Cuisine :Yakitori - how to prepare this popular dish of Japan

 

Yakitori is a popular Japanese dish consisting of skewered chicken pieces grilled over a charcoal fire. The name "yakitori" translates to "grilled chicken," though the dish can also include other types of meat, vegetables, and offal. Here's a detailed look at how yakitori is prepared:

### Ingredients

1. **Chicken**: Typically, different parts of the chicken are used, including breast, thigh, wings, skin, liver, and cartilage.

2. **Seasoning**: Yakitori is often seasoned with salt (shio) or a special sauce called tare.

3. **Vegetables and Other Ingredients**: Sometimes, vegetables like green onions (negi), mushrooms, and bell peppers are added to the skewers.

4. **Tare Sauce**: A mixture of soy sauce, sake, mirin (sweet rice wine), and sugar.

### Preparation Steps

1. **Cutting the Chicken**: The chicken is cut into bite-sized pieces, ensuring uniform size for even cooking. Different parts of the chicken might be prepared differently, for example, skin and cartilage might be skewered separately.

2. **Skewering**: The chicken pieces are skewered using bamboo skewers. The skewers are usually soaked in water for about 30 minutes beforehand to prevent them from burning during grilling. The pieces are threaded onto the skewers in a manner that ensures they stay in place while cooking.

3. **Seasoning**: 

    - **Salt (Shio Yakitori)**: The chicken is simply sprinkled with sea salt before grilling.

    - **Tare (Tare Yakitori)**: The skewers are brushed with the tare sauce before grilling, and sometimes basted with additional sauce during grilling.

4. **Grilling**: 

    - **Charcoal Fire**: Yakitori is traditionally grilled over binchotan, a type of Japanese charcoal known for its clean burn and high, steady heat.

    - **Technique**: The skewers are placed over the hot charcoal and turned frequently to ensure even cooking. This method also imparts a distinct smoky flavor. The grill temperature is carefully controlled to prevent burning and ensure that the chicken remains juicy.

5. **Basting**: For tare yakitori, the skewers are periodically brushed with the tare sauce during grilling to create a caramelized, flavorful glaze.

6. **Serving**: Once cooked, yakitori is often served with additional tare sauce on the side for dipping or extra seasoning. It’s commonly enjoyed with a cold beer or sake.

### Varieties of Yakitori

- **Negima**: Chicken thigh and green onion.

- **Tsukune**: Chicken meatballs.

- **Torikawa**: Chicken skin.

- **Reba**: Chicken liver.

- **Nankotsu**: Chicken cartilage.

Yakitori is a versatile and beloved dish in Japan, enjoyed in casual settings such as izakayas (Japanese pubs) and street food stalls, as well as in more formal restaurants specializing in this delicacy.