Commercial smoke ovens can help you add a whole new dimension of flavor to your restaurant's menu. Smoked food is becoming popular all over the country, so adding a commercial smoker to your restaurant can bring in new customers and if you form a competition smoking team, you can take your smoke oven on the road and gain notoriety for your restaurant and your recipes.

If you don't know how to operate your new commercial smoker, find training and information online, such as:

1. Videos that offer training and how-to tips for novice operators of oven smokers.

2. How-to books and manuals for BBQ and smoker oven education and training.

3. Classes and conferences to kick up your knowledge about smoke cookers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Watch videos about smoke cookers to learn new food smoking techniques

Learning how to smoke foods the right way isn't difficult, but there are some techniques to master that will help you create the best smoked foods with your oven smokers or custom built smokers. Videos offer the advantage of being able to see what the finished food should look like, and what you need to do to turn out perfectly smoked delicacies every time.

I recommend: Pit master Chris Lilly offers how to barbecue and smoke training videos for a variety of different meats. BBQtv offers training videos for a variety of BBQ and smoking subjects, from how to smoke almonds to creating your own custom smoker cookers. Barbecue U offers barbecue basics including "The Art of Smoking."

Check out how-to books and manuals on how to smoke food in your commercial smoker ovens

It's not hard to learn how to operate smokers cookers, but you do need to understand the nuances of which wood to use with different meats in your smoker, what types of rubs, sauces and brines to use, and how long to smoke your food. Many manufacturers offer comprehensive training books and videos to help you learn the best techniques for your commercial smoker ovens.

I recommend: The Sausage Source offers a book "Mastering the Craft of Smoking Food" by Warren Anderson that is a comprehensive guide to the art of smoking with your electric smoker oven or brick oven smoker. Bradley Smoker, a smoke ovens online site, offers training books and videos to help you operate your new smoker oven. Traeger Grills, a manufacturer of electric smoker ovens, offers information on cold weather smoking and much more.

Attend conferences and professional organizations to learn cutting edge techniques for oven smoking

BBQ and smoking conferences often offer competitions for everything from the best sauces to the tastiest smoked meats. They usually offer some great educational resources, too. Attend these conferences to get the most out of your wood fire or electric smoker oven.

I recommend: The National Barbecue Association (NBBQA) offers a yearly conference with educational events throughout the event. The California BBQ Association offers the California BBQ University every year, with dozens of classes on smoking and BBQ with your commercial smoker oven.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  What's the difference between BBQ (barbecue) and smoking? Nothing, really. BBQ usually refers to long, slow cooking over wood smoke with flavorful results. That's opposed to grilling, which is actually cooking directly over high heat for a short amount of time. So, if you're looking for smoke ovens education and training, look for BBQ information for the best instructions on your cooking method.

Commercial smoke ovens allow you to turn out deliciously authentic smoked foods that have become wildly popular among American consumers within the past decade. Pulled pork and Texas-style smoked beef brisket are just two of the many sought-after dishes prompting many restaurateurs to add smoked foods to their menus. Imparting true hickory-smoked flavor to meats, poultry, fish and cheese requires more than just dousing the foods with artificially flavored smoke extract. It involves roasting those foods in a specially designed smoke oven that you can use indoors or out.

If investing in a high performing commercial smoker oven is beyond your means, you can buy more affordable smoker equipment that allows you to prepare the same hickory-flavored foods by conventional oven smoking and even on stove tops. When it comes time to purchase smoke oven equipment, you have many options available to you:

1. Save time and money when you do the smoking yourself with commercial smoker ovens.

2. Design your own smoker oven and have it built to your specifications.

3. Buy smoker cookers to use in your conventional oven or on your stove top.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Smoke your own foods with a commercial smoker oven

If your menu relies heavily on smoked foods, it's cost-efficient to do the smoking yourself.

I recommend: Zesco Products supplies the Alta Shaam Halo Heat Cook & Hold Smoking Oven. This state of the art product uses wood chips to impart a true smoked flavor to foods and comes equipped with a timer allowing you to set different degrees of smoked flavor, depending upon your preference. Instawares offers the Chef System Electric Smoker Oven in different models, which regulates the holding temperature so that when you finally serve, your food tastes as if it you just made it.

Order custom built smokers when standard smokers don't suit your needs

If you're a professional smoker who's looking for a unique product that's just not available from restaurant equipment wholesalers, or a standard smoker just won't fit into our restaurant's floor layout, consider having a smoker custom built.

I recommend: Beech Ovens has emerged as a market leader in high quality commercial cooking equipment, serving customers all over the world. The company builds smokers according to its clients' exact specifications. KCK.com, operating out of Kansas City, builds handmade custom commercial rotisserie smokers, including gas grill smokers and smoker wood fire boxes.

Turn your conventional oven or stove top into a commercial smoker

Perhaps your budget doesn't allow you to purchase a separate smoker, or you just don't have the room for one.

I recommend: Camerons Products offers a wide selection of high performing stainless steel cookware and accessories for smoker cookers. The company offers free shipping on any order over $100. Chef's Catalog sells a stove top smoker that's available in large and small sizes. Buy one or several to smoke your meats, poultry and fish. The company has been carrying name brand cookware since 1979.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Add special flavors to your smoked foods by experimenting with different kinds of wood smoker chips in your smoker oven. Use flavors such as maple, apple or persimmon.