Bacon and cabbage spirals glazed with tare
These are spirals of smoked bacon and cabbage, prepared as yakitori. We grill them over binchotan charcoal on the Kasai, a Japanese konro grill. They’re very easy to make, but the way you grill and glaze them is essential. It’s the perfect combination of charcoal flavour and caramelisation.
Ingredients
Yakitori for 4 people
- 500 grams of smoked bacon
- ½ green cabbage or Chinese cabbage
Tare for 1 litre
- 1 chicken carcass and other chicken bones
- 350 ml mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
- 80 grams of raw cane sugar
- 500 ml Japanese soya sauce
- 300 ml sake
- 8 spring onions, sliced into rings
- 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 50 grams of fresh ginger, sliced
Sauces and accompaniments
- 50 ml tare (left over)
- 1 lime
Preparation
- Leave the bamboo skewers to soak in cold water for a few hours. That way, they’re less likely to burn.
- Blanch the cabbage leaves very briefly in boiling water, then leave them to cool in ice-cold water.
- Place a few layers of cling film on the worktop and spread the smoked bacon over it.
- Spread the patted-dry cabbage leaves over the top and roll up tightly.
- Leave it in the fridge for a few hours.
- Meanwhile, make the tare: bring all the ingredients for the tare to the boil and simmer gently until it reduces to a light syrup. Strain and leave to cool.
- Place a sufficient amount of binchotan in the Kasai grill, light it with a few firelighters or kindling, and open the vents.
- Heat until it glows red. Make sure there are no more flames.
- Cut the bacon and cabbage roll into slices about 2 cm thick and thread them onto the soaked skewers.
- Let them roast over the charcoal smoke and heat, turning them very frequently – really, every few minutes.
- Once they’re seared all over and about 80% cooked through, brush the skewers with tare.
- Put them back in for a short while. Repeat this 2 to 3 times. The meat will caramelise nicely and the tare will coat it like a syrup. Make sure they don’t burn.
- Finish with a little grated lime.
