There are two main types of steamers available for commercial foodservice. The boiler-less/connectionless steamer is great for quick, batch cooking of large volumes of food applicable for schools, universities and other institutional operations. The second type of steamers are a la cart. These are appropriate for restaurant applications that are preparing and serving cook to order foods.
Cook times vary from between the two steamer types. The boiler-less steamers will require less frequent water maintenance; including descaling, but typically have a significantly longer cooking time than a la cart steamers. A la cart steamers, on the other hand, will cook much more quickly, but require greater amounts of water and energy to prepare foods.
So far it seems that the difference between a la cart steamers and boiler-less steamers is speed vs. efficiency, but it is important to keep in mind that as commercial foodservice equipment continues to benefit from technological improvements, the variance between these two types of steamers continues to evolve. Advancements in steam cooling technology are revolutionizing the a la cart steamer products available on the market. There are new units out on the market that have cut water usage 90% -- from 55 gallons per hour to less than 5 gallons per hour. Additionally, with the reduced water usage, the steamers filter is no longer working as hard and depending on the water quality this can double the life of the filter. In some cases, filters only require changing once per year, where they had been changed twice a year. Not only are there savings on filter costs, but labor and maintenance costs for de-scaling and changing the filter are also reduced.
These newer, more technologically advanced, steamers often come with increased energy efficiency, reducing energy usage up to 50% depending on the specific piece of equipment. These units which require less water and less energy have produced ENERGY STAR® qualified units giving operators more choices and better options than were available just 5 years ago.
Cook’s carries a wide variety of steamers from top brands including Cleveland Range Steamers, Vulcan Steamers and Groen Steamers. You can search for ENERGY STAR units to find the right high efficiency steamer for your operation.
