Commercial fish smokers are similar to residential smokers but are larger and designed for heavy duty operation.
Fish smokers are used to prepare fish for eating by infusing the flesh with smoke from hardwoods or softwoods. Each type of wood used for smoking imparts its own flavour and aroma. The cold smoking method uses mainly smoke to cure the fish with the temperature kept just above room temperature at about 26 degrees C. The fish is usually rubbed with preservation salt or soaked in brine to help prevent bacterial contamination. The cool smoking process can last for periods of hours, days or weeks. Some experts warn against cool smoking since cooking is believed necessary to kill bacteria in the fish.
Hot smoking involves cooking and smoking the fish at the same time. The hot smoker places the fire near the smoking fish so that the heat reaches temperatures of around 94° to 100°C (200° – 300° F).
Smoked fish are usually flavored with spices, condiments and other flavorings to add to their appeal.
Commercial fish smokers can be quite large and are capable of cooking a large quantity of fish at one time. They are usually made of stainless steel with multiple shelves or grills. They generally use sawdust as fuel mostly from hardwoods. Some of the hardwood types used for smoking include oak, hickory, apple, cherry, elm, adler, beech and juniper. Softwoods used for smoking include cedar, pine and fir. These softwoods have a lot of resins and oils and are usually not used for cool smoking.
The commercial fish smoker will come with an electrical heating element to ignite the smoking wood (sawdust). They will normally have a drip pan and be wheel-mounted for easy movement, since they tend to be quite heavy. Some smokers are also equipped with smoke hoods.
Some commercial fish smokers also come with accessories like cookbooks and different spice and sauce kits. Flavorings used for smoked fish include lemon juice, brown and white sugar, honey, pepper, garlic and onion, soy sauce, rum, pickling spice, nutmeg, cardamom, and bay leaves.
As would be expected, commercial fish smokers can churn out large quantities of smoked fish at a time. A large portable smoker, for example, can handle hundreds of pounds of fish per load. These commercial smokers are used by eating establishments and by companies that sell packaged or fresh smoked fish to shops and delis. Good equipment of this kind will usually be quite expensive and beyond the range of the ordinary consumer.
If you have purchased smoked fish at a restaurant, or a package of smoked salmon or herring at a shop, then it was likely prepared in a commercial fish smoker. In comparison, residential fish smokers are much smaller and are affordable for the average consumer. However, the end product of both smokers will be about the same so long as similar methods are used.
Commercial fish smokers are sold over the internet by a number of companies. These smokers make sense for businesses as they save time and money in preparing large amounts of smoked fish. Many are also designed for easy cleaning and to take up as little space in the kitchen as possible. They provide businesses with a good return on investment by lowering the costs of smoking fish.
