Saturday, January 4, 2014

Rosie Makes Chicken Yakitori.

Previously, I made Scotch Eggs
marinated in a yakitori sauce.
Today I'm making yakitori - skewered grilled chicken
basted in yakitori sauce.

Yakitori is basically Japanese street food.

Yakitori Sauce 
6 chicken leg bones, meat and skin removed
2 cups mirin
1 cup sake
1 1/2 cups dark soy sauce
1/2 cup tamari sauce
6 TB firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup coarsely chopped scallions
6 garlic cloves, coarsely sliced
1/2 cup peeled and sliced fresh ginger

Using a sharp filet or paring knife, trim the meat away from the bones, doing your best to keep the meat in large chunks.

Position oven rack about 5 inches underneath broiler and broil until bones are browned all over, using tongs to turn every 5 minutes or so.  This will take about 25 or 30 minutes.

Prepare the scallion, garlic, and ginger as directed and place in 4 quart sauce pan.  Add mirin, sake, soy sauce, tamari sauce, brown sugar, and chicken bones. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Adjust heat to a steady simmer and continue to cook until mixture is reduced by about half.  Be sure to regulate the heat as needed, since the sauce can easily boil over.  Remove from heat, cover, and allow to cool and steep, giving the flavors time to marry.

Place a fine mesh strainer over a 1-quart bowl and strain the yakitori through it. This stores in the refrigerator indefinitely.

Soak wooden skewers in water for at least thirty minutes.
Skewer the chicken pieces and let marinate in the yakitori sauce for about 30 minutes.

Cook on the grill, turning and basting the chicken with more yakitori sauce until done.

The Hawthorne Boys were my grillmasters
and I must say they did an excellent job.
The chicken turned out beautifully glazed
and perfectly grilled.
The meat was moist, juicy, and tender.

And oh... the flavor.
That yakitori sauce is divine!
You have the flavors of salty and sweet
 playing off each other
and becoming more than the sum of their parts.
Culinary synergism.
I love it when that happens.

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