CVap Technology 101: Lesson 1

Food is mostly water.  Water is a common element to all fresh food.  Bread, meat, vegetables, and fruits can contain up to 90 percent water.  Controlling food quality is dependent upon the control of food moisture.

When food is placed in a conventional cooking or holding cabinet, the food's moisture evaporates as the food is heated.  As the moisture evaporates, food loses its vapor pressure.  Uncontrolled evaporation makes it difficult to control food temperature.


 

Winston equipment controls this evaporation by producing a vapor-laden environment that completely surrounds the food with moisture, creating an opposing vapor pressure that prevents the food from losing or gaining moisture.

Controlling Food Temperature

The same factors that make CVap Technology unsurpassed at holding also make it a powerful cooking technology.  Since foods are mostly water, Winston cooking and holding equipment independently controls food temperature by precisely controlling the water temperature in the reservoir or heated vapor generator in the bottom of the cabinet.  The water in the food becomes the same temperature as the water in the cabinet, equilibrium is reached, and precise control of the food temperature is made possible.
 

Controlling Food Texture

Food texture is controlled by adding independently-controlled dry air heat to the cabinet.  Winston equipment's Dual Heat System controls the rate at which moisture evaporates from food.  By increasing the air heat above the water heat, food is allowed to give up its surface moisture in the precise amount that is selected.

 

The higher the air temperature is set over the water temperature, the more evaporation is allowed, and the drier and crisper the outer texture will be.

 

This dual control allows the operator to adjust food quality characteristics such as texture, color, moisture, and temperature.  In the cooking process it provides browning control.  In the holding application it keeps crisp foods crisp and moist foods moist.
 

A printer friendly copy of this lesson is available here (PDF)

Continue on to lesson #2 "CVap Technology a Closer Look" Click here