How to use Shichirin and Konro

July 23, 2019

Konro  (焜炉) is a small Japanese kitchen stove that uses gas or charcoal. Here at SushiSushi, we have japanese kitchen stoves using with charcoals!

There are various type of konro. The round konro are usually called Shichirin. Shichirin are ideal for 2 - 3 people due to the size. However, because they are smaller and have small air holes, when paired with Japanese charcoal - Binchotan, they are very efficient little grills. They cook food quickly and evenly.

Round shichirin also keeps in more heat when compared with the rectangle grills meaning that it is the most efficient shape and will not waste binchotan. However, the only drawback is the small grilling area and the shape. It is not suitable for grilling some types of fish and catering for larger groups of people.

 

The round shichirin is common in Japan. It is not only useful as a grill but you can also use it with pans on it to cook other foods.

The rectangle-shaped one is suitable to use on a table as they are usually shorter than the round grill. If you are wanting to grill something long - like fish, rectangle one is perfect. Also, the heat in the middle and the sides are different, so if you don't want something to get burnt, you can move it to the sides. 

The hibachi grill is more like a slow cooker as it keeps the heat on the same temperature for a long time. 

How to use it? 

1 Prepare the charcoal. Break the charcoal to small pieces. Put the charcoal into a binchotan starter pan and then put this pan on the gas hob. Of course, you can still start the charcoal without using the starter pan, but with a pan, it is much easier. 

Wait for about 10 minutes. If the charcoal is red and you see some ash, it's ready to use. 

2, Move the charcoal to the konro. You can keep the coals in the pan and they will continue to burn. Konro and Shichirin don't require large amounts of binchotan due to their design, so don't put too much in konro. Place the grill mesh on top of konro, and once the grill mesh is heated, you can start cooking. You can cook meat, fish, veg and warm-up sake too.

3 How to extinguish the fire and the charcoal.

It is not good to wet the konro, when you finish cooking, move the charcoal to the extinguishing pot and put the lid on and shut out from the oxygen. 

You can also die the fire with water, but again, don't make the konro wet, so move the hot charcoals to some metal bucket and put water, but once the charcoal is wet, then it will be harder to make the fire next time, so we suggest you to get this pot.

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