When buying a gas burner for your restaurant, you can always see a parameter – BTU. So what does this parameter mean? How should you choose a gas burner suitable for your restaurant based on the BTU parameter?
What is BTU
BTU is the abbreviation of British Thermal Unit, a unit of energy measurement. Under a constant pressure of one atmosphere, the energy required to raise the temperature of one pound (0.45kg) of water by 1°F is 1 BTU. Is it a bit confusing? In fact, it is equivalent to the heat generated by burning a match.
In commercial kitchen stoves, BTU is usually used to indicate the amount of heat that a gas stove can generate per hour. The higher the BTU, the stronger the heating capacity of the stove. To reach the same temperature, a high BTU stove takes less time.
So is a high BTU gas stove definitely better? In fact, it needs to be determined according to the type and size of your restaurant.
Scenarios suitable for high-BTU gas stoves
If you run a Chinese restaurant, then authentic Chinese stir-frying is indispensable to stir-frying, so that the food can produce the “wok hei” flavor. The principle is to heat the pot to about 200 degrees Celsius, pour cold oil into the surface to form a polymer non-stick coating, and then add ingredients and seasonings to stir-fry. Because of the Leidenfrost effect, the heat will not be quickly taken away by the steam, and the temperature will slowly drop to (140-170 degrees Celsius) to make the ingredients produce Maillard reaction, so that the food will not stick to the pot wall, but also produce a unique flavor.

Traditional Chinese restaurants usually pursue high firepower and stir-frying with fierce fire. Often the pot is on fire, but the chef is still calm and unhurried. The BTU of commercial kitchen stoves required to make the pot catch fire is generally at least ten times that of household equipment. Generally, household gas stoves are 10,000 btu/h, while Chinese restaurant gas stoves are at least 100,000 btu/h. This is why it is difficult to produce pot gas even if you cook at full power at home.
Scenarios suitable for low-BTU gas stoves
If you run a traditional American or Italian restaurant, and the menu is often filled with pasta, soup, salad and other dishes that are mainly cooked by frying and stewing, then a gas stove of about 20,000 BTU is enough for you. A high-BTU gas stove is not only overpowered, but also easy to burn food, and will also produce more oil smoke, not only around the stove and chimney, but even the ceiling may be polluted, cleaning the kitchen will become a headache, and the requirements for fire prevention facilities and chimneys will be higher.

Summary
If you think there are too many words above, you can jump here to see the conclusion. Asian restaurants, especially Chinese restaurants, can choose 100,000 BTU/h gas stoves. In other regions such as America Europe, and mexico,20,000 BTU/h gas stoves can basically meet all cooking needs. If you have other suggestions, please leave a message in the comment area to share!