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Recipe Detail Page
DIY Yakitori Party
Summer 2017
Customarily, yakitori is brushed with the glaze, or tare, in the final moments of cooking. To avoid cross-contamination by shared brushes and potentially uncooked meat, the glaze is reserved for brushing on the skewers after they come off the grill, and the skewers are given a quick toss in marinade before they hit the fire to help build layers of flavour. To check the heat of a grill without a built-in thermometer, hold your hand 5 inches (12 cm) from grill and if you can’t hold it there for longer than 2 to 3 seconds, your grill is in the hot range—450° to 550°F (230° to 290°C). As opposed to narrow, cylindrical wooden or bamboo skewers, flat or gun-style skewers have wide flat ends to hold on to, making them easy to flip and turn. Because vegetables tend to shrink a lot when cooking and won’t grip the skewer, use single flat ones, or two gunstyle at a time to create a flat, broad raft of the vegetables skewered on both sides.
YAKITORI MARINADE & GLAZE
1 cup (250 mL) Japanese soy sauce
1 cup (250 mL) chicken stock
1 cup (250 mL) mirin
¾ cup (175 mL) sake
2 tbsp (30 mL) peanut oil
¼ cup (60 mL) firmly packed brown sugar
2 green onions, trimmed and cut in half lengthwise
5 slices ginger, ¼ inch (5 mm) thick
1 tsp (5 mL) coarsely ground black pepper
1. Combine soy, stock, mirin and sake in a pot over medium heat; boil for 5 minutes to burn off alcohol. Remove 1 cup (250 mL) and set this portion aside for use as marinade; stir in peanut oil and let cool.
2. Return remaining soy mixture to heat, add sugar, green onion, ginger and pepper; simmer 20 minutes or until reduced to 1 cup (250 mL). Strain and set aside for use as glaze; let cool.
CHICKEN THIGH SKEWERS
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, each cut into 8 pieces of roughly the same size
8 flat or gun-style skewers, each
6 inches (15 cm)
1. Thread 8 pieces chicken thigh, folding to neatly fit, on each skewer and arrange in a glass baking dish or pie plate large enough to hold in a single layer. Ten minutes before your guests are ready to grill, pour ½ cup (125 mL) of the reserved marinade over and gently toss.
PINEAPPLE SKEWERS
5 inch (12 cm)-long peeled and cored pineapple, cut into 8 equal-sized
5 inch-long (12 cm) pieces
8 flat or gun-style skewers, each
6 inches (15 cm)
1. Thread 1 piece of pineapple, lengthwise, onto each skewer. Arrange on a separate plate.
BEEF FILLET & GREEN ONION SKEWERS
1¼ lbs (625 g) beef fillet, cut into 24 slices, each slice about ¼ inch (5 mm) thick
24 green onions, trimmed, pale white and light green part only, cut into 1¼ inch (3 cm) lengths (freeze greens for use in stock if desired)
8 flat or gun-style skewers, each 6 inches (15 cm)
1. Cut each slice of beef in half to create two equal sized pieces—you should now have 48 pieces total. Working with 1 skewer at a time, thread 6 pieces of beef, folding to neatly fit, and 3 green onions on each, alternating between them. Arrange in a separate glass baking dish or pie plate large enough to hold in a single layer. Ten minutes before your guests are ready to grill, pour ½ cup (125 mL) of the reserved marinade over and gently toss.
SHIITAKE & SHISHITO PEPPER SKEWERS
16 thick medium-size shiitake mushrooms
24 shishito peppers
8 flat or 16 gun-style skewers
1. Working with 1 flat skewer or 2 gun-style skewers 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart and parallel to each other, thread 3 shishito peppers and 2 shiitake, alternating between them. Arrange on a plate alongside the pineapple skewers.
TO COOK
1. Preheat your tabletop grill to about 500°F (260°C)—see headnote for gauging the temperature of your grill without a thermometer.
2. Grill the skewers, turning from time to time, until cooked to desired doneness: 8 minutes total for the chicken, 4 minutes total for medium-rare beef, about 4 minutes or until warmed through for the pineapple, and 3 to 4 minutes for the vegetables. Serve cooked skewers with glaze and a brush alongside.
Serves 6 to 8
