CROSSRAY is an Australian grill company that has a different take on cooking technology. While more grills are coming out with ceramic infrared sear zones and individual burners, CROSSRAY uses ceramic infrared burners as the only heating element.
To accomplish this the burners are setup a little different than a conventional gas grill. Instead of running front to back in the cook chamber, they run side to side. The burners are also angled towards the middle to give more even coverage and to give a hot zone in the middle.
It’s an innovative way to grill that offers a number of advantages. First, infrared is meant to operate similar to hot coals in a fire, giving you juicier food. It also is a more efficient burner design, with CROSSRAY advertising 50% less gas consumption than a conventional grill. Plus, the max temperature from an infrared grill will beat most grills on the market at over 350 degrees C (662 degrees F).
Electric Infrared Grill
While their gas grills are neat in their own right, I came across CROSSRAY because they recently released an electric that also does things differently. Much like their gas grill line-up, they’re using infrared technology for their electric grills too.
Rather than using a traditional Calrod heating element reflected up to the cooking grates, their new eXtreme Electric Grill has two high-intensity infrared heating elements. Like their gas grills, the infrared burners run side to side in the cook chamber, angled towards the middle.
This gives the grill a max temperature of over 300 degrees C, or 572 degrees F, for those of us Stateside. It has enough power to have a larger cooking area than many other electric grills. It has 2,772 square centimeters, or about 430 square inches of cooking area.
The cooking space isn’t limited to the grates either. While many electric grills have small cook chambers to increase efficiency, the eXtreme went with a large lid design. It’s large enough that you can buy a rotisserie for, which CROSSRAY claims is an electric grill first.
Beyond the cooking specs, CROSSRAY installed some of the latest features that people have come to expect from grills. It has a thermostatic temperature control, so you can digitally set the temperature you want. To keep an eye on the temp of your food, it also includes a temperature probe.