Ingredients
Chicken
- 600 gchicken thigh, in 3 cm pieces
- 6negi or spring onions, in lengths
- chicken skin, hearts, livers and gizzards, if you can get them
Tare
- 200 mlsoy sauce
- 200 mlmirin
- 100 mlsake
- 50 gsugar
- chicken bones or wing tips, grilled
Or shio
- fine sea salt
To finish
- shichimi togarashi
- sansho pepper
- a wedge of lemon
Equipment
- bamboo skewers, soaked
- a charcoal grill, ideally binchotan
To serve
- with cold beer, standing at a counter
Directions
- Grill the chicken bones or wing tips until well browned, then simmer them in the soy, mirin, sake and sugar for 30 minutes and strain.
- Reduce it until it coats a spoon lightly. Do not reduce it to a thick glaze. Cut the thigh into even 3 cm pieces and thread them alternately with lengths of negi.
- Thread the pieces close together but not compressed, so heat reaches between them. A skewer with a thick lump at one end gives you burnt small pieces and raw large ones.
- Soak bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes so they do not burn. Binchotan is Japanese white oak charcoal that burns extremely hot with almost no smoke or flame, and it is what gives yakitori its clean grilled flavour rather than a smoky one.
- Let it burn down to glowing embers with no flame at all. Set the skewers close to the coals, only a few centimetres above them. Close and hot and fast is right.
- Rest the skewer handles on the edges of the grill so the bamboo is off the heat. Grill the skewers plain first, until they are most of the way cooked. Glaze in thin repeated layers rather than sauce at the start.
- Turn them often throughout the cooking. They are done when the chicken is just cooked through and the outside is browned with charred edges. Take them off while they are still juicy.
Technique
- Binchotan charcoal burns hot and almost smokeless, which is the point of it.
- Tare pots are kept going for years in yakitori shops.
- The choice between tare and shio depends on the cut.
Substitutions
- Any lump charcoal, accepting a smokier result.
- A very hot grill pan indoors, which is a poor substitute but works.
Variations
- Tsukune, minced chicken patties, often with a raw egg yolk to dip.
- Kawa, chicken skin grilled crisp.
- Negima, the classic thigh and spring onion.
History
Skewered, grilled chicken, whose name simply combines yaki, grilled, and tori, bird, reflecting a cooking method for small pieces of meat over charcoal documented in Japan since at least the Edo period, beginning in the early 1600s, when chicken itself was a comparatively rare and valued meat in a country where Buddhist influence had long discouraged eating four-legged animals. Traditional yakitori uses nearly every part of the chicken, including skin, liver, heart and cartilage, rather than only breast or thigh meat, reflecting both a broader East Asian culinary value placed on using an entire animal and the practical need to make an expensive ingredient go further. It is closely associated with izakaya culture, casual after-work drinking establishments, where skewers are ordered a few at a time alongside beer or sake.
Frequently asked questions
What is Yakitori?
Yakitori is a street food from Japan: charcoal-grilled chicken skewers glazed with sweet tare or simply salted. Skewered, grilled chicken, whose name simply combines yaki, grilled, and tori, bird, reflecting a cooking method for small pieces of meat over charcoal documented in Japan since at least the Edo period, beginning in the early 1600s, when chicken itself was a comparatively rare and valued meat in a country where Buddhist influence had long discouraged eating four-legged animals. Traditional yakitori uses nearly every part of the chicken, including skin, liver, heart and cartilage, rather than only breast or thigh meat, reflecting both a broader East Asian culinary value placed on using an entire animal and the practical need to make an expensive ingredient go further. It is closely associated with izakaya culture, casual after-work drinking establishments, where skewers are ordered a few at a time alongside beer or sake.
How long does Yakitori take to make?
Yakitori takes 40 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 20 skewers. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Yakitori?
Yes, within limits. Any lump charcoal, accepting a smokier result. A very hot grill pan indoors, which is a poor substitute but works.
What is the most important thing to get right in Yakitori?
Reduce it until it coats a spoon lightly. Do not reduce it to a thick glaze. Cut the thigh into even 3 cm pieces and thread them alternately with lengths of negi.
