Kono Madness

 I've set myself the task of making a kono grill, otherwise known as either a hibachi or yakitori grill.

What got me on to this project was seeing the BBQ grill used by celebrity chef, James Martin, in his series where he travels around the UK, cooking in the open. We both thought it rather cool and useful. 

This jobbie is bloody expensive and it's impossible to get one for under £300, despite it being little more than a huge, hollowed out  firebrick, so I thought I'd make one using perlite and white cement. 

The perlite has excellent insulation properties, as well as being ultra light. The insulation keeps the heat where it's needed, rather than escaping through the sides and bottom, as in most steel BBQs, so it's perfect for putting pans on. It will be handy for outdoor cooking on our travels in the van, once things return to some semblance of normality. 

The intention is to use two plastic boxes as my former, as follows:

The idea is to put a layer of the perlite concrete on the bottom of the large refuse recycling box, place the smaller box on top of that and then fill in the sides. The boxes are quite flexible and taper toward the bottom, which should aid removing the formers from the grill carcase. I'll also use Clingfilm to line the larger box and cover the sides and bottom of the smaller box (Hay will kill me if the boxes are destroyed in the process). It will need to be left for at least a week to cure, plus a bit more once released.

Rather than attaching handles, I'll excavate handles from the carcase with an angle grinder (a horizontal cut and a follow-up 45 degree angle cut lower down to meet the horizontal cut) and then reinforce the edges with strips of angled aluminium that I'll braze together into a cage. I also need to drill some air vents and arrange a sliding mechanism to control the airflow, as in the commercially available one in the top image.

Watch this space. Work will hopefully commence this coming weekend.