REHEATING & HOLDING for briskets in a restaurant
 

Hi All

General enquiry here about reheating and holding for restaurant service.

Just about to open a unit in London, UK

We cant have the smoker on site so were pre smoking off site not far away a day ahead and having staff run service for us in the unit.

Briskets will be smoked and vac-packed the day before and reheated before service.

Could anyone advise on the best process for this... Service times will be from 12pm-10pm.

I have seen the thread on Alto Shaam and Winston Cvap. Alto shaam seems to be easier to get hold of in the uk. Havent seen many Cvaps in circulation.

Can the Alto Shaam reheat from cold in the vac pac bags and then hold for 10 hours without any loss of quality?

If we take a vac packed brisket out the alto and slice it, can we wrap in peach paper and then put back in the Alto without any loss of quality?

Sous vide could be an option but once the bags cut open it would still need to be put back in a holding oven.

We do also run the risk of wastage as were smoking, chilling and reheating again so any left overs at 10pm were still trying to get our head round what we do with that?

Cheers

You could vacuum seal, then reheat the vac bags in hot water.

After heated through, put in Alto Sham for holding.

You can hold a brisket for a surprisingly long time in one of those machines.

I wouldn't slice until service.

Thanks Pat

Reheating sous vide is definitely a good option.

I guess the main obstacle were trying to work out is as service time is 10 hours (12-10pm) can we slice off a portion, then put the whole piece back in the alto until we need to slice off another portion and so on..

Haven't used an Alto before

Yes you can work out of the Alto. But, since it is a hot hold with out humidity, make sure you or your staff re wrap well to keep the moisture in. It can dry out very fast. The Cvap has an adjustable moisture component to it that is a little more forgiving when the staff is too lazy to do it correctly. Or working a rush in and out of the unit.

Double wrap in plastic wrap, then your butcher paper.

This should help with retaining moisture.

Thanks all. Any more info, please keep em coming!!

I don't know if it's alto sham or a CVAP, but Lewis BBQ in Charleston, SC does exactly that. They have a bunch of holding units behind the serving line and the servers grab the wrapped meat out of the holding unit, slice, re-wrap, and back in the unit.

thanks cpw