Introducing The Next Generation of Food Service...

The Lee Bivins Foundation is proud to announce a new service that is part of the "Center of Excellence" on the Bivins campus located in the Regional Medical Center Campus in west Amarillo. The Elizabeth Jane Bivins Culinary Center is a state-of-the-art kitchen preparing food using "cook-chill" technology as well as a distribution site for meals that can be delivered to the Texas Panhandle region. The EJB Culinary Center incorporates innovative food production and food delivery concepts that includes large cooking kettles, tumble chillers, a "cook/chill tank", a chilled trayline assembly, filling (or pumping) station and advanced rethermalization technology.

The Elizabeth Jane Bivins Culinary Center promotes the vision of meeting critical community needs by providing consistent recipes and food quality in a cost-effective manner to individuals served by various programs supported by the Bivins Foundations. The new EJB Culinary Center also affords the residents residing in Childer’s Place and Bivins Memorial greater menu flexibility, higher food quality, and sound nutritious meals. The EJB Culinary Center will provide meals for both Childers Place and Bivins Memorial employees. The exciting technology available at the Culinary Center ensures full compliance with federal and state guidelines to evaluate and control food safety. The EJB Culinary Center is also serving the congregate and home delivered meal clients of the FoodNET Program in Potter and Randall counties.

As the newest addition to the services provided by the Lee Bivins Foundation, the Elizabeth Jane Bivins Culinary Center has the capability of supporting different types of food service; from catering for a large number of people to preparing an individual meal. With the potential of 2,500+ meals a day, many seniors and other persons will be provided a healthy nutritious meal. The Elizabeth Jane Bivins Culinary Center furthers our vision to enrich the quality of life in the 26-county Texas Panhandle through direct care and services for the elderly and their families and to share resources with partners addressing critical community needs.

Terminology

Blast Chill

The process that lowers the temperature of food products from 82.2 Celsius (C) to 4.4 degrees C in one (1) to four (4) hours. Food products may be maintained in inventory three to five days prior to service.

Cook/Chill Tank

A reservoir for water bath cooking and chilling of solid meats, or specific other food products encased in vacuum-sealed casings.

Cook/Water Bath Chill

A U.S.D.A. approved system of batch food production-cooking to its peak of doneness (90%), packaging in a tough oxygen impervious casing at pasteurization temperature of 180 degrees F. and rapidly chilled to 40 degrees F or less in one hour or less. This process enables the product to be held at refrigeration temperature of 28 to 32 degrees F four (4) to six (6) weeks.

Filling Station

A pump used to meter food product from a cook/chill mixer kettle into vacuum-sealed casings. The pump is usually fitted with a clipping device to seal the casings prior to their immersion into the tumble chiller.

Food Bank

The refrigerated or frozen inventory of precooked chilled food product.

Ingredient Control

Measuring and assembling all required ingredients for a recipe, prior to sending the food to the production staff for final preparation. Ingredient control assures a consistent product and raw material inventory control.

Kettle Products

Any liquid product or other food product with a thickness that will flow when hot, allowing it to be pumped by the metering fill station.

Rethermalization

Heating chilled food from chilled temperatures to service temperatures, without compromising the integrity of the menu item.

Tumble Chiller

A mechanical rotating machine used to reduce temperature of Cryovac‚ package food product from 180 degrees F to below 40 degrees F in less than one (1) hour. The tumble chiller is filled with cold water, which is continuously circulated through a heat exchanger to maintain a temperature of approximately 34 degrees F during the water bath chilling process.

For more information about Childers Place, please call (806) 350-2200.

301 S. Polk, Suite 860, PO Box 1727, Amarillo,Texas 79105-1727
(806) 379-9400, fax (806) 379-9404
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