Vol. XXVIII · The Cuisine of Japan Plate 6 of 11yakimono, 焼き物, shioyaki, 塩焼き, yakitori, 焼き鳥, binchōtan, 備長炭, teriyaki, 照り焼き, tare, glaze, reduction, mirin, sugar concentration, boiling point, saikyo-yaki, 西京焼きHT

Grilling and Glazing.

Teriyaki means "shine-grill". The shine is a sauce reduced to about a third, until it is two-thirds sugar and solids and sets as a lacquer on the hot fish.

Shioyaki (塩焼き), salt-grilling, is the simplest yakimono and a test of skill: a whole mackerel, sea bream or ayu salted 20–30 minutes before cooking, which draws out a little surface water and firms the flesh (XVIII.4), then grilled close to strong radiant heat (XV.8) — skin side first for a whole fish presented head left — until the skin blisters and the flesh is just cooked. Skewers keep fish in a swimming shape; fins are salted heavily (化粧塩) so they do not burn. Yakitori are small pieces of chicken on bamboo skewers grilled over binchōtan (備長炭), a dense white oak charcoal that burns very hot with little smoke or flame, seasoned with salt (塩) or brushed with tare (タレ).

Teriyaki (照り焼き) and tare are glazes: soy, mirin and sake — often with sugar — reduced in a pan. As water boils away, sugar and soy solids concentrate, the boiling point rises and the sauce thickens (VII.6); brushed on in the last minutes of grilling, or tossed with pan-fried chicken, it caramelises lightly and sets glossy. Reduced too little, it runs off; too far, it burns, because the sugar is now near the temperature of caramel (VIII.4). Saikyō-yaki marinates fish in sweet white miso for a day or two before grilling — it browns fast, so it is grilled further from the heat. The workshop reduces a glaze.

Below: the solids (sugar and soy solids) of a teriyaki sauce of soy, mirin and sake as it is reduced to the share you choose of its starting volume, the boiling point that marks it (course syrup bench), and what the sauce does on the grill.

What you will learn

Salt-grill fish.
Grill yakitori over charcoal.
Reduce a teriyaki glaze.
Explain why glazes burn.

Workshop

Starting solids: soy 30 % solids (including salt), mirin 45 % sugar, sake 3 %, mixed in the parts chosen; solids ÷ the share remaining (exact for reduction); boiling point from the course sucrose-syrup model applied to total solids (approximate, since salt raises it a little more). States (teaching): under 40 % thin, 40–60 % syrupy, 60–78 % glaze, above 78 % sticky and burning.

Reduce to a third, brush at the end

Equal parts of soy, mirin and sake start at about 0.26 solids. The sauce becomes a glaze once it is reduced to about 0.43 of its volume and is too far by about 0.33: roughly from a half to a third. At 40 % remaining it boils near 104 °C — a thermometer is a better guide than the clock, but so is the spoon: a glaze coats it and drips slowly in a sheet. Brush it on only in the last minute or two of grilling, in two or three thin coats, because the concentrated sugar browns fast.

Chicken teriyaki for 2: score 2 skin-on chicken thighs, salt lightly. Mix 3 tbsp each of soy, mirin and sake with 1 tbsp sugar. Fry the chicken skin side down in a little oil over medium heat, pressing, until the skin is crisp and golden, about 7 minutes; turn and cook 3 minutes more; wipe out the fat. Pour in the sauce and boil, turning the chicken, until the sauce is reduced to a sticky glaze and the thickest part reaches 74 °C (XVIII.2), 2–3 minutes. Slice and spoon over the last of the glaze. For shioyaki, salt fish at 1–2 % of its weight 20–30 minutes ahead, pat dry and grill skin side first close to high heat.

At the stove

Reduce a small pan of equal soy, mirin and sake, taking a spoonful at every minute onto a cold plate. Note when it starts to hold its shape.

Binchōtan is named after Bitchū-ya Chōzaemon, an Edo-period charcoal merchant of Kishū (Wakayama); made from ubame oak burned at over 1000 °C at the end of firing, it rings like metal when struck.

Terms

塩焼き: Salt-grilling, often of whole fish.
照り焼き: "Shine-grilling" with a reduced soy-mirin glaze.
タレ: Tare: a thick seasoning sauce for grilled food.
備長炭: Binchōtan: dense white charcoal, hot and clean.

Yakimono: salt-grill fish close to strong heat; yakitori over binchōtan. Teriyaki: soy, mirin and sake reduced to about a third to a half, until about 60–78 % solids, brushed on at the end — it burns if overdone.

Sources

S. Tsuji, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, Kodansha, 1980 (rev. 2006).
A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.