Yakitori
Yakitori is the bar food of post-war Tokyo: small skewers of chicken grilled fast over high heat, eaten one at a time with cold beer or sake. Every part of the bird is fair game — thigh, skin, tail, gizzard, heart — but the most familiar versions at a home grill are momo (thigh) and negima (thigh with scallion between). Two seasonings define the dish. Shio is plain salt, letting the smoke and fat carry the flavour. Tare is a glaze of soy, mirin and sake reduced until syrupy, built up across many dippings — the best yakitori shops keep a single tare jar going for decades.
Tokyo bar food
Skewers grilled fast over high heat, eaten with cold beer
Shio or tare
Salt for clean smoke; soy glaze for depth
Negima alternation
Chicken and scallion threaded together keep both juicy
About six minutes
Hot grill, one flip, off the heat fast
Ingredients 4 servings
- 600 g boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
- 6 fat spring onions (or 2 negi), white and pale green parts cut into 3 cm pieces (~150 g total)
- 16 short bamboo skewers (15 cm), soaked in cold water for 30 minutes
- For the tare: 120 ml dark soy sauce, 120 ml mirin, 60 ml sake, 30 g light brown sugar
- Fine sea salt for the shio skewers
- 1 tsp neutral oil for the grate
- Shichimi togarashi, to serve
- Lemon wedges, to serve
How to make it
- 1Cut the chicken thigh into 2.5 cm cubes and the white parts of the spring onions into 3 cm pieces, then soak the bamboo skewers in cold water for 30 minutes so they don't burn on the grill.
- 2For the tare, simmer the soy sauce, mirin, sake and brown sugar in a small pan for about 10 minutes until lightly syrupy, then let it cool to room temperature.
- 3Thread the skewers in two styles: negima alternates chicken, scallion, chicken, scallion, chicken; momo is just chicken cubes packed close together but not squashed.
- 4Heat a charcoal grill or a heavy grill pan over high heat and lightly oil the grate.
- 5Lay the skewers down with the skin or fattiest side first and grill for 3–4 minutes until deep golden, then flip and cook another 2–3 minutes.
- 6For tare skewers, dip in the cooled sauce, return to the grill for 30 seconds to glaze, then dip and glaze once more; season the shio skewers with a pinch of salt straight off the heat.
- 7Serve at once with shichimi togarashi and lemon.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
