My Field Kitchen...

[DarrenC]

Not fancy or particularly photogenic, but everything I need to cook for 2 or 20 - a total investment of CAD $190.00

When not cooking the cart and hibachi store in the shed and the covered kettle sits solo on the pad - I'm vainly particular about the aesthetics of my yard.

The stove in the house hasn't been turned on since May and the gasser is packed away completely out of my awareness - I'm loving this!

[Travis]

Hey, that works! Good


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[Darko]

Simple and effective. Gotta like it!

[Mr.CPHo]

I like your setup.  Simple and effective.  Would you mind providing more information on the hibachi?  Second time in as many days someone's referred to their hibachi, and I'm getting FOMO (fear of missing out). 


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[DarrenC]

@Mr.CPH0

Oh yes - the hibachi was an awesome piece of $15 nostalgia at my neighbour's garage sale.  My Dad had one when I was a child and that was the only other one I've ever come across.

'hibachi' is actually a North American misnomer.  This is actually a Korean cast-iron konro, which are still in use by many koreans as their primary heating and cooking source.  Enterprising servicemen returning from the Korean conflict in the 60's saw the potential for recreational use among the burgeoning Leisure Class and started importing them.

Due to the market familiarity with the name hibachi (from similar servicemen with a similar idea after WWII) these were imported and marketed in Canada as the "Portable Hibachi" and in the US as "Son of Hibachi"  To my understanding the Son of Hibachi brand lives on but is now a stamped steel product from China.

In short, the little grill is truly ingenious!  The folding design allows it to act as its own chimney while lighting and makes easy work of dumping the ashes.  It snuffs out completely when closed.  I can fold one half over the other for covered grilling.  I can grill an entire meal for four and have everything from molten direct heat to slow roasting available.  My favourite game lately is to see how few briquettes I can actually get by with.  Eight to do a whole chicken!

I am quite certain that hibachi will be something one of my offspring will end up fighting over after I'm gone.

[Darko]

I thought "Hibachi" was Japanese, not Korean?

[Cellar2ful]

Never seen or heard of a "Son of Hibachi".  @DarrenC - Could you post a close up picture of it? Both opened and closed.  Eight briquettes for a whole chicken is amazing.

[DarrenC]

@Darko

The word hibachi is Japanese, but it actually doesn't have anything to do with grilling.  hibachis are actually charcoal-fired furnaces that heat homes in Japan.  When the first Japanese tabletop open grills (which are actually called shichirin in Japan)were imported from Japan after WWII the American importers used the word hibachi because it sounded cool.  The North American market was already used to calling small portable grills 'hibachis' when these were brought over from Korea so they decided to use brand names that leveraged the already established (but incorrect) term.

[johnny 2 shack]

that's pretty nice ,cool table ! and now I want a hibachi again ! had one as a teenager ,went every with me in the trunk of my car , but it had no lid ,ever cool ,now something else to search for

[DarrenC]

Not mine, but here's some photos of the same model.  Each cooking grate is 8" x 10"

[ClubChapin]

This is actually a Korean cast-iron konro...

I've always though of Himachi and Konro as interchangeable.  Two names for the same thing.  I've always thought they were Japanese.  What they make Yakitori on.


Yours certainly fits into this category and is nice how it folds for storage.


Here's what I think of when I think modern Konro:
http://korin.com/Grillware_2/konro_grills_3


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLjVHqWDp4Y


This is the coal I use in mine:
http://pokpokrestaurants.com/thaan-thai-style-charcoal/

[Cellar2ful]

Really cool. Thank you @DarrenC for posting the close ups. 

[Mr.CPHo]

@DarrenC, yeah thank you, I'll be expanding my Craigslist search for one of those. 

I've been lusting for one of those Japanese Konro grills from Korin.com for many years, but have you seen the prices of the special charcoal?!  Ridiculous. 


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[Darko]

@DarrenC , Thanks for the info.

[DarrenC]

Here's a better shot of mine open last night.  Good ole Schneider's red hots offer some scale.

There was approx 14 briquettes here (I say approx because I had to guess at the math for the partials that were snuffed out from the night before).  After cooking the dogs and grilling the onions there was still heat to reduce a bunch of red peppers in a cast iron skillet for my parent's anniversary dinner tonight.