In French restaurants, the baptism of fire of Japanese binchotan charcoal

It's hot, but it doesn't smell like barbecue like when you cook it at home. No flames, no smoke. At first glance, there's no sign that the kitchens of Otto restaurant, located on Rue Mouffetard in Paris's 5th arrondissement, are running at full capacity. Yet, here, hanger steak, trout, and eggplant are grilled with slow-burning Japanese charcoal that emits no carbon dioxide or odor. Yet it leaves a unique flavor. Binchotan: the name may be familiar to you. It's sometimes used to purify water, but it's also a valuable ally of Japanese chefs and is now making its way into French restaurants.

For chef Alizé Maschké of Otto, "binchotan brings a real smoky, grilled flavor and creates a crispy, caramelized crust to food." No more fat from butter and oils. "We cook the product naturally. This allows the quality of the ingredient to be revealed, to bring out all its flavors," says the chef, who trained under Japanese chefs in France at Sola, a restaurant that fuses French and Japanese cuisine. When cooking her meats, she always looks for tenderness and the juiciness that binchotan charcoal provides.

The same approach is taken by Ryuji Sato, the chef of the Eunoé restaurant in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. In his kitchen, several bags of charcoal are stored: "shiro-zumi," known as "white binchotan," and "kuro-zumi," known as "binch."