I saw Quite Riot in this place when I was in college! BIG HAIR FOREVER!!

Hey gdammann-

Thanks for you kind words, I was a chef in my former life. This steamer is defiantly a heavy-duty commercial model. In answer to your question; All of the cooking chambers can cook pretty much the same. Usually, kitchen staffers will use the different chambers for preparing different types of food. For example, steaming potatoes for mashed potatoes take considerably longer than steaming green beans.

And yes, there is a fair amount of pressure. The doors actually have a kind of countersink mechanism that helps release some of the pressure that builds up. So when you open the door, you don't get knocked on your ass by the force of the steam. The real danger is the dreaded STEAM BURN that hurts a hell of a lot more than a burn from fire or metal. Unlike a traditional burn that will only affect the area that your have the bad luck to run into, steam is a gas and it goes EVERYWHERE. Like in between your fingers and under your fingernails (gross but true!).

This is a convection steamer and an old one at that. At the bottom, there is a tank filled with water that is heated past it's boiling point, and thus steam is produced. The steam is them directed into the chambers above,where those big doors, when closed, using those big wheels, create an airtight seal (like a hatch on a submarine). After all the air is replaced with the hot steam, the pressure starts to build inside the chamber. After the steam chamber has the correct pressure, the temperature starts to increase. And, when the temperature increases the food inside starts to cook.

Convection steamers are used to cook pretty much everything from lobsters to potatoes. The design has changed over the years but the basic principal has remained to same.

Maybe the fence was put there to prevent dogs from peeing on the tree? Just kidding.

Motts, was this picture taken in the kitchen by any chance? Because if it was, this looks like a motorized potato/ root vegetable peeler.

That small head rest on top of the chair is very unnerving.

The fire escape looks like it was slapped on after the fact in order to get the building up to code.

I think this might be a pee trough! We had them at my summer camp.

These are called "Steam-Jacketed Kettles". As someone else mentioned they are used to make soup. You can also make sauces, cook pasta or masked potatoes etc. The ones in this picture seem to be in pretty good shape. Although I'm sure they are quite old, their design has not changed much.

Looks like my elementary school (now closed) gym when I used to have bad dreams about gym class.

The hallway looks like it gets smaller as it goes up. I am not claustrophobic but imagining myself in that hallway freaks me out.