Well-placed salamander gives food hot finishing touch

Nation's Restaurant News,  April 29, 2002  by Gary Bensky

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No matter how expert the method of preparation or how exquisite the raw products, nothing is more unappetizing than a plate of tepid food.

Even in mediocre foodservice establishments, where privileged locations, as in airports and train stations, have allowed some operators to let standards fall to abysmal lows, the food should be, at the very least, hot.

Inexperienced and stressed-out front-of-the-house managers often demand that cooks working the line during the "rush" merely get food in the window cooked and hot -- no matter what "crimes against cuisine" were committed to get it there. The broiler cook forgot to put on the order of medium lamb chops for that six-top about to be picked up? There they go into the deep fryer. The waiter forgot to put in the order for table No. 8, which has a medium-well-done filet mignon on it and the frustrated guest wants to leave if he doesn't get his food now? There it goes directly into the microwave.

The high and mighty ideals of the chef and the images of beautiful foods being perfectly grilled, sauteed, poached or broiled often go straight out the window under the duress and chaos of a busy working kitchen. While many of those day-to-day mistakes and mishaps will continue to occur, giving the cooking battery high-powered equipment that is properly placed can enable the kitchen to run like a well-oiled machine.

Most chefs directing their line brigades make sure that each and every plate visits the one piece of equipment that can ensure that all guests will enjoy perfectly cooked foods served at their correct temperatures -- that piece of equipment curiously is named the "salamander."

The renowned "Larousse Gastronomique" assures us that the salamander was "named after the legendary reptile that was resistant to fire and lives in the bowels of the earth." Ancient salamanders were hockey-puck-like iron disks at the end of a long rod. This design enabled the chef to place the end in the fire until it was hot enough to gratinee an item. Then, by holding the disk directly over the food, the intense heat browned the item.

While we have many choices of salamander today, the typical design and placement of the units couldn't be worse. Unless you're more than 6-foot-2-inches, you can't see what's going on inside. Have any of the manufacturers taken a look at who is working in many U.S. kitchens? Most American chefs have worked in kitchens where the entire cadre of cooks were Hispanic, Asian or from other parts of the world where the average height ranges from 5-foot-5-inches to 5-foot-8-inches. The chef himself may be the same height, myself included. The absurdly heavy rod that must be pulled out to raise and lower the sliding grid rods that bring the food close enough to brown on some units are cumbersome and difficult to move and can become stuck.

My all-time favorite unit is the Sodir model SEM-60 featuring four quartz electric elements that move down to the food instead of vice versa. The spring-loaded mechanism is so easy to use and logical that it makes you wonder why not all of the units are designed this way. The Sodir line of tabletop electric equipment is sold by the Equipex company of Providence, R.I. It can be reached at (401)273-3300 or online at www.equipex.com.

Some equipment sales people tout salamanders as being the broiler of choice during slow periods so that larger broilers don't need to be on all the time. I've yet to see a cook clueless enough to cook a grease-sputtering hamburger or sirloin steak in one of those units at eye level. Properly used salamanders are for finishing, not cooking.

I also challenge the location in which salamanders are usually positioned. Instead of placing them above the range on the cooking battery, it would be far more useful to place them on both ends of the chef's table, turned 90 degrees so that they face each other on the pickup shelf. Naturally, that can be done only with electric units unless there is a hood above.

The cheesemelter, a lower-powered salamander, and its larger-powered cousin can be gas or electric and can be range mounted, wall mounted or tabletop. Units with infrared elements make the most sense because they preheat in a minute and a half instead of the 12 to 15 minutes required to preheat a radiant-heat unit.

If you require more power, you might consider Hatco's Thermofinisher. Those units first were introduced in 2000 and have been developed into a beefier version in the model No. 1919. Boasting full-heat output in just three seconds and useful programmability, the units use a ribbon-style heating element.

Whatever your finishing-oven requirements may be, give one to each of the cooking stations in the kitchen. That will ensure that all guests experience the desired visual, olfactory and sensory stimulation when the plate arrives in front of them at the table.

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