Yakitori: How to choose salt and sauce, and manners of eating without removing from the skewer
Yakitori is an indispensable soul food in Japan's night towns. The compatibility of charcoal-grilled fragrant chicken meat and cold beer is excellent.
On this page, we will deliver a complete guide on how to choose "salt and sauce" and the manners you should know to enjoy authentic Yakitori 100%.
1. Eating Yakitori in Japan: Guide by budget and style
You can enjoy Yakitori in various styles, from convenient deli food at supermarkets to high-end restaurants where artisans show their skills.
Style
Estimated budget
Features and experience
Recommended use scene
Supermarket deli food / Convenience store
$
You can buy from 1 skewer at an affordable price. Hot snacks next to the cash register are also popular.
For an evening drink at the hotel, or when you are slightly hungry
Mass public Izakaya chain
$$
Inside a lively atmosphere, you can enjoy cheap and abundant varieties of Yakitori.
When you want to drink cheaply and enjoyably with friends and family
Red lantern (Akachochin) / Standing drinking bar
$$$
An old-fashioned deep Japanese atmosphere where smoke rises thickly.
When you want to mix with local people and taste the local air
High-end Yakitori specialty restaurant
$$$$$
Using rare parts and brand chicken (Jidori), it is provided in a course format.
Dinner for a special day, or pairing experience with wine
2. Delicious ways to eat and manners you should know: How to choose salt and sauce
When ordering Yakitori, what you are definitely asked is the question, "Will you make it salt (Shio)? Will you make it sauce (Tare)?"
Salt (Shio): It is a simple salt taste. You can directly taste the original umami and freshness of the meat. Salt is recommended for refreshing "Sasami", "Sunagimo (gizzard)", and "Nankotsu (cartilage)". Sauce (Tare): It is a sweet and spicy sauce made by boiling down soy sauce, mirin, sugar, etc. You can enjoy the secret taste that is continuously added to at each restaurant. It has excellent compatibility with fatty "Momo (thigh)" and rich "Liver" and "Tsukune (chicken meatball)". If you are lost, "by recommendation": Because the matching seasoning differs depending on the part, conveying "Omakase (Leave it to you / Recommendation)" to the store clerk is the most certain and delicious way of eating.
[Manners you absolutely want to keep: Do not remove from the skewer]
Removing meat with chopsticks is NG: In order to share with multiple people, there are people who remove all the meat from the skewer with chopsticks, but this is often considered a "manners violation" in Japanese Yakitori. Why eat it as it is?: The artisan does skewer hitting (piercing the meat) making calculations such as "the top meat is a little large and salt is abundant, and as it goes down the taste is held back". Also, if you remove it from the skewer, meat juices escape and it easily becomes cold. Including respect for the artisan who made it, eating with a chomp while holding the skewer is the most delicious and beautiful way of eating.
3. History of Yakitori: From post-war reconstruction to national food
Yakitori has developed by being closely related to Japan's history and people's lives.
Roots of the Edo period: In old Japan, meat eating was avoided from Buddhist teachings etc., but in the Edo period, wild birds such as pheasant and quail pierced on a skewer and grilled were sold at food stalls. Great post-war epidemic and salaryman: It was after World War II that chicken meat Yakitori like present became widespread. The supply of chicken meat increased, and "Yakitori food stalls" lined up in front of stations and under railway guards. Yakitori, which is cheap, has nutrition, and matches alcohol, grew into a national food as an oasis for salarymen returning from work.
4. Trivia to enjoy Yakitori even more
"Yakitori" even though it is pork meat?: In some regions such as Hakodate of Hokkaido and Higashimatsuyama of Saitama Prefecture, there is a unique culture that calls things of "pork meat" pierced on a skewer and grilled (Yakiton) "Yakitori". Skewer container (Kushi-ire): Let's put the wooden skewer after finishing eating into the cylindrical container (skewer container) placed on the table, without leaving it on the plate. The table will become clean, and the checkout will also become smooth. Seven-flavor chili pepper (Shichimi) and Japanese pepper (Sansho): These are spices placed on the table. If you sprinkle a little Shichimi on sauce Yakitori, or apply Sansho to salt taste, it changes to a tingling adult taste.
5. Tasting Japan even after returning home: Exquisite Yakitori made with a frying pan at home
Even without a charcoal fire, we will introduce the trick to make delicious "Negima" with a home frying pan.
Basic ingredients
Chicken thigh meat
Long green onion (or thick green onion)
Bamboo skewer
Sauce ingredients(Mix soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar in a ratio of 1:1:1:0.5)
How to make (Trick of fragrance)
Add a grilled mark to the green onion: Pull a little oil in a frying pan, and line up the skewer pierced with chicken meat and green onion. By grilling firmly to the extent that the green onion gets a little burned mark, a fragrance that does not lose to charcoal fire comes out. Entangle the sauce by boiling at the end: When the fire thoroughly passes through the meat, wipe off excess oil with kitchen paper. After that, flow the combined sauce into the frying pan, and if you entangle it with the meat over high heat until a little thickness sticks, the exquisite homemade Yakitori is completed. ← Return to previous page
