Otto Wilde Grill Review (2021): Taking a Look at One of the Best Salamander Grills

Salamander grills are becoming more and more common by the day. After all, these can cook not only incredibly well but also at blazing-fast speeds.

Otto Wilde is among the manufacturers that are making them mainstream. Its original grill goes by many names: the Otto Grill, Otto’s OFB (Over-Fired Broiler) Original, Otto Wilde Grill, or Otto Wilde OFB. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll stick to calling it the Otto Grill. At any rate, it can get the job done and deliver a decent experience both for beginner and veteran cooks. For starters, it can reach scorching-heat temperatures in just a few minutes. It’s also portable and packed with plenty of features that make grilling and cleaning up a breeze.

Otto Wilde Grill Review: Specs and Features

Cooking Specs

The Otto Grill can reach internal temperatures of 1,500°F in just three minutes.

One thing you always have to keep in mind when using the Otto Grill is it can cook fast. Really fast. In fact, you’ll always have to stay on top of whatever you’re cooking so it doesn’t burn.

The two infrared burners above can shoot the temperatures up to 1,500°F within three minutes, making preheating a quick job. Speaking of, they’re placed above, meaning you won’t have to worry about runaway flames burning or charring your food.

It comes with a cast iron grate that has a cooking surface of 12.7 x 10.4 inches, providing enough space for two large porterhouse steaks. This material retains heat better and creates bolder sear marks compared to others. However, whether this is good or not depends on your preference. If you want an all-over sear instead, you’ll be better off with a stainless steel grate, which, luckily, Otto Wilde sells optionally.

The grill also has an adjustable rack with five levels of varying heights tiered by what the company calls “Meat-O-Meter.” It goes without saying that this gives you control of how much heat you want your meat to be exposed to. Last but not least, it has a stainless steel drip tray that can be placed right below the grate no matter which height it’s at to prevent splatter.

Cooking Performance

Otto Wilde touts the Otto Grill as capable of cooking “steakhouse steaks at home.”

The best way to give you an idea of what it can do is to paint a picture of its, for want of a better word, steak-cooking ability.

Going by Otto Wilde’s recipe for a reverse sear porterhouse steak, it recommends to preheat both burners for three minutes on high without the grate inside. That’s to avoid overcooking the meat and prevent it from sticking. Next, place the meat on the grate and put it on the lowest height, which is level five on the Meat-O-Meter, and set the heat to about 120°F. After reaching the optimal internal temperature, place the rack between level one and two on the Meat-O-Meter. Sear the meat for about one minute per side and let it rest for around five minutes, and you’re done. You should get a tender inside and a perfect sear outside, if all goes well.

Otto Wilde also sells an optional pizza stone, and that means the Otto Grill can double as a pizza oven. But you’ll have to keep a close eye on things if you’re cooking pizza. In other words, make sure the top and bottom cook at the same time, unless you want a sloppy mess on top or a doughy bottom, depending on which side finished first. The takeaway is it can make a mean pizza with a nicely browned top and bottom once you get the hang of it.

Ease of Use and Other Features

The Otto Grill automatically cuts off gas when the burners go out.

The Otto Grill has two stand-out features that can make life a whole deal easier: the “It’s That Easy?!” cleanup and a safety mechanism that shuts the gas off when the burners turn off.

It’s already clear what they are for, but to go into detail about its easy cleanup feature, it refers to the detachable top. All you have to do is flip open its two latches to separate it, allowing you to reach into every nook and cranny.

Portability and Warranty

Otto Wilde gave the Otto Grill’s portability a straightforward name: Great-Steak-Anywhere.

You can take the Otto Grill to just about anywhere, whether it’s a camping trip or a day at the beach. It weighs only 39.6 lbs. and measures 16.7 by 11.6 by 17.3 inches. In Otto Wilde’s parlance, that translates to “Great-Steak-Anywhere.” Sure, its cooking area is small, but that won’t be an issue considering how fast the thing can cook.

Moreover, you won’t have to worry about its warranty. Otto Wilde gives you two years for all its parts. It even says it’ll buy it back if it doesn’t cook steaks that “rival the steaks you get in a fine steakhouse,” so there’s that.

Verdict

The Otto Grill makes a strong case for being a grill north of $1,000.

If money’s no object, then the Otto Grill is definitely worth the buy. It can cook fast, it can create a great sear, it’s portable, and it’s easy to clean. On top of that, it can work as a pizza oven to boot.

It might not be the best as a main grill, and you probably can find cheaper options that can deliver a more or less similar cooking performance. However, it can sure do its job and then some.

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