Blast chilling & shock freezing

The link between cooking and serving

Every professional kitchen is about control: over flavour, speed and food safety. We all know the steps of cooking, storing and serving. But the step in between, the controlled cooling of prepared products, is often forgotten. It is precisely this link that makes the difference in shelf life, quality and hygiene.

‘Cooling is essential for the controlled handling of prepared food’

With blast chilling and shock freezing, you bring prepared products down to a safe temperature in no time (+3°C and -18°C respectively). This prevents bacterial growth, extends shelf life and preserves flavour and texture. These techniques are not only efficient, but also actively contribute to food safety in your kitchen. You can read more about this in the Dutch hygiene code for hospitality.
On this page, you will discover how blast chilling and shock freezing work and get to know various appliances.

Blast chilling Shock freezing

Blast chilling

‘A prepared product with a core temperature of 90°C must reach 3°C at the core within 90 minutes’

Blast chilling draws the warm steam out of the core of the cooked product by means of a controlled cold cycle. This avoids bacteriological risks. Bacterial growth starts below 65°C and the most critical temperature range is between 40°C and 10°C.

The culprit is the heat in a product: it evaporates and lingers in the risky temperature range for a long time, allowing bacteria to multiply. The air circulation in a blast chiller not only cools the core temperature, but also preserves the characteristics of the product.

See the spinach image of normally cooled vs. blast chilling.

Sfeerbeeld van blast chilling gekookte pasta

See the pasta image of cold-rinsed pasta vs. blast chilling.

Dried pasta with a cooking time of 12 minutes

Pre-cook for 6 minutes, then blast chill.

Benefits

No water needed for cold rinsing
No oil needed
Quick to regenerate (sieve, hot water, then into the warm sauce)
The sauce clings to the pasta much better

Blast chilling – the benefits

Blast chilling allows you to cool food under the most optimal conditions. This makes it possible to prepare food in advance without any loss of quality from poor cooling. It also allows the capacity of the kitchen and equipment to be used optimally.

Soups, sauces and creams can be produced for several days at once, so the same tasks no longer need to be done every day. Add the benefits of lower electricity and gas consumption, less labour and less waste of raw materials, and you will see that blast chilling delivers serious savings. Working further ahead also speeds up service and plating, of course.

Food that is not cooled according to the correct guidelines after production has no guaranteed shelf life and is therefore a risk factor. You will find the guidelines in the Dutch hygiene code for hospitality.

‘Food cooled in a blast chiller retains its flavour, colour and vitamins much better than food cooled the ‘normal’ way.’

Tips for use

Pre-cooling: make sure the blast chiller has been pre-cooled before you start. This is comparable to preheating an oven.
Cooling at the same time: you can cool different products at the same time in closed trays without them affecting each other’s quality.
Soft chilling: cools to 3°C without going below freezing point (suitable for pasta, vegetables, fish, rice and pastry).
Hard chilling: cools to 3°C via a cycle that drops well below 0°C (suitable for soup, sauce, meat and sous-vide products).

Shock freezing

‘In shock freezing, the temperature of an ingredient is brought down to -18°C (freezer storage temperature) as quickly as possible, in an environment of -40°C. The result is a frozen ingredient or prepared product of top quality.’

Products that you simply put in the freezer are subject to macrocrystal formation: the moisture present (which contains water) has time to expand. Because it takes a long time for the core to freeze, the water crystals can expand until they reach -18°C and solidify. You only see the consequence when you defrost the product: the crystals release the water again and the product loses its moisture.

With shock freezing, microcrystals are formed instead. The appliance freezes at -40°C until the core of the product reaches -18°C. As a result, the water crystals can no longer expand; they are trapped in the cold. When you defrost the product, no moisture is lost.

Shock freezing – the benefits

With shock freezing, you freeze products to -18°C in no time in an environment of -40°C. This prevents macrocrystals and preserves texture, flavour and shelf life. That way you can store products for longer, without losing quality or moisture when defrosting.

See the meat image of frozen at -18°C vs. shock freezing.

Benefits

Shelf life: ingredients keep for longer without loss of quality.
Cost savings: better control of cost price – buy sharply, use fresh ingredients, buy in larger quantities and maintain quality in the freezer. Result: a better margin.
Faster working: take desserts in moulds, for example. In a normal freezer it takes hours; in the shock freezer it is much faster. You make more in less time, need fewer moulds and keep space free in the freezer.
Quality and hygiene: raw products such as tartare or sashimi require care. Shock freezing provides reverse pasteurisation: dangerous bacteria or parasites (such as anisakis) are killed. This allows you to serve raw food safely. Modern shock freezers have an anisakis-killer programme for this. See the HACCP legislation for more information.

Tips for use

Soft freezing: suitable for warm products. Steam is quickly captured in the hard cycle.
Hard freezing: suitable for raw or cold ingredients.

Discover the products of our partner Van Gestel

Our partner Van Gestel offers an extensive range of blast chillers and shock freezers. Discover the full range and read more about the specifications and uses of these high-quality appliances. They are also happy to think along with you about the options for your kitchen.

> Blast chiller & shock freezer Cool Compact Magnos

> Blast chiller & shock freezer Cool Compact Vintos

> Blast chiller & shock freezer Cool Compact Vintos+

View more products, specifications and information at Van Gestel.

More information at Van Gestel

Discover the products of our partner HANOS Shop

Our partner HANOS Shop has various blast chillers and shock freezers available directly from stock.

Productafbeelding van Blast Chiller/Shock Freezer BF110

Users share their experience

Curious about practical experiences? Read how other users use blast chillers and shock freezers in their kitchens and what benefits they experience.

‘I can no longer imagine my kitchen without the blast chiller.’

‘All in all, an added value for every chef and every kitchen.’

‘We really use the blast chiller every day. Everything we prepare for functions and catering is cooled down to 3°C as quickly as possible.’

‘A good shock freezer is a gain for the kitchen, good for both product and time. This appliance contributes to the quality of products that need to be frozen.’

‘Once you are used to a shock freezer, you never want to be without one.’

‘Because I cool the dishes quickly, bacteria find it hard to settle in the food.’

Blast chilling & shock freezing

The link between cooking and serving