Backyard smoking is extremely popular for a very good reason. It’s a very satisfying way to turn cheaper cuts of meat into very delicious food. And it’s also a fun activity. Outdoor cooking is always a great thing socially too, and there’s nothing quite like kicking back and enjoying a few beers with friends or family, while the beautiful aroma of smoking meat is whispering and wafting its sweet promises to you. In this article, we’re going to try to find the best commercial smoker for you.
We’ll be taking a close look at the best five available smokers in the commercial bracket, and we’ve picked a selection here with the aim of providing something for everyone. You’ll notice we’re considering things such as dimensions and weight of the smoker, cooking areas that each one provides, and things like fuel types and numbers of racks. We’ll look at what all those things mean when you’re buying and using your smoker – and try to help you decide which things are your own priority when you’re selecting a smoker.
Finding the best commercial smoker for you is hopefully going to become a far easier task once you’ve had a proper read through this article and our detailed product reviews. Towards the end, you’ll find a buying guide, designed to help you figure out what’s what and to get you smoking delicious food as quickly as possible, safe in the knowledge that you’ve made the best choice.
We’re going to try to make sure that you’ve picked the best commercial smoker on the market – for you and how you use it. So, without further delay, let’s dive in!
When it comes to smoking, and when it comes to laying on a great spread at family gatherings and parties, upping your game by going for a commercial grade unit will reap fine rewards. Commercial grade machines will generally give you more capacity for volume and you’ll be able to smoke more meats and foods in one session. You can expect more control in terms of temperature too.
You’ll need to figure out what you want to do with reference to fuels and flavors. The type of fuel that your stove burns is going to have a massive impact on the type of flavor that comes out once you’ve done with your smoking. Wood fires are generally and widely considered to produce an extra dimension of flavor because you can get additional tones from the actual firebox, and most diehard smoking enthusiasts will only ever consider running on wood when trying to achieve authentic and deep flavors every time they fire up the box.
This is basically as simple as it sounds. This is the flat space available to you in square inches where you can place food within the smoking area. There are two main things to consider when it comes to the cooking area and what you require from your smoker. The first thing is the overall volume of meat you want to be cooking in each session. The second thing is going to be the actual sizes of the cuts, or even the birds, that you want to smoke. There’s no use having lots of cooking area available via a narrow stack and lots and lots of racks and hooks – if you mostly want to smoke big old hunks of brisket. The best commercial bbq smoker may be the best way to go for you if you cook massive birds or cuts. Another option that will give you a single but larger cooking area than racks would be to look at some of the best commercial smoker grills on the market.
This is a similar consideration as with the cooking area. It’s about how the volume of your smoker is divided. You’ll need more racks to cook a lot of smaller items and cuts, and fewer racks to cook more volume in sizes of cuts. It’s a great idea and always an advantage to have more racks available than you usually need. It’s easier to remove a rack than it is to find one.
Weather can be your enemy with smokers, because the bigger units tend to be left outside in all weathers and conditions. Buying one with a cover included is great, but if that’s not possible, then get an optional extra cover. This will save a lot of heartache in terms of cleaning and the overall longevity of the smoker. Well worth doing.
