Rational Live Takes Centre Stage at the Lockhart Innovation Centre

Two professional Rational chefs were on hand to demonstrate all the unique features and functions of the SelfCookingCenter®, the very latest in intelligent commercial cooking which ‘learns’ from its users to deliver the optimum results every time. It’s a cooking system that needs to be seen to be believed, so Rational and Lockhart invited 20 local businesses to the new Lockhart Innovation Centre for a live cooking showcase that put the SelfCookingCenter® front and centre for the evening.

What is the Rational SelfCookingCenter®?

A truly one-of-a-kind cooking system, the SelfCookingCenter® has five ‘senses’ to learn the cooking preferences of its user and even ‘think ahead’, as well as four assistance functions to deliver the absolute top performance before, during, and even after use.

The SelfCookingCenter®’s five senses were each demonstrated at the Rational Live! showcase, including how the cooking system:

• Senses the conditions in the food cooking cabinet, as well as the food’s consistency;
• Recognises the size, load and quantity of food and calculates the browning as necessary;
• Thinks ahead and determines the best cooking path to take for the ideal results;
• Learns the cooking preferences of the user and implements them automatically, and;
• Communicates with the user to show them just how it is implementing their specifications.

The Rational chefs also showed the guests the SelfCookingCenter®’s four assistance functions:

• The iCookingControl, which intelligently adjusts the temperature, cooking time, air speed and cooking cabinet climate to suit your food;
• The HiDensityControl, which ensures that heat, air and humidity is distributed evenly within the cabinet at all times;
• The iLevelControl, which makes it possible for you to cook different foods together in the same cabinet;
• And the EfficientCareControl, which is the SelfCookingCenter’s self-cleaning function which determines and optimises the level of cleaning needed.

Taste-testing the SelfCookingCenter®

Of course, it wouldn’t be a thorough demonstration of the SelfCookingCenter® without a rigorous taste test, and the evening’s guests were treated to a tempting variety of canapes all cooked in the SelfCookingCenter® by the Rational chefs.

On the menu were marinated prawns and noodles, spicy meatballs, chicken tikka with yogurt dressing and the main event: a full English breakfast canape, which showed the SelfCookingCenter®’s ability to cook several different types of foods all at the same time – and in under seven minutes. Dessert was delicious gelato, provided courtesy of Mitchell & Cooper who demonstrated the full capabilities of their Nemox 4K Touch Gelato Machine in making a variety of delectable flavour combinations.

The Rational chefs also fielded questions from the guests and shared advice on using the SelfCookingCenter® to achieve the optimum results. Drinks served in our exclusive Plasma plastic drinkware kept the conversation flowing, and guests were also given a guided tour of the Lockhart Innovation Centre which was opened in January – you can find our more about the facility and take your very own tour in our blog post here.

As you can see from our above video, the evening was a fantastic success and among the first of what will be many great events held at the Lockhart Innovation Centre to showcase our many fantastic suppliers.

Ross Crook, Regional Corporate Chef for Rational shared his thoughts on the event and on our facility during the evening:

“I like the relationship between RATIONAL and Lockhart, it goes hand in hand together; we offer the services and training for these appliances, but we can’t do that unless we have places like the Lockhart Innovation Centre. "Doing events like this is fantastic, with a permanent kitchen and RATIONAL Combi-oven, it showcases the cooking capabilities of a SelfCookingCenter® very well. Evenings like this are a great taster for potential Lockhart customers to see what the RATIONAL appliances can do for them and hopefully opens them up to our full CookingLive events, and after-sales support through the ClubRATIONAL team. The Lockhart team are always very professional, friendly and approachable at these kind of events, and I think that’s important from a customer’s point of view.”

To keep up to date on events taking place at the Lockhart Innovation Centre, you can follow Lockhart Catering Equipment on Facebook and Twitter. If you attended the Rational Live! event, we’d love to hear your thoughts – you can share your feedback in the comments below.