Hibachi grills


 
B

BPratt

TVWBB Pro
Hi, I found this Made in Japan Hibachi grill. I remember the Hibachi grills being popular in the 1970’s.

Would you like to share some thoughts or memories about the Hibachi?

Are they still used and collected?

Thank you
 

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My last year in college a group of us used to get together at our apartment every Friday night during good weather and cook steaks on the Hibachi. I'd make french fries in the Fry Daddy to go along with the steaks. Imagine days when college students could afford to eat steak on a weekly basis. And I'm talking T-bones.
 
Congrats on your find! I bought a Lodge Sportsman 3 months ago but have not used it, yet. Actually, I've never seen anyone use one aside from watching some TV shows.
 
Used to use my Dad’s Hibachi when I started camping back in the early 1970’s. They worked great for grilling but no low and slow.
 
Those hibachi grills are a lot of fun to cook on. Back in college, I we used to cook on something that looked a lot like the Weber Go Anywhere which I think is Weber's answer to the hibachi...

We'd go get all kinds of different meats and cook em on that little grill out on our balcony (it was an off-campus apartment building). lots of good memories around that little grill...
 
I've got a Lodge Sportsman which sadly is going to go on the chopping block. I did enjoy it considerably but Hibachi cooks require a lot of hands on
 
I’d like a Lodge Sportsman but, I don’t “NEED” it, I have a Smokey Joe (new with Box) a “Simpsons” Joe, never fired. And a charcoal GA with box unused. Not sure why I’ve not fired the “non collectible” ones, usually I want more space.
I have a cast iron round hibachi which I have used a few times since I had it sandblasted and went high temp red on a few years ago. My Dad had one of those heavy square hibachis like yours, it was a burger or similar food surface. I had a larger one when I lived in Seattle where I completely impressed my girlfriend’s father by making him a seriously FINE Porterhouse steaks for Father’s Day, he honestly said that he had never had anyone grill him a steak nearly as good! I took that as high praise. The crusty old guy was the best steak pan fryer I have ever seen. He was a hard man but, we got along after a fashion.
We both liked a good steak to be sure!
 
Definitely, Hibachis are collectable! I have been trying to find a made in Japan one myself. Many - even older ones - are from Taiwan. Nothing wrong with that, but I want a Japanese one. I have great memories of my Dad teaching me a little about cooking steak on his Hibachi back when I was a kid growing up on Long Island. I still remember that smell of sirloin over charcoal:). It all came rushing back the first sirloin I did on my Weber CharQ which shares some commonality with the Hibachi.

For now, I picked up a cheap, but at least cast iron new one for a little over $30 on sale. It isn't the real deal, but it has the right look. When warm weather returns, I hope to do a "like father, like son" and grill a steak on it. But, I will still be looking for a REAL Japanese Hibachi - that I can afford, that is. Other people ARE collecting them!
 
The wok shop stuff is for tabletop Pupu platter type use. There is one that looks pretty good in the fleabay link but, I am not sure it’s the old heavy CI like ”Dad used to have”😁
 
Many, many years ago when it was just DD and me, we lived in a ground floor apt. It had a small wall around our patio. Believe it or not, I used to put our grill on the wall and grill dinner once in awhile. I forgot all about that. YEAH, I GRILLED!!!!!!
 
Back in the mid-70s, I lived in Albuquerque. My roomie picked up a Hibachi at a local hdwe. store for ~$5, IIRC. Sort of looked like this:

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https://flic.kr/p/2mN76Gv
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Really cheap castings and one of the rack holders broke after 2 or 4 uses, so I bought another one. Same thing after another few uses. Went back to the Hdwe. store and they had a pallet of them sitting out front with a "Sale $2.98 each" (or something close) sign on it. Went back to the house and told my roomie. We decided to buy the whole pallet. There were ~18 or 20 left on it. We'd use one until it either broke or needed more than the grates cleaned and put it in the trash. Got 3 years use out of them. Worked great for steaks, burgers, dogs or brats.
 
BPratt said:
Hi, I found this Made in Japan Hibachi grill. I remember the Hibachi grills being popular in the 1970’s.

Would you like to share some thoughts or memories about the Hibachi?

Are they still used and collected?

Thank you
Click to expand...
Loaned mine to a coworker years ago. He moved, never saw it again. Oh well.....
 
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