Yakitori from the Konro Grill

By Chef On A Mission · Video 1:33

‘Yaki’ means ‘grilled’ and ‘tori’ means ‘chicken’. I know there are all sorts of variations, but the original is made with chicken. It seems simple, but as with many Japanese dishes, it’s all in the details. Yakitori is cooked on a so-called konro grill over binchotan. I use the Kasai grill, which I’ll be using to demonstrate recipes with throughout the year. There are two traditional ways to flavour yakitori: shio, which means ‘salt’, and tare, where you dip the chicken in a glaze known as tare. I’ll be demonstrating that version here.

Ingredients

Yakitori for 4 people

• 500 grams of chicken thighs, for example from Gildehoen or Maiskip

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)
• 50 ml ponzu (homemade or shop-bought)
• 1 egg yolk with sesame oil and sesame seeds
• 50 ml misodip (miso with sesame oil, mirin, spring onion and sesame seeds)
• 1 tbsp shichimi togarashi (seven-spice blend)

Preparation

1. Leave the bamboo skewers to soak in cold water for a few hours. That way, they’re less likely to burn.
2. Cut the thigh meat into even pieces using this method.
3. Place them side by side and thread 3 pieces of thigh meat onto the skewers.
4. 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.
5. Place a sufficient amount of binchotan in the Kasai grill, light it with a few firelighters or kindling, and open the vents.
6. Heat until it glows red. Make sure there are no more flames.
7. Make sure the sauces and so on are already on the table.
8. Place half of the yakitori on the barbecue without seasoning them first.
9. Season the other half with salt; this is called shio.
10. Let them roast over the charcoal smoke and heat, turning them very frequently – really, every few minutes.
11. Once they’re seared all over and about 80% cooked, dip the skewers into the tare.
12. Drain them and return them to the pan briefly. Repeat this 2 to 3 times. The meat will caramelise nicely and the tare will coat it like a syrup. Take care not to let them burn.
13. Serve with the accompaniments and sauces.