Large, Japanese clay *BBQ*.. What's it called?

[bassteban]

Growing up in the US in the 70's, it seemed every other suburban/nuclear family had one of these: 3-4 feet high, round, clay smoker/grill/BBQ- folks called them *Hibachis* (I'm guessing incorrectly)but searching that term shows the little box-type units.. What are the big things called? Yo, Maki- help an Asian food, etc fan out

 

[Thick McRunfast]

Kamado maybe?

 

[bassteban]

Found it: KAMADO. They ain't cheap

Edit: Sho you right, Thick McRunfast.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

The Big Green Egg (which looks to be taken from the same idea) has a bit of a following on these boards

 

[bassteban]

Yup- I know my late in-laws had one; wish I knew where it went

 

[Thick McRunfast]

Man those things are expensive. We used to have one when I was a kid.

 

[phangtonpower]

I live in Japan and have never seen one of those. They usually use cheap shallow grills that are only good for cooking a burger, which are hard to come by around here. Wish I could find one of them grills!

 

[Thick McRunfast]

I live in Japan and have never seen one of those. They usually use cheap shallow grills that are only good for cooking a burger, which are hard to come by around here. Wish I could find one of them grills!

I never saw one when I lived in Japan either

 

[bassteban]

I never saw one when I lived in Japan either

They probably don't have room

 

[bassteban]

OK, now that I know what they're called, does anyone here have any firsthand experience w/them? I am NOT shelling out $750 for one but if I spy a $300 *bargain*, should I consider it? I am probably gonna put something gas-less near the man-cave soon...

 

[MatticusMania]

Build a Brick BBQ/Grill/Smoker!

 

[elgecko]

Kind of looks like a fancy smoker.

 

[phangtonpower]

They probably don't have room

I live out in the country side. Plenty of room. Anyway living here and running a cafe, what I really want to do is build an oil drum BBQ grill.

I'm sure you can build something way better for the price they're asking for.

 

[45acp]

OK, now that I know what they're called, does anyone here have any firsthand experience w/them? I am NOT shelling out $750 for one but if I spy a $300 *bargain*, should I consider it? I am probably gonna put something gas-less near the man-cave soon...

I have a Bayou Classics which is about identical to the BGE models. Ive had it going on 2 years now and use it 2-3 times a week minimum.

Buying- Don't waste a cent of your money on the cheaper branded $350 models such as the (forgot name- char king maybe?) brand at Home Depot. What they skimp on is the exact reasons to use a kamado... namely thick ceramic to hold heat, and an air tight seal. Im a tight wad to the 9th degree- trust me you'll save a ton of money in the long run on the $700 models.

If you have any specific questions just ask, ive tried just about everything you can imagine on one... including making my own charcoal. Im hesitant to spill it all here in one post because it would be 10 pages long and bore everyone to death.

To show you how impressed I am with these things, if I were trapped in a house the rest of my life and could only choose between an oven/stove or a good kamado... I would chose the kamado.

 

[45acp]

I live out in the country side. Plenty of room. Anyway living here and running a cafe, what I really want to do is build an oil drum BBQ grill.

I'm sure you can build something way better for the price they're asking for.

There's no way to build better.

I had a drum grill/smoker, and it worked fine for what it was. If you go that route be sure to get a food grade drum and NOT something that was used for chem. storage.

I can smoke on a kamado for 12 hours at 200 on nothing more than a lighter chimney load of wood. Never add extra... hell never even open it. You simply cant do that on a drum grill, homemade smoker, brick oven smoker, etc.

 

[fraublugher]

You could burn the chems out of a converted drum but , not sure thats legal anymore.

Heck you could season it with cedar.[western red cedar]

I've done it but not for cooking, cedar gets up and above 500,000 btu in a drum that size, that should burn off any residue.

 

[phangtonpower]

There's no way to build better.

I had a drum grill/smoker, and it worked fine for what it was. If you go that route be sure to get a food grade drum and NOT something that was used for chem. storage.

I can smoke on a kamado for 12 hours at 200 on nothing more than a lighter chimney load of wood. Never add extra... hell never even open it. You simply cant do that on a drum grill, homemade smoker, brick oven smoker, etc.

Strange I have never seen one of these. I know a few people who like to smoke things here. I was going to smoke my own bacon (doesn't exist in this country except for McDonalds :/), but was trying figure out a way to build a my own smoker since smokers aren't very common.

 

[45acp]

If you just want a smoker, I can help with that. Ive built many (insert redneck texan joke)

I will say that if you're only interested in smoking there are many cheaper alternatives to the kamado style grills. The kamado beats everything because it can do everything. You can literally smoke all day long at low temps- you can do the perfect steak at 700 degrees and everything inbetween. Plus, lump wood charcoal simply makes the meat taste better than the typical processed cube charcoal. These things are super efficient and you reuse the coal you have leftover. When you close the vents it's sealed airtight and the fire goes out. Do burgers at 350, shut the thing off completely and it's still over 200 several hours later.

Example- I just put supper on, should be ready in 20 mins

 

[Pilgrim]

You can buy electric smokers which are the same size as a dorm fridge.

Or you can buy a real 'Murrican smoker..much lower cost and much more room...

 

[4dog]

They are called "large clay japanese bbq'ers".