Introduction

Tepro is a German company that specialise in the manufacture of high-quality garden products including, charcoal grills, gas grills, fireplaces, metal and plastic sheds, storage boxes and heaters.

They recently contacted me to ask if I would be interested in trying out their new Toronto Steak Grill which is due for release in the UK on 15 April (already available on pre-order).

I was keen to have a ‘play’ with this as I had seen similar products and I was intrigued how well the Toronto Steak Grill would actually cook meat.

What is the Toronto Steak Grill?

The name gives a good indication of what this product does. It is an outdoor gas grill that can reach temperatures of 800°C to cook your steaks. This is much hotter than your indoor oven or your BBQ’s could reach.

You obviously don’t want to burn your steak and 800°C sounds pretty insane. However, when you’re grilling a steak, it’s important to use the highest heat possible. The high heat cooks your steak faster and the less time your steak spends cooking, the more tender it will be.

Another advantage of cooking steak under a high temperature is that you can produce the Maillard reaction. This is the chemical process responsible for forming the flavourful brown crust on the exterior of a steak. If your pan or grill isn’t hot enough, or if you don’t bring your steak up to room temperature before cooking, you won’t be able to achieve that brown tasty goodness.

Key Features

On opening the box the good news is that there is very little assembly required. The main body of the grill comes built and the only things you need to do is add a battery for the ignition switch, slot on the gas temperature knob and attach the gas hose.

The grill comes with 2 grill shelves, 2 drip trays that can also be used to rest your meat. There is also a removable handle to slide the grill trays out. This is important not only when cooking but also is key to ensure you can easily clean them.

On the front of the base of the main unit, it a hole for fat and grease to drip through into a removable drip tray.

The thing that struck me is it seemed really well built and a really solid unit. It is constructed from double-walled 430 Grade stainless steel and although it is very sturdy it is still light enough to easily move around.

Tech Specs

• 1 ceramic-infrared-burner, 3 kW reaches approx. 800°C within 90-120 seconds
• Double-walled stainless steel body
• 2 stainless steel cooking grid, each approx. 31.5 x 15.4 cm
• 2 stainless steel grease bowls
• 1 detachable stainless steel cooking grid handle
• Detachable cooking grid rails for easy cleaning of interior
• Integrated grease collecting system with grease drawer
• Electric ignition (1,5 AA, battery not included in delivery)
• 4 feet gas hose and regulator
• Dimensions assembled: ca. 23 cm x 56 cm x 40,5 cm (WxDxH)
• Colour: Stainless Steel
• Net weight: 11.88 kg nett

So How does it Perform?

The Toronto Steak Grill is really easy to put together, to get cooking on really quickly.

Tepro claim that it gets up to full temperature in 2 minutes. Using a laser thermometer the grills were recording a temp in excess of 600°C but the grill was not on the top grill slot. You can adjust the height of the grill shelves to either be closer or further away from the heat source.

For my ‘play’ I had 3 different types of meat to experiment with:

• A Sirloin Steak
• An Ibérico Lomo Pork Loin
• A Lamb Chop

Lamb Chop

First up was the Lamb Chop. It had been seasoned with olive oil and salt and sat coming up to room temp for an hour.

I was a little nervous about the first cook being a little unsure how long to do the lamb for. I initially tried to do them for 1 minute each side. The fat crisped up nicely but when checking the internal temp with a Thermapen it showed me I was a little under so I stuck them back under for another minute on one side and 30 seconds on the other before taking them off and allowing to rest.

The meat was cooked really nicely. A nicely browned outside with a lovely pink inside.

Ibérico Lomo Pork Loin

Next up was the Iberico Lomo. This had been marinating overnight and had been out the fridge for over an hour before going on the grill.

After the initial cook with the lamb, I was a little more confident. This time I did the steak for 90 seconds each side. Again I check the temp with a Thermapen and it was at the desired temp. However, when I cut into the pork it was a little too pink for my liking so I just placed back on the grill for another 30 seconds each side, which took the meat to where I like it.

Sirloin Steak

Last up was the sirloin steak. Again this had been out of the fridge for an hour and had been seasoned with some olive oil and salt.

I went for 90 seconds each side with the steak before removing it. This time I didn’t need to do any further grilling, with the steak good to serve. It had a lovely crust on it and was still nice and pink in the middle.

One thing that did concern me was with the high cooking temperatures, how would it affect the outside of the grill (i.e. would it get hot?). I kept testing through the cooks and it was always safe to touch with bare hands.

How was the taste test?

The Toronto Steak Grill really cooks the meat well. All three types of meat tasted great and there were some pleasurable groans coming from my teenage son, so that provided some positive feedback.

All the steaks were very tender with a nice crust that had formed. It definitely does cook the meat really well.

The Verdict

The Toronto Steak Grill definitely does what it says on the tin.

I do think you need an instant-read thermometer, like the Thermapen. Because the grill cooks at such high temperature, which you are probably not used to it, I think it would be difficult to gauge how well done your meat was. Saying that I use Thermapen whether I am cooking on the BBQ or indoors!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to try cooking vegetables/sides. It would have been good to see how they cooked both on the grill and also on one of the drip/warming trays lower down in the over. I am sure you could use it for this purpose also.

I also think it would have been good to see how beef burgers cooked on the grill and also try some chicken (potentially chicken wings).

Overall, it is a well-built piece of kit that definitely cooks steaks well. It comes up to heat incredibly quickly so you are good to get cooking in a couple of minutes, and it will produce great results.

The Tepro Toronto Steak Grill is going to retail at £299, so I am interested to see how it does. It won’t replace the traditional BBQ. However, it’s interesting to see how much the ownership of portable pizza ovens has grown in the UK market, thanks to the likes of OONI and Delavita, and I wonder whether this steak grill could initiate a similar trend.

It is going to launch on 15th April and will be available Robert Dyas, The Range, and Homebase.