# Warming and Holding 600 pancakes



## trulyscrump

Hello Chef Talkers, I have a corporate client who I usually provide with high end lunch/ dinners and cocktail parties. They are really great clients, easy to deal with, pay on time and do not haggle on price. All this to say I like to keep them happy.

So they approached me to provide them with pre-made, 400 warm ready-to-go pancakes for their warehouse staff. It is NOT a full breakfast tho I am providing condiments, sausage and fruit. Their officers are going to make it look like they made the pancakes, flipping some on griddles, .....general eye roll!!!

I plan on purchasing Sysco refrigerated pancakes and heating them gently in the oven on sheet pans. The building is a mere 5 minutes from my kitchen and I plan to ferry them over in shifts ( delivery person, not me). Any suggestions....it is a LOT of pancakes. I have about 9 or 10 full sheet pan oven racks available. My main question concerns transporting them. I have cambros- but will they turn to mush? Would not plan on holding them for very long. Would hotel pans wrapped in foil with steam holes be sufficient- they do not need to be HOT. They will be transferred to many chafers. Again - suggestions... can I layer, stack etc....

I greatly appreciate your seasoned advise. Breakfast is not my thing tho for this easy event I can definitely make some $$. My biggest concern is just getting pancakes from my oven to the guest plate...

THANK YOU ALL in advance
Mela


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## Seoul Food

That's a lot of pancakes. Now are you saying that after you transport them there they are going to take them all out and place into new dishes? I think all the moving around new pans after the fact of heating is just going to compromise temperature and product integrity. I guess if it were me I would try to heat and place in pans that could go straight into the chafers. I would layer them like in rows of shingles. For the transporting I would throw them into the Cambro either uncovered or very loosely covered with foil and throw some hot water in a half pan in the bottom of the Cambro. It's only 5 minutes and if you could have someone help you do a transport route while you are plating that would help but it sounds like they may want them all at the same time?


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## chefbillyb

I've done many of these kind of things for my clients over the years. Of course I would never recommend pancakes because of the same reasons you are concerned about. I would heat the pancakes realizing they only need to be heated slightly. In my operation I had plastic drain bottom racks








that I put in 2" full pans. I would then put a piece of parchment paper and then layer the pancakes. I have no idea what size your pancakes are but by using a 2" pan you can't have to many layers. I would then put a piece of parchment paper and seal the pan with plastic wrap to keep in the heat. By sealing them this way and holding in a warmer they will keep real nice for a short period of time. When the pancake pans are delivered to the spoon-up area tell the managers to use one pan at a time in chaffers. By using the plastic liners and parchment paper you will avoid any intense heat hitting the pancakes and making them hard. Sysco also has a sausage patty either 1.5oz or 2oz that is like a brown and serve. You can brown and heat these either on the grill or in the oven and stack in pans, they hold in chaffers real nice......Good luck........ChefBillyB........P.S. when using the plastic racks I never had the steam table on high or a chaffing dish full blast. You only need a small amount of steam to accomplish your needs.


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## trulyscrump

Thank you both for your helpful comments. ChefBillyB, those bottom drain racks look like the solution. Will do a demo with those tomorrow. Seoul Food, am planning on "shingling" them directly into half pans from the oven, that will then be place into cambro/ hot holding transporting boxes ( everyone calls them different things!), I have an employee transporting the while I continue to reheat in the kitchen, then they go directly from cambro into chafer , no re-panning needed ( via on-site servers). I really appreciate the ability to air my problems/ talk it out...I am sure you do the same. You kind of know what SHOULD happen but it is SUPERB to get confirmation from other professionals. THANK YOU!


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## chefross

I've done pancakes for hundreds in the past. I did an NSA breakfast in DC with a 24 hour serving window.
I had warmers to keep hotel pans of pancakes warm. I placed parchment liners in the hotel pans, sprayed them with a non-stick spray. I shingled the pancakes in the pan, covered with plastic wrap and punched steam holes into the plastic.


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## trulyscrump

Oh oh. Next question- bacon. Any seasoned tips on transporting and holding in chafers on site- any issues to be aware off? Does is stick together is held for too long?


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## chefbillyb

I baked the bacon on sheet pans lined with parchment paper. I then stacked on a wire rack in a 1/2 pan in the steam table uncovered. The only thing I watched for was that the steam table wasn't set to high so water doesn't accumulate and drip into the bacon. The same goes for the sausage. The bacon will cook in the steam table over time. In your case I would cover the bacon with foil and poke a few holes into the foil. You'll be going through the bacon in a short period of time so over cooking in the steam table shouldn't be a problem. I noticed the bacon getting a bit hard when I help it for 3 or 4 hours......Good luck....ChefBillyB


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## kuan

The grease will also collect in the steam table pan if you hold it too long. Some people like to put the bacon on a rack in the steam table and bread under the rack to soak the grease. I don't know if there is an elegant way to do this except just swap out the bacon pan a lot.


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