On 18 Jan 2005 03:38:46 GMT, Wayne Boatwright > wrote:

>On Mon 17 Jan 2005 08:13:04p, zuuum tittered and giggled, and giggled and
>tittered, and finally blurted out...
>
>>
>> "Wayne Boatwright" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>> As far as I know, Lodge makes the only good one today. It's heavy cast
>>> iron. Most other hibatchis I've seen are either extremely thin cast iron
>>> or sheet steel. If I were to buy one, Lodge would be the clear choice.
>>>
>>> Wayne
>>
>> The Lodge runs $70 at cooking.com, but it is a 30-pound unit, and, as
>> mentioned previously, subject to rust. Come to think of it, I don't know
>> that I have ever seen a heavy Habatchi that wasn't rusted.
>
>Couple of options about the rust. You can season the entire grill as you
>would a skillet. You could paint all the non-food surfaces with a hi-temp
>flat black paint like that meant for gas grills. In either case, I would
>keep it out of the rain. and keep the grill surface well-oiled.
>
>Wayne

Mine got pretty scabrous on the back porch without any rain. Under a
roof, that is. Humidity, yes; rain, no. I did season it a couple of
times. The trouble was with the cooking surface, which got the ever
lovin' crap scorched out of it with every grilling session. The
seasoning didn't survive the too hot treatment. And I didn't season
it often enough, which would be pretty much every time I used it.

Last spring when I was preparing for my disasterous chili cook-off
experiment (plan was to sear the meat over a charcol fire before
stewing), I heated up the puppy with a twig and charcoal fire and
chipped the rust off it till a couple of good sized chunks caromed
back and stuck to my right eye lid. Yow! Full contact barbecue!

I agree the little darling is a winner, but anybody who plans to buy
one ought to also plan on replacing the cooking surface every couple
of years.


modom

"Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes."
-- Jimmie Dale Gilmore