If you love Japanese food, then you need to try yakitori. Yakitori is a dish that originated from Japan and includes food being skewered and then grilled. This dish is increasingly gaining in popularity throughout the world for good reason - it's delicious!
While it may seem intimidating to make at home, yakitori is actually quite easy to prepare. In this blog post, we will run through the basics of what yakitori is, and provide you with simple tips so you can prepare and cook really good yakitori at home.
So read on and get ready to start grilling!
What is Yakitori?
Yakitori is a delicious Japanese dish that consists of skewered and grilled chicken (actually, every part of the chicken!) that is often cooked over a hot, open-air flame or charcoal grill. It's popular street food in Japan and is also often served at festivals or in small casual restaurants, and it's also served at high-end restaurants.
Yakitori ("yaki" = to grill, and "tori" = bird) has been around for more than 1,300 years, and due to Buddhist beliefs originally included wild birds such as sparrows, pheasants, and quail. The actual skewering of birds started happening around 1700, and then from the 1920s to 1960s it became really popular and chicken became the most popular bird as it became a lot cheaper.
Nowadays, yakitori more broadly refers to not only bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, but also pork and beef meat on skewers, and even seafood, and vegetables too.
The food is typically marinated before being cooked and brushed with sauce while cooking and served with a side of steamed rice and dipping sauces. Yakitori also goes down a treat with some beer or soju (or both if you're really feeling like a party!).
How to Make Yakitori at Home
There are levels to cooking great yakitori and true aficionados disagree over various things such as grilling over charcoal or not, the types of charcoal used (Binchotan is popular charcoal used in authentic yakitori restaurants), the best parts of the chicken to be used (and where to get the best chickens from), the best other foods to cook, and of course the seasoning!
Having said all that, you can have a really good yakitori party at home with just a few basics, and it really isn't hard to do this!
Yakitori food prep
- Start by choosing the proteins that you'll be grilling, such as boneless chicken pieces (thighs are really popular due to their flavor, but try different parts of the chicken too), beef, and pork which are the most popular options. In our household, we also love shrimp (often known as prawn depending on which part of the world you live in) and sometimes fish as well. Cut up your proteins into bite-sized chunks or strips - the smaller the quicker your food will cook.
- Vegetables make great yakitori too, as they add nutrition, flavor, and texture. Green onions, shishito peppers, shiitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, ginkgo nuts, and other seasonal veggies all work well.
- Don't forget your marinade too, particularly for your proteins. We suggest you keep it quite light so the natural flavors of your ingredients shine through. This can be as simple as some soy sauce and sugar, or mirin for added flavor, or you could go a step further and combine some sake, soy sauce, and mirin to create the perfect balance of salty-sweetness. Another great combination for a marinade is soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and garlic. or if you can get it, add salt and yuzu kosho, a unique type of citrus chili pepper paste. We suggest you marinate your food for an hour or more before cooking.
- Next, skewer each piece of meat or vegetable. If you're using wooden skewers we recommend you soak them in water for 30 minutes beforehand to stop them from burning.
Grill and serve
Once your skewered food is ready to go, arrange your skewers on your preheated grill (we think charcoal tastes best, but propane and electric grills aren't too bad either). Grill your food until the outsides turn golden brown, turning the skewers and brushing your food with more marinade if you would like to.
The result is typically served with a savory dipping sauce such as "tare" (seasoning sauce) or "shio" (salt) to further enhance the flavors of the dish.
Yakitori tastes great when served hot with a side of rice or noodles, and of course, in our household, a tasty Japanese beer like Sapporo or Kirin is always close to hand! Kanpai!
To Sum Up
Yakitori is the perfect way to give your meals some Asian flair all while being incredibly easy to make, and even easier to eat!
Your family and friends can join in on the yakitori-making fun, and it's a great way to customize dishes according to everyone's preferences while trying out all sorts of different flavors.
So why are you still reading? Grab some ingredients and grill yourself some yakitori today!
