[rootusrootus]

One thing to note is that reverse sear was his answer to sous vide being too expensive. He does note that there are upsides and downsides to both, but the world has changed and these days precision sous vide circulators are dirt cheap.

[halbritt]

I've tried both and much prefer the reverse sear to a sous vide steak. Getting a good sear on a wet steak is pretty difficult.

I will say that sous vide steaks make good camping food. I get vacuum sealed ones, cook 'em in the bag, toss 'em in my cooler and when it comes time, they can be dried with a few paper towels that then get tossed in the fire, some salt and pepper, and put a steak on a spit like a marshmallow.

[steve19]

That's a great idea!

[tptacek]

Kenji Alt has gone into some depth on the tradeoffs between reverse-sear and circulators. There isn't much downside to reverse-sear; you get superior browning (the same quality browning on a circulated steak will give you a grey band), and basically just trade off not having to keep track of time.