Page 11 - FFD Info Centre - Commercial Refrigeration & Catering Equipment News & Buying Guides

Running or working in a catering business involves adhering to many codes and pieces of legislation to ensure that your food preparation and storage is safe. In some cases, these codes and guidelines can become confusing, especially when you are unsure if they are required or simply recommended. One such set of rules is the WRAS scheme.

What is WRAS?

WRAS stands for the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme and was incorporated in 2008. However, schemes of various types have been used for over 100 years by water companies to try and improve water quality.

Bottle coolers do what they say on the tin. They keep your cans and bottles cool and your customers happy.

The most common variety are those which sit behind your bar. Well-lit with glass doors, they showcase your bottled beer, soft drink and mixer selections, in an eye-catching display which makes it that bit easier for your peak-time customers, under pressure to choose, to point straight at what they want.

Drinks coolers are a familiar feature of any pub or bar.

But, what is the real difference between a bar’s bottle cooler and one you might get at home? Could you save a buck by buying a mini fridge for your pub? Or could you get the luxury treatment by bringing a commercial cooler home?

Working in a commercial kitchen requires skill, organisation and the ability to remain calm under pressure. No matter what role you occupy, you are part of a well-trained machine that is fundamental to the success of the business.

Along with the staff, the way the kitchen is designed is also a vital factor. Everything needs to be accessible with no bottlenecks or places where space is cramped. For many years, kitchen designers have used a theory called the ‘golden triangle’ to make the best use of space. However, with modern technology and a change in the ways commercial kitchens are run, is the ‘golden triangle’ still relevant?

Grease traps save the planet and they save you from water company fines by managing your kitchen’s output of fats, oils and grease (FOGs) – preventing these FOGs from entering the sewers where they form fatbergs over time.

Grease traps are not meant to leak. If yours is spewing waste water across your kitchen floor, you’ll need to do something about it sharpish – before reflecting on what caused this costly catastrophe.

For those of you knee-deep in FOG, we’ll start quickly, by addressing the priority.

The ageing technique is the art of prepping meat, mostly done in commercial kitchens or by butchers, by allowing microbes and enzymes in the meat to break down the connective tissues to make it tender and more flavourful. It has been used for commercial purposes for a long time in the UK.

The process of ageing meat takes anything from a few weeks to a few months depending on the type of meat and the method of ageing employed. Once the animal is slaughtered and the meat cleaned, the meat is stored in near-freezing temperatures and monitored.

Here we discuss the two major ways of ageing meat.

So, you’ve decided to join a community of thousands of food business owners and take on the fatberg problem. You’ve invested in a quality grease trap, weighed up the benefits of buying automatic grease traps versus manual, and had your grease management solution installed. After taking some time to congratulate yourself, you’ve let your GRU do what it does best. Now, as the day you scheduled for your first grease trap clear-out looms, you’re wondering: What next? What do I do after I’ve cracked open the lid, and scooped out the FOGs? Where does it all go then?

Don’t fret: here’s a guide to getting rid of the grease your trusty grease trap collects.