Just in time for NYC barbecue season, I’ve been testing the Brisk It Origin 580 AI Smart Grill. This smart barbecue and smoker has produced some of the most flavorful chicken, ribs, and pork I’ve ever eaten. Origin’s two smart temperature probes monitor your protein and automatically lower or raise the temperature as your meal progresses with each step, so your food is cooked to perfection.
This grill connects to your Wi-Fi network so you can monitor your cooking remotely whether you’re back home or out on the town.
But the real highlight is the Vera AI, which instantly generates custom recipes and guides you through each cooking step, making it the smartest of the best grills.
Brisk It Origin 580 Review: Design and Apps
The Origin 580 looks like a standard wood pellet grill and smoker, with a 22-pound hopper on the left, 580 square inches of cabin space, and a maximum temperature of 500 degrees F. On the left side is a basic display panel operated by a metal knob — your basic command center for cycling through operations like priming the auger, adjusting the temperature, and scrolling through cooking presets in real time.
The heart of the experience is in the BriskIt smartphone app, which controls the grill, shows recipes you can send to the grill, and gives you access to Vera AI, which you can access via the orange circle icon on the grill controls, seen at the far right of the image below.
Brisk It Origin 580 Review: Vera AI
Vera’s generative AI helps you cook through a chatbot-like interface. Just type in your question as naturally as you would text a friend and start cooking. This is most useful for generating custom recipes. For example, I had limited ingredients and time, so I asked the Vera AI what to do with the 2 pounds of pork loin that had been sitting in my fridge. However, I specified that dinner was only 4 hours away and I didn’t have the basic ingredients on hand.
In seconds, the Vera AI instantly created a simple smoked barbecued pork loin and cooking instructions for it, sending it to the grill with the touch of a button and automating each step. This is useful if you’re trying to achieve a specific taste, but is especially useful if you have dietary restrictions, such as needing to avoid certain ingredients like nuts, or if you want to create a dish suitable for a ketogenic diet.
Brisk It Origin 580 Review: Performance
Sure, you still had to season the meat, prep the auger, and place the pork on the grill, but from that point on, the process is streamlined and almost completely hands-off, with the AI handling all the steps for you: setting the temperature, letting the internal temperature rise to your desired doneness over the course of a few hours, and then increasing the heat once the meat is coated and returned to the grill.
In fact, I was out running errands and got a notification from across town that the pork had reached the target internal temperature of 145 degrees. The grill automatically adjusted to keep the pork warm while I texted my dad to remove the meat, smear it with sauce, and put it back on the grill. Once he closed the hood, the Origin took over the rest of the process, even finishing up with a cool-down period. This is especially easy for beginners.
While cooking, the Origin turned the fan on and off every few seconds, minimizing temperature dips and spikes for even cooking and a smoky coating. Once cooked, I had a delicious pork loin that was crispy on the outside and woody and sweet, but juicy and sweet like ham on the inside.
Brisk It Origin 580 Review: Verdict
The technique is actually quite impressive considering the total work time between seasoning, quickly removing the fillets and tossing them in the sauce took less than 10 minutes.It’s as easy as using one of the best air fryers, tossing in your ingredients with a little prep.
But as recipes get more complicated, they’re especially helpful with reminders to add sauce or wrap in foil to ensure the tastiest outcome. It’s nice to be able to serve up some barbecued chicken or pork and go about your day without having to worry about or even glance at your food.
I plan to use the Brisk It Origin 580 more this summer on ribs, brisket, and other delicious smoked meats, so stay tuned, but I’m already happy with the results.
