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Fire Sense Large Yakatori Charcoal Grillhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B003601SRA/

Trying this out, maybe if I get good enough I can avoid Honda-ya's long lines.  Reviews are slightly above average, bought some bamboo skewers and the Thai binchotan as well.  Thinking to set this up inside my Kamado egg smoker in case things get out of hand.

If you already have a grill in the backyard, you can wrap foil around couple of bricks and use it for yakitori:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t7HD19eHTE&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]


The book:https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Grill-Classic-Yakitori-Vegetables/dp/158008737X

Grill, skewer, binchotan came a day early (thumbs up Amazon Prime), used my chimney starter and some briquettes to start up the binchotan.  Grill has two components to fit 3 binchotan logs each for a total of 6.

It's a slower grilling process so be patient (hondaya food is already half cooked and finished on the grill).  Got some marinated chicken teriyaki dark meat, cooked octopus, chicken wing flats, shrimp, yakitori brush marinade sauce, and salmon collar from Mitsuwa.

Prepped the skewers with chicken, shrimp, octopus, chicken skin...  threw it on the yakitori grill, and waited patiently.  Need to pay attention as the binchotan charcoal is close to the food, frequently turning is necessary.  During grilling got whiffs of Hondaya grill smell so I know I'm doing something right.

Thumbs up from family and myself as well....salmon collar was delicious.  Next time, I'll try to get longer skewers so the food will cook more evenly without burning off the stick ends.  Pairs great with beer or any white wine pinot gris or chard.

A few notes if you use the foil wrapped brick method:

*  If you use shish-kebab sticks be aware that it may be difficult to turn the food over and have it stay turned over, as the food is not touching the grill and it will roll over according to weight.  This is why the Japanese yakitori sticks have flat end.

*  In the youtube video they show 7 yakitori sticks per brick.  This is if you cut the meat small.  For medium sized meat pieces, like the American kobe beef cubes from Japanese markets, you can fit 5 sticks per brick.  Any more and it will get crowded.

*  When cooking chicken you can cook it with a little seasoning but no marinade first, then brush tare sauce haflway through cooking to glaze it.


Recipes @ bottom of article:http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/...er-mushrooms-bacon-teriyaki-glaze-recipe.html

do you really need to wrap the bricks in foil?  I guess to protect the bricks from getting all gunky?

Also, I know yakitori is about charcoal grilling, but could you do this on a gas grill and get decent results? 

I think it's to protect the food from the dirty bricks, unless you can source clean bricks

Gas grill will not give as much flavor as charcoal, no expert but yakitori is for high dry heat grilling so you can crisp the surface but still keep the meat juicy.  The brick is there to serve as a heat sink to increase the temp.  You can actually yakitori with your Weber chimney starter.  I think good eats had an episode where he seared a steak to simulate a restaurant broiler.

BTW, where did you buy the yakitori skewers?

JapanBargain 200 Piece Paddle Style Teppo Gushi BBQ Bamboo Skewers 7 inchhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJVM1P8

A little steep at $10, but got it in 2 days with Prime, too lazy to hunt for them elsewhere.

There are 3 Japanese markets in Costa Mesa that sells the Yakitori skewers.  Mitsuwa sells the 6" in bags of 250 for $12.  Seiwa sells the 7" in bags of 100 for $2.  Marukai Tokyo Central sells the same 7" bags of 100 for $2.50, it's a little more than Seiwa but you might enjoy shopping at Marukai more.

Note that Mitsuwa in Irvine does not sell the Yakitori skewers with the flat end.  But they do have the yuzu pepper paste (~$3.50) and shichimi togarashi ($1.50) on sale.

abosch00 said:

do you really need to wrap the bricks in foil?  I guess to protect the bricks from getting all gunky?

Also, I know yakitori is about charcoal grilling, but could you do this on a gas grill and get decent results? 

Click to expand...

Wrapping bricks in foil makes it um...  cleaner.  The brick method is great for lazy folks who don't want to soak their bamboo skewers before grilling, because it's elevated so the wood won't burn easily.  Using propane grill also makes it easy vs charcoal.

You won't get the same flavor as a real yakitori charcoal grill, but you can soak the bamboo skewers in wine, juice, etc. for different flavor infusion.

I'm kinda anti bbq with aluminum foil, even if it touches just a little bit.

i cringe whenever i see someone lining their rack with aluminum foil on a outdoor grill.