Why You Can Trust CNET A $3,500 Toaster for Steak: The Wild AI Perfecta Grill Promises Sizzling Meat in 2 Minutes
The unusual vertical infrared oven, unveiled this week at CES 2024, reaches temps over 1,000 degrees and cooks thick steaks and chops in minutes.
I had to fight my way through a crowd of curious CES attendees to get an up-close look at the unusual Perfecta grill.
I had hoped I'd get to try some steak cooked in a toaster -- but not just any toaster. And, like so many other products here at CES 2024, it includes AI. But when I walked up to the unusual vertical infrared toaster called Perfecta by Seer Grills, the curious countertop appliance was only running its cooking programs with dummy meat inside. A disappointment for sure, but even without sizzling meat on hand, the sheer physics of how the Perfecta grill claims to sear steak boggles my mind.
That's because when in possession of a pricey piece of meat like ribeye there are few tried and true tools for nailing the cook, and a slot toaster isn't usually one of them. OK, so it's not exactly a meat toaster. More of an oven, that's designed like a toaster and marketed as a grill. The Perfecta grill cooks steak, chicken, fish and other meats standing up with AI-controlled and powerful infrared burners on either side.
Why, you ask? (Because I certainly did.) It's so the meat gets even heat from both sides. The food is cooked so fast, Seer Grill founder and CEO Suraj Sudera told me, that juices don't have time to escape before being locked inside a seared crust, even though your cut of meat is essentially suspended in midair.
Horizontal grilling is so last year.
After you've loaded the filet or chop vertically into the cage and engaged the proper cooking cycle, infrared burners close in from both sides with blazing temps of over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- that's not a typo. The grill finishes thick steaks and chops in under 2 minutes, no flipping required.
A $3,500 Steak Toaster, a Pod Ice Cream Maker and an Indoor Smoker: The Best Kitchen Tech at CES 2024
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AI automation, in tandem with your feedback collected over various cooks, helps the Perfecta get smarter over time.
If you're jonesing for something carbier, the middle cage can be removed and replaced with a pizza peel to cook personal pies (horizontally, this time) in less time than it takes to order Domino's.
Would you deign to cook a steak upright? The people behind Seer Grills' new AI-controlled Perfecta think you'd be silly not to.
Does the Perfecta deliver on all its claims? We'll have to take the company's word for now. The team wasn't cooking any actual meat when I got a look at the curious outdoor appliance -- only running its cooking programs with dummy meat inside.
The Perfecta grill will be rolling out in the second half of 2024. It'll cost a whopping $3,500, but you can score $1,000 off if you preorder one before Jan. 15.
Follow more of CNET's coverage of CES 2024 here.