We don’t know if the Otto Over-Fired Broiler can make steaks that taste as good as the old trusty grill you have sitting in the backyard. From the looks of those steaks in their promotional video, though, it definitely would. More impressively, the darn thing can finish cooking that well before your gas grill is properly preheated. Really.
You know how you’ll usually leave the grill heating for 15 minutes before throwing in those thick, juicy cuts? Yeah, that takes too long. This thing cuts down the preheating time to a mere three minutes (that even beats the 5-minute Velocity Grill), raising the temperature inside the cooking chamber to 970 degrees Celsius in that timeframe so you can start cooking steaks without the painfully long wait.
The Otto Over-Fired Broiler uses two infrared gas units situated on top of the inner compartment to provide the heat. That’s right, on the top. As such, the grates where you set down the steaks on can be height-adjusted using a lever on the outside, so you can push the grates up close to the fire to really sear the meat and pull it back down to the floor once you get a good crust going to finish up the cooking without having to open the door.
Features include individual control knobs for separately adjusting each heating element (useful when you’re cooking two different cuts), a drip tray for collecting all juices during cooking, and a removable top for easy cleaning. It’s compact, too, coming in at a size similar to larger countertop ovens, although it’s strictly for outdoor use.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Otto Over-Fired Broiler. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at €590.