial paella cookers is their shape: they are arranged in concentric rows or rings that cover the entire cooking area. With burners of a single outer row, the bottom of the paella does not reach the same temperature at the same time. To achieve the perfect quality of the rice, it is important that the heat is evenly distributed, and to achieve this it is important that the intensity of the flame is the same over the whole surface, so that the rice grains do not break up and become too soft and uncooked.
The last important aspect in the design of the best professional gas paella cookers is the regulation of the flow rate and temperature. The cooking time and the intensity of the flame are crucial for preparing paella with the ideal flavour and the best quality that a hospitality service, bar, restaurant, hotel, canteen... should offer.
Paella oven: the cooking tool for large-scale production in the hospitality industry
In kitchens where a large number of dishes have to be prepared for many guests, such as catering companies or companies that provide services to many users (hospitals or school cafeterias), the need arises to prepare more than one paella at the same time.
Paella ovens are able to prepare several paellas at the same time in a comfortable way and achieving the same quality in each one of them.
Several trays can be inserted transversally at different heights quickly and easily, so that all of them are made at the same time in a fast and uniform way, achieving a higher production with the same quality in all of them.
The paella oven is the best option for hotel kitchens, cafeterias, catering businesses... that want to achieve the highest production with professional results.
Fagor Professional gas paella cookers options
At Fagor Professional we have taken all these requirements into account to achieve the best paella in the hospitality industry when designing the professional gas paella cookers in the Kore 700 range. Its burners have a double crown with 4 rows of concentric rings, which provide even heat distribution throughout the cooking zone.
Its grill is designed so that the pans are supported with the greatest stability and completely horizontally, thus improving the use of energy and ensuring that it is distributed over the base of the paella pan.
In addition to the table-top option, it includes the option of adding a paella oven, with double side doors and panoramic tray insertion for greater comfort and ergonomics. Its burner distributes the heat from above throughout the oven to dry the paella broth.
The Fagor Professional commercial gas paella cooker adapts to the needs of any hospitality business.
