We fell in love with yakiniku (also known in Japan as Korean barbeque) when visiting Japan, and have loved it ever since. This year, one of my Christmas gifts from Pete was a table-top Korean barbeque grill by Primst, and a big box of bamboo charcoal briquettes. We veered towards Japanese flavours for our first trial, but will go down a more Korean path for our next one!
The barbeque set we bought is this Primst Charcoal Barbecue Grill. It comes with the main grill body, a charcoal bowl and plate that fits inside the body, and three different top sections – a mesh for direct grilling, a roasting pan, and a pot stand so you can use a saucepan or frying pan on top. There’s also an anti-scalding handle provided to pick up the charcoal bowl safely when hot.
For our protein, we chose chicken thighs on skewers, marinated for a couple of hours in a ginger-soy-garlic marinade, and Japanese A4 grade wagyu (beef), thinly sliced and cooked plain, and dipped into a soy-yuzu-daikon dipping sauce.
For sides, we had garlic and soy fried rice (tossed in beef fat that we trimmed off the steak and rendered), and Chinese-style chilli cucumbers.
We also tried threading chicken skin onto skewers, as I’ve loved this at Japanese yakitori restaurants, but it didn’t cook well on the grill, so need tor revisit that idea another time.
Another gift was a copy of Korean BBQ & Japanese Grills by Jonas Cramby (2019), which shares recipes, methods and cultural insights into Japanese and Korean barbeque. From the book, we made a soy, yuzu and daikon dipping sauce for the sliced (wagyu) beef, a ginger-soy marinade for the chicken skewers, and the dressing for Chinese-style chilli cucumbers.
All were delicious, and we can’t wait to try more recipes from the book!
The yakitori tare (dipping and grilling sauce) in this recipe for Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Hearts can also be used for chicken thighs and other proteins.
Are you a fan of Japanese and Korean barbeques? What are your favourite dishes to cook on the grill or have on the side?
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Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!14 Comments to "Table-Top Barbeque Japanese & Korean Style"
Loved reading about this adventure!!
What a considerate present, one of those gifts that keeps on giving!
I’m so thrilled with it!
I love Japanese food. Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods it is difficult to find. I might need to learn how to make it. This looks like a lot of fun and so yummy!
Yes, we used to be spoiled in London but since moving to Wales, it’s really hard to find.
I love how tasty Japanese food is in particular, as well as how healthy it is compared with so many other options. Your food photography is such a high standard and so well conveys the essence of the beautiful dishes that can be created using your lovely grill. I must admit I hadn’t heard about the dangers of carbon monoxide though. A great tip to assist people to do this safely indoors if that is their preference. For me, I always prefer the outside for barbeques.
We don’t always have the weather and I’m definitely a fair-weather outdoor girl! 😉
I’d never heard of a Japanese grill before. How fun is that? I’m surprised the manufacturer hasn’t found a carbon monoxide workaround, but an open window would do the trick!
It’s tricky because really the only way is to provide ventilation, good enough to blow away / extract the carbon-monoxide laden fumes…
I bet I could cook up some yummy vegan tofu or jackfruit kababs on this little grill! Do you think it would do well on a camping trip?
Yes I would think so, though I know there are many models designed especially for camping.
This sounds like a really fun dinner night! Would love to try it out!
We loved it!
Wow, this looks good and fun! Will this be good for the outdoor as well? Thanks.
Absolutely! The product description suggests it can be used for “outdoor camping, hiking, BBQ, backyard, trailers, picnics, parties” so you’ll be fine to use it outside. I would bring it back inside for storage though, to protect it from the weather!