Two lines sit in front of the buyer: square-log ham at 3500 g and square-log ham at 1750 g. Judged per kilo the large size always wins; judged by the day an opened log is finished, the picture changes. The size decision is made at the daily count on the slicing bench, not on the price list.
All three products come in both sizes: Mortella Beef Jambon (Square Log), Mortella Turkey Jambon (Square Log) and Mortella Chicken Jambon (Square Log). Same recipe, same square section, same per-100 g values; the only variable is the length of the log. That is why the decision is about the business, not the product.
Is the difference between the 3500 g and 1750 g square ham logs only weight?
In the product, yes; in the kitchen, no. Both sizes come from the same section; a slice cut at the same thickness weighs the same from either log and covers the bread the same way. The recipe card does not change when switching between sizes.
The difference in the kitchen is the number of days the log spends in contact with air after opening. While sealed, the log is inside its pack; the moment it is opened the cut face meets the air, and every new cut refreshes that face while the rest of the log keeps waiting under film. At the same daily consumption a 3500 g log stays open twice as long as a 1750 g log. The entire logic of the size decision sits in that sentence.
Within how many days should an opened square log be finished?
The producer gives no fixed number of days on the label; the rule is to wrap the cut face, hold the log between 0 °C and +4 °C and finish it within a few days. The example plan takes that window as three working days; a business may choose two or four from its own observation, but it must write the rule down once and tie the size decision to it.
The practical meaning of the three-day rule is this: if an opened log is not finished by the end of the third day, that log is too large for that business. If slight darkening appears on the cut face, a thin slice is removed and discarded and written into the waste record; in a kitchen discarding that slice twice a week, the waste reaches a visible gram total before long and makes the size decision on its own.
The daily toastie threshold: a worked example
The threshold comes from three numbers: log weight, ham per toastie and the finishing window. A 3500 g log at 45 g per toastie over three days: 3500 ÷ 45 ≈ 78 toasties, 78 ÷ 3 ≈ 26 toasties a day. Below 26 toasties a day the 3500 g log is not finished in three days; the 1750 g log is finished at 39 toasties, so 13 a day is enough.
| Ham per toastie | Toasties per 3500 g log | Toasties per 1750 g log | Threshold to finish in 3 days (3500 g) | Threshold to finish in 3 days (1750 g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 g (economy) | 117 | 58 | 39 a day | 19 a day |
| 45 g (standard) | 78 | 39 | 26 a day | 13 a day |
| 60 g (premium) | 58 | 29 | 19 a day | 10 a day |
The table is built on assumptions; if your slice weight and finishing window differ, the numbers change but the logic does not. Above the threshold the 3500 g log lowers cost per kilo and reduces the weekly log count; below it the 1750 g log lowers waste. The full slice count and cost-per-toastie calculation should be read together with the square-log ham guide for toastie shops on slice count and weight logic.
Can the slicer handle a 3500 g log?
Most professional machines can, but three things need checking: the length of the carriage, the height of the log as it sits on the carriage, and the blade diameter. Because the square section sits stably in the machine it runs more steadily than a round log; the problem, where there is one, is length rather than section. On a benchtop machine with a short carriage the 3500 g log is cut in half before use; that means two cut faces, and the exposed surface becomes the same as a 1750 g log's. In such a kitchen the shelf advantage of buying 3500 g disappears and only the per-kilo difference remains.
The quantity the machine can slice in one session affects the plan too. If daily slicing is done in a single pass, the whole of a 3500 g log is not sliced in one shift; the remainder is wrapped and carried to the next day. Measuring capacity takes one trial: put a 3500 g log on the carriage and slice it end to end.
Is the size choice the same for beef, turkey and chicken?
No; the three logs go into different toasties on the menu and each one's daily toastie count is counted separately. In a typical café chicken ham sells most with the economy toastie and stays above the threshold: 3500 g. Beef ham sells less with the premium toastie and stays below it: 1750 g. Turkey ham, with club sandwiches and the standard toastie, becomes one or the other depending on its place on the menu.
Choosing one size for all three has two failure modes. Buying everything at 3500 g leaves the slow seller's open log under film for days; buying everything at 1750 g means opening twice as many logs a week on the fast seller and losing the per-kilo advantage. Which pack suits which type of business is set out in general terms in the suitability of 3.5 kg and 1.75 kg packs by business type; here that frame is brought down to the three meats of the square ham log.
In which business does mixed stocking of both sizes make sense?
In the business whose daily toastie count changes in a regular pattern across the week. In a café where weekend toasties run at twice the weekday figure, a 1750 g chicken log is opened on weekdays and a 3500 g log from the Friday delivery for the weekend. The low weekday count finishes the small log in three days; the high weekend count uses up the large log in two.
Mixed stock has a single rule: no new log is opened before the open one is finished. Both sizes stand on the same shelf, the open one waits at the front, and the slicer always takes it first. In a kitchen where the rule is not written down, a new 3500 g log is opened on Friday morning, Thursday's 1750 g log is forgotten at the back, and on Monday it is written off.
Goods-in, store and open-log records
For both sizes the same three items are written at receipt: pack surface temperature (within the 0 °C to +4 °C range), lot number and use-by date. The WHO food safety fact sheet (yeni sekmede açılır) counts keeping food at safe temperatures among the core practices for any food operation, and the record does not change with log size.
One more line is added for the open log: opening date and opening weight. Those two numbers show every week whether the three-day rule is holding. When the grams left on the shelf at the end of the third day are written down, the size decision stops being a guess and becomes data.
The decision: which size, which day
The size decision is made in three steps. The daily toastie count for each meat is counted for one week. It is compared with the threshold in the table; above it 3500 g, below it 1750 g. If weekday and weekend counts differ clearly, both sizes are stocked together and the open-log rule goes on the board.
On the first order ask for one 1750 g log of each meat and record opening and finishing dates for a week; on the second order move the variety that crosses the threshold to 3500 g. Write to EMKA FOOD for a quote and a delivery pattern.
