I am thinking of buying a cambro for holding BBQ stuff like butts and briskets and whatnot. Up to this point I have been doing the faux cambro thing (meat foiled, wrapped in towels, placed in a cooler), and it has worked out ok. That said the cambro is made for this and looks like it might be better at it? I was wondering if anyone has experience that they can share (are they worth it, etc)? Thanks in advance!
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I've used Cambro's for many years on the job. They are nice, but for the best efficiency, should be used with standard size hotel pans. Without the hotel pans, they aren't a whole lot better than a cooler, which they resemble in construction. If you are using 4" hotel pans, you can fit a ton of food in them. The key is using hotel pans; which aren't cheap, but will last many, many years. So, if you make a commitment to buying hotel pans, the Cambro will give you many years of service. Just understand the extra costs involved, that's all.
By the way, if you ever crack a Cambro(we have at work a few times), they are easily repaired with a hot air plastic welder. This I have done a few times, and it is pretty easy. We've saved hundreds...lol -
kingdarb I have never used one. The ice chest works fine for the quantity of meat I cook, and if I really cooked a lot of meat I could use my giant 5-day marine ice chests. I am curious as to your reason for purchasing a faux cambro- space, holding time or both?Comment
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LOVE my Cambro. Winco stainless steel pans. I got a deep and a shallow. Especially helpful if you have casseroles that need to stay warm. There are many reasons why they are used so much in the food service industry.Comment
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Well I found a fella that is selling a 400 series that looks to be in great shape for half price of new, and he has a bunch of Vollrath(sp?) pans for it. Gunna have a look tonight. Cooking a couple picnics and a 7lb hunk of brisket for mothers day. This should let me get em ready in advance and hold em warm.
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LA Pork Butt The cambro was more of a want than a need honestly. I have been finding that with stuff like pork shoulders and briskets that the often seem to finish god knows when. So when I am cooking them if I want to have them ready for a meal I have to do them in advance. The cambro looks like it will do a better job of keeping the food at temp for a few hours until mealtime. Will see how it works!Comment
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kingdarb I usually put my Boston Butts on the night before to serve for noon. Thy typically go for 12-14 hours. I pull them, wrap them and put them in the ice chest keeping them for up to 4 hours. The smaller the ice chest the longer they stay hot. One way to extend things is to put hot water in the ice chest 30 minutes to an hour before pulling the meat. Drain, wrap and put the meat in and towels in to fill the dead space. I don't remember what you cook on. I cook on a BGE, so if the day's temp is hot I sometimes shut the egg down, wrap the butt and leave it in the egg. I hope thess ideas can save you some money for the meat and free you from having to store a cambro.Comment
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I say get it if you want it. I checked eBay and there are some deals of you look hard. May get one myself.Comment
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I LOVE my Cambro's! Hotel pans make them super-useful. You can buy the pans cheap at Sams or webstaurantstore.com, which is where I got my cambro's as well. If you cook a lot, you will absolutely love using it.Comment
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