I Decided to give this grill a go to see what kind of Yakitori one can make at home with a little practice.
Has anyone else given something similar a try?
I also ordered their charcoal which is supposedly produced in the same fashion but from Laos due to shortages and cost (still $$$).
Oh and also the book from Yardbird to get me started.
Any tips?
My grill at home is basically a larger version of this but has legs instead of being table top. They are essentially indestructible, and should work plenty well. The benefits to a traditional ceramic konro grill are heat retention, but if you’re just grilling 1 meal at a time and not making skewers for customers all night long, it matters much much less. As far as using real binchotan, it’s something I’ve looked into, and kind of like the konro, its benefits are how long it burns, and how clean the smoke is, so if you are outdoors cooking for 2-4 people, this matters way less. I use a natural lump hardwood charcoal made in a similar style but for a fraction of the price and it works for me.
as far as cooking actual yaktori, I have no tips for you as I have never tried it, but I have made many many chicken skewers in my day and this is a perfect shaped grill for doing that.
I figured I better pony up for the Binchotan at least initially if I want to try and recreate Raku Vegas flavors!
As you say since they can be reused for at least a couple of cooks might make it more palatable.
I’m assuming the infrared heat thrown by the Binchotan is a major difference.
I do have a Tec infrared when I feel like firing that up for regular type stuff.
Thought the process and learning with something resembling traditional would be fun. I did order the bars so the skewers will sit authentically and not on a grate.
I will probably not start with the chicken thyroid recipe I ran across though 
The charcoal I use is from a brand called ‘Fogo’ and I get it at the Home Depot. It’s not cheap, about $25 a bag, but that’s nothing compared to binchotan.
As I understand it, yakitori is much more a butchery discipline than a cooking one, which is fairly simple - brush and turn pretty much. Seems like you can get pretty close at home with the gear you have, but if you really get into it you’ll have to get a honesuki (chicken knife!)
You can use that grill to make anything, though. I’m a big fan of the flat metal skewers used for middle eastern and Indian dishes, remove the grate and lay them right over the coals!
You know I haven’t looked into that yet, although it did cross my mind as the Yardbird book apparently goes into great detail about butchering technique.
I’ve tried less expensive lump just to see and typically don’t like it as well as FOGO. The plus side is $25-30 for it won’t even make me flinch anymore.
I’m expecting someone around here might have a 10 year old mother sauce for their Tare?
Paging @Sarah_Kirschbaum !
I bought one for my son as a Christmas present 2 years ago. His back yard was miniscule and it worked well. He used it last night on some porkchops after a reverse.
This is exceptionally true. A yakitori chef friend spends 50+ hours of prep time for a 2-3 hour pop-up (couple hundred skewers but still). He’s going the extra mile and doing all the specialty cuts like stomach, heart cap, knee cartilage, etc, but the process really is something that should be wasting as little of the bird as possible. He’s dedicated a ton of his time to learning this stuff and has trouble finding people to help him prep because it is so much extra work and skill on the butchery front than just breaking down a chicken into 8 or 10 pieces. YMMV with how deep down the rabbit hole you go, but at least you’ll get lots of great chicken parts for stock!
yeah its far too specific for me to put the time in to properly learn. I’ll just grill chicken!
Not quite that old, but we do have a kind of tare solera frozen.
of course you do!
Yeah that’s not feasible for the home chef for mostly prepping for 2 people. There’s only one tail and two oysters ect ect so I’m not sure how far one can take it.
I probably should have titled it, Making the best food on a Yakitori grill for the home cook.
As I mentioned Raku long was our favorite late night meal in Vegas and that certainly wasn’t all about chicken. I’m less interested in becoming a respected Yakitori cook than just making some delicious food in the style on a dedicated grill.
The Yardbird book showed up and it does break it down (lol) in amazing detail (with pictures!)
I assume you would be using this outdoors or have a hell of a vent like restaurants? I’m sure Sarah’s house is set up for it indoors.
Great book for this, probably worth the price just for the butchery pics.
Yeah definitely outdoors which is why I went with this Brand. Seems like it’s built like a tank.