Bench Brewing Company. Beamsville, Ontario, Canada.

“It doesn’t take away from the spirit of cooking.”

Justin Lesso, Head Chef, Bench Brewing

Keeping the spirit of cooking alive.

Head Chef Justin Lesso and his team at the Kitchen at Bench still like to prepare some things traditionally.

“We love being able to cook in the RATIONAL manual mode; it keeps the spirit of cooking,” he said. “We still braise traditionally – it’s easy because the probe will track when the right temperature is reached, and then the unit will keep the temperature at the precise level. It’s almost like a sous vide without the water bath.”

His favorite thing to cook in the RATONAL? Lasagna, with a picture-perfect crust every time.

He likes how the RATIONAL can transition quickly from dry to moist heat. “This is such a powerful tool for blanching and is so much faster and safer,” he said. He reduces oil usage by shallow-frying chicken wings in the RATIONAL at 500°. It’s a cleaner take on deep frying, but still has a great taste.

It helps with labour savings, through the self-cleaning function and because the cooks don’t have to monitor food while it is cooking, allowing them to work on other things.

He also appreciates that the RATIONAL is self-contained and keeps the heat inside the unit and out of the kitchen.

“RATIONAL simply makes my life easy,” he said.

Customer benefit:
  • iCookingControl:
    Detects product status and size as well as load quantity.
  • HiDensityControl:
    The precise distribution of heat ensures exceptional uniformity from the first rack to the last, without drying out food.
  • iLevelControl:
    Intelligent mixed loading lets you prepare different foods at the same time.
  • Efficient CareControl:
    Automatically cleans and descales, overnight and unsupervised.
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