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It's not that I need "fine" temperature control, but I do need temperature control. I could stick a pan in some burning coals, but it's unlikely that I'd both be able to sweat some onions and sear a steak with that method.

Maybe you want a barbeque with an adjustable height grating. Raise it or lower it as needed. You'd probably also want to get yourself a whizzy digital laser thermometer so you can figure out whether your pan is hotter or colder than you were expecting.