Retherm or Baking 101?

What is a retherm cart anyway? When I first started working at Burlodge Canada the world of Retherm Technology was introduced to me, my first thoughts were WOW, that’s some interesting pieces of equipment. As I worked with the equipment, I began to realize that this cart is just like an oven in many ways. It ensures that large quantities of food heats up to the appropriate temperature while ensuring a good quality outcome. It holds food hot and cold throughout the meal service distribution process, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn it can do more ……. it can actually cook.

Food Services is always struggling to discover what we can do to make a patient in a hospital have the best food service experience possible. Coming from a home where my Italian mother is an excellent cook, it’s hard to have anything compare to the meals made with love from her. Knowing how I feel when I’m sick, you sometimes don’t want to eat anything or you want those comfort foods you ate as you were growing up. If you think about it that’s a hard pill for Food Service Directors and Managers to swallow, meaning they have a really hard task of pleasing the patient population in a Hospital when each person has different food memories. Freshly baked cookies are something that will take all my worries away, so I started experimenting with baked goods in our retherm equipment. It seemed a great place to start because I’ve noticed it’s hard for anyone to say “No thank you” to a freshly baked cookie.

Looking at all types of cookies; I began with the frozen cookie dough (English Bay), and then the dry mix cookie dough (Quaker) and even refrigerated cookie dough. All types of cookie dough in the end produced a wonderful warm freshly baked cookie. My first attempts were in a bulk retherm system, below are some pictures.

English Bay Frozen Cookie Dough:

Quaker Dry Cookie Dough Mix:

Since trying cookies I’ve baked brownies, biscuits and muffins. Then I progressed to actually trying to bake a cookie directly on a patient tray (English Bay frozen cookie dough ball) and then a cinnamon roll. (Refrigerated Pillsbury cinnamon rolls) See pictures below. Basically all you need to do is place a paper baking cup on the tray preferably in the corner and then place your frozen, refrigerated or made from scratch baked item in the middle of the cup. This can be placed on the tray as the meal tray is assembled and then it will bake during your site specific retherm cycle. The aroma of baking cookies and cinnamon buns is a wonderful smell to have in the hallways; it not only reminds people of home it also creates excitement as they anticipate their next meal.

So if you look at a retherm cart and think all it can really do is heat large quantities of food and hold them hot and cold as their distributed to the patients you need to take a second look. Somewhere in a hospital around the world a patient just received their supper meal tray from a Burlodge retherm cart and directly on their tray a freshly baked cookie sits, it’s really just the beginning.

More to follow in the coming months!