Speedy Egg production for Cafe without experienced chefs.

[jgerber]

We're trying to figure out the best way to produce eggs for a fairly high volume coffee house. Currently, we're scrambling them every few hours and warming them in a microwave, which sounds gross, but actually turns out a decent product. We're considering moving to over medium eggs using an Antunes Egg Station or something similar. We've also considered using a Combi-Oven to either produce over mediums in bulk or to make custard-style eggs. Any thoughts here on efficient ways to make eggs and thermalize them in a high volume setting? Some questions I have are...

• Does anyone have experience/tips with the Egg Station?
• Does anyone have any experience making overmedium eggs in a combi?

Thanks!

 

[chefwriter]

A bit more information would be helpful.
How high is your high volume?
What are the eggs for? Why and how many eggs are you scrambling every few hours?
If this is for a coffee house, are you making egg sandwiches as part of a larger menu or are the eggs for something else?
How will the orders be placed? Per order or all at once?
Do you have any other kitchen equipment?

 

[jgerber]

Hi Chefwriter. All good questions. Answers below:

• Eggs are for egg sandwiches, and are part of a larger menu though they aren't cross utilized (though we have a few types of egg sandwiches). They could be cross utilized if we made them differently.
• Items are made per order, though we batch the eggs beforehand and make them in larger sets. On a busy day we will make 160-200 eggs to make 100 - 150 egg sandwiches within a 3 or so hour period.
• We do have hoods, convection ovens, stovetops, microwaves. That said, we're doing a rebuild and can get other equipment if need be.

Thanks!!!

 

[chefwriter]

You mentioned not having experienced chefs. I think that may be making you over think things.
Having done lots of breakfasts and egg sandwiches I don't understand why you batch cook the eggs ahead of time. They take no more than a couple of minutes when cooked to order. On a stove top grill you can make several all at the same time. (If you don't have one, you can buy one relatively cheaply that will fit over the burners on a commercial stove. Or just a simple small counter top grill would work.
You don't need special equipment like an Antunes egg Station.
Unless requested otherwise, egg sandwiches are made with over hard eggs, which just means the yolk is broken and fully cooked. Not that the eggs are cooked to death.
But even if you wanted over medium, they would take even less time.
And yes, scrambling them every few hours and microwaving is perhaps not gross per say, but much less than commendable and you should shoot for more than just a decent product. If I were your customer and found out that's what you were doing, I wouldn't order any more egg dishes.
If an egg for an egg sandwich is sitting around for any reason for longer than five minutes, (if that) I'd throw it out and make another.

 

[halb]

It doesn't take an experienced chef to scramble and cook a few eggs on a flat top to order.

 

[chefbillyb]

My Business did in house Corp Contract Cafeteria/Catering. We had to have eggs ready to go for the masses when their first break came each morning. There was no way to cook each persons eggs to order. I set up our serving line offering 3 kinds of Omelets, Bacon, Sausage, Country gravy, Chicken Fried steak, French toast and Pan Cakes. I worked hard to figure out the best way to hold each item and still give the best quality of that product to my clients. I used 20# bagged liquid eggs. These liquid bulk eggs are pasteurized and homogenized for safety, and have added citric acid to preserve the natural egg color. I would scramble these on a clean flattop grill and then put them in a sealed Cambro plastic container. I would then store these inside another standup warmer along with other backed up items. I was really surprised how good they held for a long period of time. Use whatever size Cambro that works for the amount of eggs you need to hold. The bagged eggs work extremely well for my operation.......The Best....ChefBillyB

For Egg sandwiches, You can pre make plain omelets, lay flat and stack then seal with plastic wrap still using the Liquid eggs. These also hold well. We made Breakfast Croissant sandwiches along with English muffin and Biscuit breakfast sandwiches.

 

[BluePEI]

This is not a very high volume for breakfast. You should be able to handle eggs to order even with minimal training. Practice is more the issue. I remember working a hotel a la carte breakfast line back in my early days and we had 2 people cooking for over 600 each morning. The only mis en place was par-poached eggs and scrambled liquid eggs that were cooked to order.