Commercial Catering Grills Buyers Guide

Find all your commercial catering grills at Hopkins! 

Whether you run a full size commercial kitchen or a small café chances are that amongst your catering equipment will be a grill. Grilled food is increasing in popularity as customers opt for the healthier option. When food is grilled excess fat drains away during cooking unlike other methods of cooking. There are different methods of grilling depending on the food you are serving using the catering equipment below.

		Chargrills and Lava Rock Catering Grills Lava rock chargrills have a bed of rocks with bars across the top which produce food with that tempting barbeque flavour and signature strips. The fat produced from cooking drips through the bar and onto the coals which produces the flavour. Also available are electric and gas model catering grills which don’t use lava rocks, meaning new rocks don’t have to be purchased. However care must be taken when using them as the hot fat drips on the elements below the bars.
		Electric and Gas Griddles Griddles have either smooth or ribbed plates made from a single piece of metal meaning that the fat doesn’t drip between the bars like a chargrill. This results in the food been cooked in its own juices producing a succulent end product while excess fat away. The surface you choose for your griddle depends on what you intend to cook. Cast plates are perfect for sausage or burgers, while steel plates are better suited to cooking eggs and other delicate food. Chrome plates offer the best operation with a smooth surface and improved heat distribution, meaning food doesn’t stick to the surface.
		Catering Contact Grills Contact grills are an economical way to cook small quantities of food in many catering businesses. Contract grills have a small footprint meaning they can be used where space is an issue to add product ranges to the menu. Contact catering grills cook food fast as they cook from both sides at once. As a general rule you need 1 minute of cooking time per 1 cm of fresh food. Contact grills come with either flat or ribbed plates depending on the food you are cooking. Cooking an egg on a ribbed plate would be rather troublesome but a Panini wouldn’t be a Panini without its ribbed markings.
		Salamander Grills Salamander grills are perhaps the most flexible of the catering grill options. You can purchase counter top models, wall mounted grills, infrared grills, catering grills with stands, grills with branding plates; the list is almost endless. Salamander grills cook food from above making them safer to use with less chance of fat getting onto the heat source or the operator. Salamander grills cook at high temperatures making cooking and turnover faster. Some models of Salamander grills are adjustable such as that well done steaks or burgers can be cooked at the back and rare ones at the front.
		Kebab Grills Another type of catering grill is the kebab grill which offers an economical way of cooking doner kebabs for takeaways and restaurants with simple and quick operation. At Hopkins we stock both Archway and Roller Grill kebab grills in our catering equipment shop. Roller grill kebab grills come in either gas or electric while Archway specialise in gas equipment.

All the catering equipment supplied by Hopkins is supplied direct from the manufacturer brand new with warranties including all our catering grills. Payment options include PayPal, card payments, Google checkout or pro forma invoice. At Hopkins we understand that paying for new equipment can be costly so we also offer leasing options for any order over £1000. 

Find a complete range of commercial catering equipment in Hopkins online shop.