With pros & cons for all types of commercial grills and griddles, deciding on the best grill to cook your burgers, hotdogs or vegetarian options is no easy decision! Here is a breakdown of the most popular types of grills available:
Griddles are an essential and versatile piece of kitchen equipment, they come in a large variety of types, sizes and models to fit the needs of any commercial business. Griddles can be powered by either gas or electricity, scaling to suit anywhere from a small environment all the way up to the heaviest-duty kitchens. Cooking with Griddles is great for small foods or f.e eggs that start as a liquid, and with a flat contact griddle the cleanup and maintenance can be quick and simple.
The extensive range of contact grills includes single or double sizes, as well as a large choice of different plate combinations to suit your specific needs. The increasing popularity of paninis and other toasted foods makes contact grills a café must have. You would use a grill to reduce the fat content of items cooked on it, as well as apply charring whilst rapidly cooking foods.
Widespread within the domestic cooking scene, the high temperature and intensity of the salamander grill is often seen as an efficient appliance within commercial kitchens to produce that beautiful brown caramelised glaze to complete the perfect dish. Salamanders can cook foods quickly and efficiently, reaching an extremely high temperature, perfect for fast re-heating or initial cooking as well as toasting/glazing/browning the food quickly in a dry environment.
Roller Grill are one of the main suppliers of the kebab grill, offering a range of different products to suit your specific needs. The Roller Grill GR60E is an example of a great all-around electric kebab grill at a competitive price. Kebab Grills are brilliant for rotisserie cooking, offering quality cooking on the externals of the food, rotating evenly, and allowing juices and fats to simply fall off into the waste catcher below.
Chargrills produce a controlled flaring that gives food a distinctive chargrilled flavour and an aesthetically pleasing barbeque colour. The burners, which are typically gas, give fast cooking results whilst only using minimal energy to power the products. These chargrills combine some of the use of a grill with the features of a salamander, in particular, chargrills can capture the flavours of the smoke within the food as it evaporates. These are brilliant for the barbeque feel for your food.
Factors to Consider When Buying a Commercial Griddle or Grill
To make identifying the right commercial griddle/grill as simple as possible here are the main factors that should be considered:
Cost
Commercial grills and griddles can range in price from around £200 for a basic model to over £5,000 for larger griddles with more features and better-quality components. No doubt you are coming to this decision with a budget in mind. Griddles/Grills with a chrome surface will tend to cost more but are much easier to clean and won’t transfer any flavour from the griddle surface to the food.
Overall, as in many things, you’ll get what you pay for and spending more now can pay off in making your life easier and saving you money over time.
Size
Think about when you are running service at full capacity – how many items will you need on the Grill/Griddle at one time to keep the kitchen running smoothly? This will help to keep your customers from getting impatient, you’ll end up paying for the error in angry and lost customers. You will of course have to consider how much space you have available in the kitchen.
Fuel Type
As with most commercial kitchen appliances, you have two fuel options for commercial grills and griddles: gas or electric. In most cases gas will cost you less to run over time but will cost you a little more upfront. Electric griddles provide some convenience, while gas usually means greater precision and tend to be the preference of chefs. You will need to have the right hook-up to be able to use a gas griddle or be willing to get it set up. There’s not one right answer for the best fuel type, usually, the best option will have a lot to do with what you’ll be using the griddle for and the kind of setup you have in your commercial kitchen.
Heat
Heat’s pretty much the whole point of a commercial Grill/Griddle, you need it to warm up in the right way to cook the food you serve. Many commercial griddles claim high BTUs, so you know they’ll get very hot. Thermodynamic controls provide greater precision in heat, and chrome plates can provide better heat retention so that you don’t need as many BTUs to cook your food to perfection.
Different types of food cook best at differing heat levels, so take into consideration what is needed for the items on the menu, seek out a Grill/Griddle that will work well for your specific cooking needs.
Griddle Plate Thickness
If you’ll be using your commercial griddle frequently or using it for items like frozen meats, then you’ll benefit from investing in a griddle with a thicker plate. Commercial griddle plates come in ½- inch, ¾-inch, and 1-inch thicknesses.
For establishments that will mostly use their griddle for breakfast items like eggs and bacon, the thinner plates may suffice. However thicker plates can handle heavy use better and store more heat, so when you place frozen items on the griddle they recover faster than griddles with a thin plate and won’t slow your kitchen down. Settling for a thinner plate when you need a thicker one could mean a more inefficient kitchen, placing wear and tear on your griddle quickly.
Controls
You’ll find two types of control options available for commercial grills and griddles: Manual control and thermostatic. Manual controls allow for just a couple of main heat settings, usually low, medium, and high. Thermostatic controls let you set the heat at a specific temperature. As you’d expect, thermostatic controls typically cost a bit more.
You should also pay attention to how many sections the Grill/Griddle has that will allow you to set at different heat levels. If you’ll be making a number of different types of food at one time that need different levels of heat, then it’s crucial to make sure that you go with a commercial unit that allows for those differences.
Ease of Use
Consider how complicated the controls are, how difficult the griddle is to clean, and whether it comes with any features that will make life easier or harder for your kitchen staff. If you’re not careful, saving money upfront could mean harder days in your kitchen for years to come.
In more ways than one, buy the wrong Grill/Griddle, and you will really get burned!
For more information on commercial grills and griddles (or any other catering equipment) give us a call on 01934 253600 or have an online chat with one of our experts at https://electricaldealsdirect.co.uk
