The Party
Here in Texas, we love outdoor kitchens and grill/bbq parties for many reasons. For those of us who cook and entertain with food, the best reason is being with guests while cooking. Japanese home grill parties go even further — the guests cook and eat their food sitting around a table-top grill or using their personal grills. Smokeless and very hot coals make it a pleasure. Choose your own pace, food, seasoning and cook it to your taste while talking and laughing with your family and friends!
The Grill
Yakiniku (焼き肉 or 焼肉) refers to a Japanese style of cooking bite-sized meat (usually beef and offal) and vegetables on griddles over the heat of wood charcoals. Another Japanese cooking term Yakitori (焼き鳥) means “grilled Chicken,” but yakitori restaurants grill all sorts of skewered meats and vegetables. Small table-top grill made of clay is called shichirin. Shichirin can be used for cooking on steady high-temp infra-red rays for about 4-5 hours with just a small amount of artisanal charcoal, binchōtan. My grill is Konro, and you can see it at work.