YAKINIKU

Yakiniku means ‘grilled meat’ in Japanese. YAKINIKU offers shichirin grills and kamado barbecues based on the traditional Japanese model. The idea? With YAKINIKU, everyone is a master griller! Read more below about YAKINIKU’s products and chef Thomas van de Weyer’s story about the shichirin grill.

Shichirin grill

A shichirin is a compact, versatile Japanese barbecue, available in rectangular and round versions, that you can easily move and take with you at any time. Grilling on a shichirin is not just barbecuing; it is a completely different discipline: more refined, more elegant and smaller. What makes it special is sitting together around the fire. The shichirin is therefore ideal for use on the terrace, preparing dishes under the watchful eye of your guests.

Binchotan charcoal

Whatever accessories you use with this Japanese table grill, the shichirin performs best with binchotan charcoal. This special charcoal, also called white charcoal, is a unique product that originated in Japan and is one of the best natural fuels in the world. This premium charcoal reaches temperatures of up to 1000–1200°C and has an average carbon content of 95–98%. It is still made by hand from woods such as lychee, maitiew, konia or eucalyptus. The process takes more than 9 days, resulting in a premium charcoal with a ceramic-like structure. Once lit, it burns for an extremely long time and produces little smell or ash.

Accessories for the shichirin

When grilling on a shichirin, tweezers are used, a centuries-old tradition. Each table chooses a grill master, who works with the straight tweezers, which may only be used to pick up raw meat. Everyone else at the table gets curved tweezers to take the grilled meat off the shichirin. This prevents cross-contamination.

The best-known Japanese dish prepared on the shichirin is yakitori, which means ‘grilled chicken’. Yakitori-ya, small shops or restaurants, specialise in every part of the chicken that can be grilled on skewers: not only the breast or thigh, but also the offal, skin, intestines, tail and cartilage. Nothing is wasted; this is truly nose-to-tail eating. Grilling with yakitori skewers is very popular. Vegetables, pieces of chicken or fish are threaded onto long, thin needles, which you then place over the high heat (900–950 degrees) in the shichirin using the stainless steel yakitori bars. These are currently only available for the rectangular shichirin. For the round shichirin, a teppanyaki plate is available. Teppanyaki is a Japanese cooking method in which an iron plate (teppan) is used to fry food. Fresh ingredients touch the glowing plate as briefly as possible and are seared in an instant, so they keep their colour, flavour and nutrients. Cooking on a teppanyaki plate is therefore easy, healthy and very tasty!

Ready to get started with the shichirin grill?

Our range includes both the rectangular and the round shichirin grill. The shichirin is made of ceramic with quartz and cordierite and fired at a high temperature, making it a real powerhouse. The glazed exterior makes it easy to clean. You can use it with briquettes, self-lighting briquettes or charcoal.

The shichirin comes with a portable stand, a standard bamboo base and a stainless steel grid. The round grill is suitable for 2–4 people, the rectangular grill for 6 people.

YAKINIKU with Thomas van de Weyer

On Monday 19 April 2021, the HANOS livestream was all about the Japanese grill. In the livestream, Thomas van de Weyer tells you all the secrets of the shichirin grill and binchotan charcoal. First he explains the grill and its origins, then he talks about the right charcoal – binchotan – and gives various tips for getting started with grilling. Suggestions for dishes on the Yakiniku are also covered.

Discover refined Japanese grilling on the Yakiniku shichirin

Thomas van de Weyer explains…

Shichirin and binchotan go hand in hand

Thomas van de Weyer, chef at Octave Antwerp and founder of ‘Enfant Terrible by T&T Concepts’, knows better than anyone how to work with this type of barbecue. “We use binchotan charcoal in the shichirin. Its hallmark is an extremely high carbon content. The wood spends a long time in the kiln and is, as it were, steamed, which produces a very dense structure. The advantage of binchotan is that it hardly smokes and does not crackle. With this charcoal you can reach temperatures above 1000°C, but grilling at around 600 to 700°C is common. Normal charcoal reaches about 400°C. It does take a little longer for this charcoal to get properly hot. A smart trick is to use the previous day’s charcoal, heat it well with a torch and place the ‘new’ binchotan on top. The shichirin is often filled completely with charcoal, but it is also smart to create heat zones. Make sure there is enough air supply in the areas where the charcoal is.”

Experience the unique barbecue flavour

On a shichirin, mainly small pieces of meat are grilled. “I prefer to grill as close to the coals as possible. That gives a unique barbecue flavour, whereas a regular barbecue mainly gives a smoky taste. That is a really big difference. Because the coals are so hot, it is ideal for briefly searing small pieces of meat. Using larger pieces? Grill them briefly and finish cooking them in the oven; the barbecue flavour will certainly be retained. Because of the high temperature, it is wise to use only salt, as pepper and other spices burn quickly. Skewers are also very common, preferably thin steel ones.”

More than yakitori

Traditionally, skewered chicken is grilled in Japan: yakitori. “In Japan, yakitori is grilled all day long. Guests walk through the city trying a different version everywhere. But of course more is possible than chicken yakitori. A fine example is using wagyu beef on the shichirin. Fish is also delicious, such as grilled squid, sardines or even herring. People who normally do not like herring love this shichirin version. There is plenty you can do with vegetables, too: bimi, green asparagus, peppers and courgette are delicious roasted, and even roasting peas in a colander is a surprising option. And when it comes to dessert, it is lovely to vacuum-pack pineapple and/or watermelon, let it marinate slowly and roast it later. What is important is to be careful with marinades and anything that drips. Test it thoroughly. That applies to using the shichirin and binchotan charcoal in general: it takes a good hour before it is properly hot and you can start. With good testing, I am convinced every chef can master this technique.”

Want to read more about Yakiniku?

In the book The Magic of Yakiniku (51115840) you can read all about YAKINIKU and Thomas van de Weyer’s philosophy.