Associated with grilling, hibachi is a cooking technique that has its roots in ancient Japanese tradition. The name hibachi itself combines hi “fire” and bachi “bowl.” The “fire bowl” was developed during the Heian period, which lasted from 794 to 1185, and had a practical function that went beyond cooking. The main purpose of the hibachi in a culture where thick walls and central heating never took root was to heat the room.
In its most basic form, the hibachi was designed as a vase-like, open-topped pot that served as a receptacle for ash and charcoal. It could also be a piece of furniture: a rectangular boxlike table in the center of a room with tatami mat flooring. The four sides of the wood hibachi featured horizontal planks. Family members could place tea cups and small plates on such surfaces. Metal was rare and expensive in old Japan, and the hollowed interior of the hibachi was made of cypress wood lined with clay; this contained charcoal and still heated ashes as that burned down.
While the hibachi was not originally used for cooking food, over the centuries, the Japanese adapted its use, first for tea and then for small dishes. An example was an iron trivet or stand set in the center of the hibachi. This was designed to hold a metal teapot. The hibachi might also be used to keep soup or rice warm or warm glutinous rice dango. Lacking a grill top, its use did not extend to actively cooking food in flames, which we associate in the West with the hibachi experience.
Modern hibachi grilling is based on the Japanese tradition of “teppanyaki,” which roughly translates to grilling over an iron plate or griddle. This style became popular following World War II, with chef Shigeji Fujioka of the Tokyo restaurant Misono delivering dramatic “open-air” cooking demonstrations over dramatic flames. Grilled dishes ranged from pork, beef, chicken, and seafood to finely chopped side dishes featuring vegetables, eggs, and rice.
By the 1960s, entrepreneurs had established the Benihana restaurant chain in the United States, and they transplanted the “showcase chef” concept, offering an array of flame-grilled teppanyaki dishes that went directly from the open kitchen to diners’ plates. Because Benihana also offered items slow-cooked directly over coals (in the traditional hibachi style), patrons began using the terms hibachi and teppanyaki interchangeably, and ultimately, it was hibachi that stuck.
Today’s restaurant hibachi experience often combines the precepts of teppanyaki cooking, with gas-heated hotplates, and an inset table design not dissimilar to the traditional Japanese hibachi. Patrons sit around the grill-equipped table and either cook their own proteins and vegetables or have the food prepared table-side by a chef.
There are also a variety of contemporary grills on the market commonly labeled as hibachi-style. These are used in restaurant and home settings and include teppanyaki gas grills, flat-top grills and gas griddles, and charcoal grills (similar to the standard outdoor barbecue grill). A common link between these various types of “hibachi” grills is that they allow for open cooking, which brings together patrons or family members in shared, participatory grilling.
