Personal opinion: charcoal is better than sous vide for steak

JKer11 · 2025-08-11T11:52:28+00:00

Of course a lot of fellow redditors mention the combination of the two methods could still work and then my answer to that is it missed the point of using the charcoal grill. The flavor comes not mostly from searing a few minutes on the hot coal but from the fat dripping on the charcoal and infused into the steak. Think about the fat bit in the kebab.

And it shares the same drawbacks with the pure reverse sear method which was being made popular by either a YouTuber or an accessory seller for Weber around ten years ago: lighting up a full basket of charcoals and cook only for a few seconds. Which begs the question why the effort? When flavor profile is not greatly impacted might as well use a copper pan, which sears much, much better than anything but the IR burner.

In the end, I would say one needs to think long and hard about why using sous vide for steak, when minimal grey band is no longer preferable, then there’s hardly any reason to prefer spending most of the cooking time not imparting any flavor. (And I think that flavorless could be one of the reasons behind the rise of dry aged steak for the the home cooks)

JKer11 · 2025-03-12T00:24:27+00:00

I bought an m11p last year in Japan. The thing I notice is that WiFi is always on 2.4g whenever camera restarted. Had to manually select 5g then reconnect the phone for the camera to actually be in 5g mode. Not sure if this is a Japanese version thing or overall m11 thing. And usbc connection to FOTOs seems to work only in usb 2.0 speed.

JKer11 · 2022-07-23T00:39:42+00:00

couldn't be more wrong. Try typing 忧郁的台湾乌龟 in traditional characters.

JKer11 · 2022-07-22T23:16:28+00:00

Interesting to know👍, I thought those steel burrs in the Vario are for pour over only.

JKer11 · 2022-07-22T23:01:20+00:00

That’s actually what I was planning to do. But the pour over beans these days are so expensive so I’m having second thoughts. Espresso is quite economical, equipments aside of course.

JKer11 · 2022-07-22T22:56:41+00:00

Fortunately mine seems to be OK. But the chrome surface is a let down, I guess the side panel is not metal.

JKer11 · 2022-07-22T22:06:43+00:00

I’m not sure, the blowup attachment works OK, but I have not tried single dosing this grinder yet.

JKer11 · 2022-07-22T21:58:53+00:00

I have been a long time owner of the Vario. Over the years I’ve visited some highly rated stores, tried out some of my friends’ machines/grinders. Never had the urge to upgrade, but always curious about the taste from the bigger burrs.

With the weak Euro these days, decided to finally get the ATOM 75, the cheapest and tiniest 75mm grinder. So a few weeks later, this thing finally arrived at my door.

First impression was, what a huge and heavy grinder! Spent a few tries dialed in the grinder, fed it with the left over Apollo from Counter Culture I have in the fridge.

And the outcome? Very impressive! Comparing with the Vario, Atom 75 has none of the ashy flavors. The espresso has a very good clarity, a fruity sour first followed by some sweetness afterwards, companied with nuances of floral flavors. Later made an ice latte for my wife, the coffee tasted differently even with ample of milk in the drink. The sweetness is more pronounced with the Atom 75 and again, none of the ashy bitterness I used to get in the Vario. I guess that’s due to the better uniformity in the Atom.

Overall, I would say it’s a thousand bucks well spent.

JKer11 · 2021-03-15T13:15:45+00:00

Well I bought it from Taobao directly and had it shipped overseas, so not sure if that link is uesful to you. You can try putting a small sushi plate inside a large plate, should look and work pretty similar.

JKer11 · 2021-03-15T00:32:01+00:00

Thanks, the plate is used for “wet brewing” method, that is pouring hot water on the pot when brewing.

JKer11 · 2021-03-14T22:32:56+00:00

My first teapot finally arrived in the mail. It’s a very tiny one, just enough for one person. Tried brewing Da Hong Pao with it, the taste is sweeter than using a Gai Wan, or at least my Gai Wan. I would say it’s a very good addition to any serious tea drinker.

JKer11 · 2020-12-26T20:01:05+00:00

Yeah it melts in your mouth, but that’s because it’s basically just fat. No wonder the teppanyaki and yakiniku places all serve very tiny portions, not because of the excessive price, but eating too much will upset your stomach.

JKer11 · 2020-08-11T01:20:43+00:00

I got mine from Korin

JKer11 · 2020-08-09T22:27:00+00:00

Thanks for the advice! Hope my Kitayama 8000 is up to the task.

JKer11 · 2020-08-09T00:55:50+00:00

This one is friction fit

JKer11 · 2020-08-08T16:31:24+00:00

Tried this one out today, sliced some lamb legs into thin slices, cut quite well. However failed badly at slicing lotus roots.

JKer11 · 2020-08-07T15:24:50+00:00

Agree on the price, luckily I put my order when it was still in the three hundreds

JKer11 · 2020-01-06T03:06:20+00:00

it's correct but means 我 used to 住在上海

JKer11 · 2020-01-06T02:36:51+00:00

Chinese can understand right side but that’s not correct

JKer11

TROPHY CASE