A perfectly cooked piece of steak is, for meat lovers, a thing to behold. Achieving that delicate balance of searing and succulence can be tricky for your average backyard chef, but The Beefer aims to level the gastronomical playing field.

There are two very obvious questions that spring to mind. Firstly, what is The Beefer, and secondly, why would anyone need one?

The Beefer: What Is It?

The Beefer is essentially a compact Grill, which is light and portable enough for you to move around your garden or even take on a camping trip. But it’s not like any grill you’ve ever used before. It’s fuelled by the same gas you would connect to your regular gas barbecue, but the ceramic-plated grill can achieve temperatures of up to 800°C.

That’s heat your standard grill or barbecue can’t get near. 

Unlike a barbecue which creates heat underneath, with the foods cooking above, The Beefer applies high, consistent heat from above. This allows the meat juices to drip into a tray below, into which you can place the meats to rest, adding flavour back to the final dish. 

The Beefer: What Are the Benefits?

The higher cooking heat means that, with a bit of practice, you can create a perfectly cooked steak with a caramelised, crispy crust, enveloping the tender flesh within, in just a few minutes.

The design is simple, industrial, and yet still stylish. It’s easy to clean, too — once you’ve finished cooking, leave the Beefer on at the highest heat for a few minutes, and any residue is burned off. A quick wipe down with a damp cloth when it’s cooled down leaves it ready for next time. The trays can be run through a dishwasher and then slipped into the slots in The Beefer for storage. 

Given the high temperatures and the fact that all of the trays and tools are metal, we recommend wearing some heat-proof gloves when cooking, just in case.

The Beefer: Is It Any Good?

Why anyone would need one is a tricky question to answer. At the cost of £699, it’s a fairly sizable investment. That investment only allows you to cook a couple of steaks at any one time, which is a little troublesome if you’re cooking for a family or friends and you’d like to eat together rather than taking turns. 

If you’re feeling flush, there is a larger version, the Beefer XL, available for £1,119. This increases the cooking capacity but does, of course, take away the portable nature of The Beefer, as it is more cumbersome. 

It isn’t quite a one-trick pony, though, as The Beefer can cook a couple of burgers at a time, which were cooked rather well. The blurb suggests you can also cook chicken, vegetables, fish and pizza too, although we didn’t put this to the test, opting to concentrate on steaks and burgers. 

The idea of cooking chicken and pizza this way is less than convincing. The chicken would need to cook at a lower temperature for longer to avoid the inner flesh being undercooked, defeating the speedy benefits of the high temperatures, and the pizza would have to be pretty small to fit under the grill.

The Beefer: So It’s Not That Great?

This is where it gets weird. It took us a little time to really understand The Beefer and who it would appeal to. Spending a couple of weeks with it during a period of good weather highlighted its virtues,

I love to grill and have a good barbecue set up in the garden. Giving up some of the metal worktops over to The Beefer was a big step for me, and the limitations of its two-at-a-time performance frustrated me initially.

However, I realised that I was using it more and more. Even meat for a simple meal that would usually be cooked in the kitchen ended up being seared outside. With the extra steps required to get the Beefer up to temperature, and the limitations on size, it never proved to be any quicker, but the quality of the cook was undeniable.

The social aspect of grilling may not be fully embraced by The Beefer either (unless there’s just the two of you eating), but the unit itself became a talking point, somewhat reducing that impact.

And then the meat came out perfectly grilled — every single time. Beautifully seared and caramelised, yet delicate and tender inside, the Beefer produced some of the best-prepared meat I’ve ever had at home. The company promises restaurant quality, and there’s no way you can argue with that claim.

There are definitely elements of The Beefer that don’t entirely make sense, but it gets under your skin, becoming an essential piece of barbecue equipment. In fact, it replaced the barbecue on more than one occasion. Once you’ve tasted the beautifully moist, flavoursome results, you’ll wonder why you ever doubted the need for The Beefer.

In the end, the question isn’t why would you need it, but more, why wouldn’t you want it?

What: The Beefer
Where: Home Pizza Ovens
How much: £699 (Beefer XL £1,199)

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