Selection of Cooking Equipment in Consideration of Energy Conservation in Mass Cooking: A Case Study Using Heated Chicken Meat

Abstract

  Energy conservation and quality ingredients are important aspects in mass cooking. In this study, we measured the gas consumption when heating chicken meat (70 g × 100 pieces) using an iron frying pan and a steam convection oven (at 200℃) and evaluated the quality of the chicken meat after heating. The gas consumption when heating 10–50 pieces of chicken meat was the lowest in the pan-frying heating, but when heating 60 or more pieces, the pan-frying heating exceeded the steam convection oven heating. The weight retention of chicken meat heated using pan-frying was significantly lower than that using a steam convection oven, and the breaking load and energy were significantly higher. In the analytical sensory evaluation, there was a significant difference in the browning (P < 0.01) and hardness (P < 0.05) of the chicken meat, and the pan-fried chicken meat had darker browning and harder physical properties. In the preference-type sensory evaluation, the browning of the pan-fried chicken meat was significantly more favorable (P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between the pan-frying and steam convection heating for the other variables. In food service facilities, energy consumption can be reduced by selecting the cooking equipment that is appropriate for the amount and type of dish being cooked.