Water Bath Heater

Water Bath Food Warmers: What You Need to Know

Using a water bath food warmer to retherm food can help prevent the surface drying, scorching, uneven heating, and sogginess other methods can cause. A bain marie heater creates natural convection in water to gently and evenly heat food from a frozen or chilled state to 165 degrees F, the temperature necessary to ensure harmful bacteria is destroyed. They can also be adjusted to hold food at a safe 150 degrees F until you're ready to serve it.

Common Questions About Bain Marie Heaters

What size water bath heater do I need?

Retherm units are available with a wide range of water capacities. Depending on the individual output of your establishment, you may want a small 5-gallon water bath heater or large 22.5-gallon model. Ultimately, the output capacity of the warmer will also vary depending on the volume, size, and shape of the bags of product being warmed.

Bain marie heaters come in one- and two-vat models. While a single vat will provide you with a smaller footprint, one with two vats will enable more volume to be rethermed at one time. With a two-vat option, you may use one vat on a regular basis, leaving the other for specialty items. The temperatures of the vats can be controlled individually, making it possible to warm different foods at different temperatures.

Should my commercial bain marie food warmer have digital or manual controls?

Digital controls typically permit the user to program temperatures and preset cooking times for certain dishes. This can keep training simple for operations with high turnover or operators who need to commit their attention to other tasks. Manual controls enable the operator to control the temperature by turning a knob and are typically less expensive than models with digital controls. Digital controls have less chance for error, so if inexperienced operators will be using the bain marie heater, digital controls may be preferable.