Advanced Culinary Training features the latest technologies and techniques

In February, the first annual Advanced Culinary Training took place at Alto-Shaam's world headquarters and was attended by chefs from Alto-Shaam rep groups throughout the United States and Canada.

The goal of the training was to create an exchange of culinary ideas among the rep chefs and the corporate chefs, and to demonstrate how Alto-Shaam performs today's most popular cooking techniques, such as sous vide, cook and rest, and braising.

“We wanted the chefs to think beyond what the equipment was originally designed for,” said Robert Simmelink, Executive Chef at Alto-Shaam. “Alto-Shaam equipment is very versatile, and with kitchens getting smaller and smaller, it's important to get all the use you can out of the equipment you've got.”

While the chefs in attendance are respected in their own right, Simmelink demonstrated how Alto-Shaam equipment can be used to surpass their expectations.

Simmelink trained the chefs on how they could expect better results out of their Alto-Shaam equipment, including:

• Using low temperature steam in the Cook & Hold for lamb loins that are rare to medium rare throughout the loin.
• Fast cooking chicken breasts for airline use by searing them and finishing them in a Combitherm ®. The combination of high heat and humidity cooks the breasts in just three minutes.
• Poached chocolate cakes, achieving a texture that is more dense and fudgy than baked cake, while thoroughly cooking the eggs in the batter.
• Cooking salmon medium rare at 135ºF for an opaque appearance, with no fat coming to the surface.
• Seafood for ceviche, cold smoked and poached at 155ºF for the perfect cook.
• Artichokes sous vide at 181ºF, which successfully converts the starches to sugars with even density from the top to the middle to the bottom, with no surface overcooking.

One unexpected outcome from the training was the exchange of ideas between chefs on regional cooking techniques.

“Salmon is cooked much differently in Seattle than it is in Atlanta,” Simmelink said. “Bringing these different styles to the table enhanced the training experience.”

The following chefs received their Advanced Culinary Certification at the training:

Joe Pelicane – BSE Marketing

Phil Moricone – Marshall Associates

Tom Field – Alto-Shaam Canada

Lindsey Mork – Alto-Shaam Canada

Laurent Gurchais – Alto-Shaam Canada

Chris Cherry – Silver Eagle

Layne Wooten - Rewdco

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Maahs family establishes scholarship fund

The Maahs family, owners of Alto-Shaam, Inc., of Menomonee Falls, WI, has established a perpetual scholarship fund for the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY, one of the most prestigious culinary arts schools in the world. The $1 million perpetual scholarship fund is the largest donation from a single donor ever received by the CIA.

The scholarship will offer a complete package including tuition and expenses, room and board, books, fees, and equipment, for one culinary arts student per year. The four-year bachelor degree scholarship can be awarded to the same student on a multi-year basis.

Students receiving the scholarship will be incoming or continuing education students in the four-year program at the CIA who can demonstrate substantial financial need.

The scholarship is developed in memory of Jerry Maahs, the founder of Alto-Shaam.

“The purpose of the scholarship is to honor Jerry for his contributions to the culinary arts field,” said Karen Hansen, CEO of Alto-Shaam and Jerry's daughter.

“Jerry came from modest beginnings when he started working in the 1950s toward what is now Alto-Shaam,” Hansen continued. “It's only fitting now to give back to the culinary industry by helping top students who could otherwise not afford this high level of culinary education.”

While the family is funding the scholarship, the CIA will award the scholarship based on its qualification and evaluation methods. Students receiving the scholarship must be citizens of the United States and full-time students of the CIA in good standing.

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Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle congratulated Alto-Shaam and 14 other recipients of the Governor's New Product Awards in April. The awards were made at the 37th annual Governor's New Product Awards Banquet, sponsored by the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers.

Alto-Shaam placed third in the Large Company category with the ASF-75G FryTech™ commercial fryer.

Astronautics Corp. of America took first place in the division with their Electronic Flight Bag, which is used on commercial airlines and military aircraft. Waukesha Engine took second place in the division with their APG2000/3000 Enginator, a generator set currently being used in Siberia to power remote towns.

“This is a great honor,” said Bill Hansen, Vice President of Engineering at Alto-Shaam. “To be recognized alongside other cutting-edge technologies is wonderful, and applying this technology to the benefit of the foodservice industry is the biggest reward.”

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New Regional Service Manager familiar with the game

Eric Holder, Alto-Shaam's new East Coast Service Manager, is no newcomer to the region or to the kitchen.

Based out of Woodbridge, Virginia, Holder has more than 18 years of technical experience in commercial kitchen service. He comes to Alto-Shaam from GCS Services in Washington, D.C. where he was a certified master technician.

“I know first-hand what it's like to fix all kinds of equipment,” Holder explained. “You can read all the service manuals that are out there, but if you really want to know how this equipment works, you have to get on your hands and knees with it when there's a problem.”

Serving as a liason between customers and Alto-Shaam sales and service, Holder will be responsible for technical service training and performing service company audits, ensuring service companies have appropriate parts in stock, are responding to customers in a timely manner, and understand Alto-Shaam policies and procedures.

Holder also knows all too well the importance of turning a profit. Before working with GCS, Holder was an independent owner of his own business.

“Profits and services go hand in hand,” Holder learned. “If service is good, profits will follow.”

In his spare time, Holder is an avid softball player, playing shortstop on a team in Virginia.

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Alto-Shaam helps Colonial Williamsburg host the world's leaders

What does it take to cook for a king?

If you found yourself with such a task, would you prepare the standard fare, or would you challenge yourself? Would you take any meat your supplier gives you, or would you inspect it yourself to ensure it was of top quality? And would you want any kitchen equipment, or would you go with a brand you knew you could trust?

Chef Hans Schadler, Executive Chef and Culinary Director of Colonial Williamsburg, frequently faces the challenge of serving such exclusive clientele. Colonial Williamsburg regularly hosts presidents, royalty, heads of state and other world leaders.

Recently The Williamsburg Lodge underwent a major renovation, which included the kitchen, and Schadler was in charge of the kitchen renovation.

“When we began planning The Williamsburg Lodge kitchen renovation four years ago, our expectations were high,” Schadler said. “Every aspect of the kitchen equipment had to be right. The quality, service, support, durability… it all had to be there.”

Schadler found what he was looking for in Alto-Shaam. “When we took a look at Alto-Shaam, everything came together,” Schadler said. “The service and training is outstanding, and the equipment is simple for my culinary staff to understand and operate. And the legendary durability of Alto-Shaam equipment is evident in many of our kitchens.”

The Williamsburg Lodge now joins The Williamsburg Inn and other Colonial Williamsburg hotels in featuring Alto-Shaam equipment.

Soon, you'll be seeing more of Colonial Williamsburg in food service trade magazines as Alto-Shaam launches is latest testimonial ad featuring this historic hotel.

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It is 10 p.m. on a Tuesday, and an Alto-Shaam technical service representative just finished up a call with a contact in Singapore, helping him resolve installation and start-up issues with some Combitherm® ovens on a large equipment installation.

How does someone get such top-shelf service? Easy. Just buy any piece of Alto-Shaam equipment and the free, 24-hour, 7-day-a-week technical support is included!

Alto-Shaam's technical service representatives are on call all day, every day, including holidays. Simply call our technical service line at (800) 558-8744. After business hours (USA-CST), an answering service will answer the call and a technical service representative will return your call in 20 minutes or less. Technical assistance is available for the entire line of Alto-Shaam equipment.

Service Parts move fast, too!

First of all, let's talk about the people. Alto-Shaam's Service Parts department is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CST. They're highly trained, know all about parts that you didn't even know your equipment had, and are physically located right next to the Tech Services team, so the entire group works in concert.

The best part is how fast we ship parts. We are proud to offer some of the latest ground and air cut-off times in the industry. All ground-shipped orders received weekdays before 1 p.m. central time and all air-shipped orders received weekdays before 5 p.m. central time are processed and shipped the same day. Our dedicated parts staff works on-site into the evening hours processing Service Parts orders.  

Because many of our foodservice customers work nights and weekends, our service areas do, too.

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