Best charcoal starters according to redditors

De-boned cowboy ribeye steaks cooked at 130 for 3 hours and finished on a charcoal chimney.


Several weeks ago, I posted asking for some help. I was going on a beach trip with my in-laws and the wife and I had volunteered to cook dinner one of the nights we were there. I knew that I wanted to sous vide because of the potential for perfect medium rare steaks. I was nervous however because my mother-in-law and father-in-law are big grillers and smokers of meat and both had made comments about how there was no way that meat cooked in a zip-lock freezer bag could ever taste good. I’ve owned a Joule since Christmas but generally I use it to make cheap cuts of meat taste good rather than moderately-expensive meat taste amazing. So, I asked for help here and got a lot of really good advice. Original post asking for help: https://www.reddit.com/r/sousvide/comments/8h3ano/novice_sousvider_trying_to_impress_incredulous/


I did practice at home with a ribeye and was reasonably satisfied with the result. For the trip, I ended up getting some bone-in cowboy ribeye from Sam’s Club and removing the bone. I know it sounds odd to buy bone-in and then take out the bone, but they were the only steaks that were the thickness I was looking for and with the bone, wouldn’t fit in my gallon zip-lock bag. The extra thickness of the steak is one of the biggest things to which I credit the final success.
Raw steaks: https://i.imgur.com/IRxL3PX.jpg


I seasoned the steaks with some cherry smoked sea salt, black pepper, and rosemary. The steaks ended up a little saltier than I would have preferred but it didn’t ruin them or anything. Judging the amount of salt for a thick cut steak was difficult and I just went a little too heavy on it. The smoked salt had such an amazing smell and I was sure it would add some smokiness to the meat. It did not. At all. I literally couldn’t tell the difference from if I had used regular salt.
Salt: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CQ92YXO


I seared the steaks on a charcoal chimney and was very happy with the result. It got a nice char and the large areas of fat on the side of the steaks rendered perfectly and gave it this beautiful glisten as the steaks were covered in their own fat. It also got that char flavor and crackle when you bite into it effect that you’re looking for with the fat. We served the steaks family style by slicing them and I did remove one of two areas of inside fat (from across all four steaks) that were a little rubbery however the marbling and most of the fat rendered perfectly and the fat I removed was small enough I don’t feel like I missed out on anything.
Chimney: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078Z9GBZS


One thing that saved me: double bagging. One of the bags leaked majorly. I’m not sure if the bag ripped or split somewhere or if the zip-lock mechanism failed. I didn’t look at it too closely other than to recognize that it had leaked everywhere. Fortunately, I had double bagged and suffered no ill effects.


In the end, the steaks were a huge success. My mother-in-law said it was one of the best steaks she’s ever had texture wise and that if she hadn’t seen the process that she wouldn’t have believed they were cooked in a plastic bag. Other than the slight over-salting they were perfect and my grandmother-in-law who likes her food a little salty just raved about them. I’m happy with the outcome and grateful for the advice and for the patience people have here with novices. Thank you. Next time we visit my wife’s parents we’re planning on trying a sous vide brisket recipe where you smoke the meat first then sous vide it. That won’t be for a number of months, but I’ll be sure to post again when it finally happens.

This is the chimney I use. It has its own grill.

There's a better more inclusive model here. It has a larger surface and is made specifically to be used also for grilling.