Post #623917 by TorchGuy on Tue, Feb 7, 2012 2:34 AM

Anyone know what's the pink jelly fuel Trader Vic's puts in their mini-hibachis with their tidbits? It burns a great hot flame that'll "cook" the food a bit and doesn't add any chemical taste.

Took this photo just now: my current collection of miniature cast-iron hibachis. All have little feet; those with solid wooden base are screwed to the base, with a gap between the hibachi bottom and the wood.
Front row, L to R:
Konro rectangular, wood base w/ holes for toothpicks (Edit: See very bottom of post)
Faceted round w/ hanging rings on sides, wood base w/ toothpick holes, slightly rusty
Gorgeous rectangular w/ hand-carved wood feet, side handles and grill handles. In perfect shape
Back row, L to R:
*Round w/ chunky wood handle, grill missing handle, wood base w/ toothpick holes, says "miniature broiler"
Square w/ wood handles on sides (no screw hole to mount wood base)
*Same but with dark-stained wood base, no toothpick holes
*Faceted round w/ thin wood handle, six flat & one rounded side, says "miniature B-B-Q," wood base w/ toothpick holes

Those marked with a * were bought at various times for about $10 each at thrift stores. The other four were bought three days ago at a yard sale for a dollar each. I'll be setting ALL out for display at my next party. I've used one of these as a place to start charcoal tablets for smoking hookah, to let them go gray before using 'em. Sadly I no longer have the round mini I had as a kid, which had "eager beaver mini-bachi" cast into it. Oddly, I've never seen a mini that had just "hibachi" cast in, the way the full-size cast-iron hibachis did; they always have something different, or nothing. Some of these are from Japan, a few from Taiwan. Only kind I'm missing is one with a face on it!

If anyone here ever finds a regular-size cast iron hibachi of a specific kind, let me know. You all know the standard ones sold until the 90s: two wood feet, two wood handles, "hibachi" on the front, grill w/ three height notches. Usually you'll see a single (one square grill) or double (two square grills side-by-side or one rectangular one w/ two handles). I'm after the triple (three separate square grills side-by-side w/ handles)!! I KNOW they were made, I saw them in stores in the 80s.

Edit: I've known already that a Hibachi, in Japan, was a cooker/room heater (traditional Japanese houses were extremely well-ventilated, so burning charcoal indoors was not a problem) consisting of a cast-iron insert set inside a wooden cabinet. But I've just learned that the proper term for what we in the States call a "hibachi" is "konro," translation 'portable stove.' Hence the name on this guy.

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2012-02-07 04:58 ]