Yakitori (焼き鳥 やきとり), or fried chicken, is a Japanese type of skewered chicken that is found everywhere in Japan and i many countries abroad.
They are served all year round and have the advantage not only to be tasty but very healthy as meat comes by.
It is made from several bite-sized pieces of chicken meat, or chicken offal, skewered on a bamboo skewer and barbecued, usually over charcoal.
Diners ordering yakitori usually have a choice of having it served with salt (and sometimes lemon juice) or with tare sauce, which is generally made up of mirin, sake, soy sauce and sugar. The sauce is applied to the skewered meat and is grilled until delicately cooked and is served with the tare sauce as a dip.
Ways of serving naturally vary with regions.
As served in Mururoran, Hokkaido.
As served in Ehime Prefecture, Shikoku Island.
One can order for sets or individually.
In the later case, you would do weel to remember basic names:
hatsu (ハツ) or kokoro (こころ), chicken heart
rebā (レバー), liver
sunagimo (砂肝), or zuri (ずり) chicken gizzard
tsukune (つくね), chicken meatballs
Great served with an egg yolk and tare!
(tori)kawa ((とり)かわ) chicken skin, grilled until crispy
tebasaki (手羽先), chicken wing
The same can be ordered whole.
bonjiri (ぼんじり), chicken tail
shiro (シロ), chicken small intestines
ikada (筏) (lit. raft), Japanese scallion, with two skewers to prevent rotation. Also called negima (ネギ間)
Aoto (青と). Here the leek/scallion is rolled insde the chicken
Kashira (かしら) made from the tender par of the breast.
Seseri (せせり) similar to kashira
nankotsu, chicken cartilage
toriniku, Free Range “Chicken of the Earth” (all white meat on skewer)
Common kushiyaki (non-poultry) dishes:
atsuage tofu (厚揚げとうふ, deep-fried tofu)
enoki maki (エノキ巻き, enoki mushrooms wrapped in slices of pork)
pīman (ピーマン, green pepper)
asuparabēkon (アスパラベーコン, asparagus wrapped in bacon)
butabara (豚ばら, pork belly)
gyutan (牛タン), ox tongue, sliced thinly
Naturally if you take purely regional specialties in account, there are many more!
Hi Robert,
You are awesome, all your recipes are wonderful. Just wonder if you could help me, I am having difficulty on finding recipe for a red miso dipping sauce… don’t know what exactly it called in Japanese. The dip is mainly to serve with a bowl of raw veggie (cabbage, carrot and celery strips) in a robatayaki restaurant.
Thanks, Maggie
LikeLike
Dear Maggie!
Greetings!
I will check for you!
Sorry for the dealy!
Cheers,
Robert-Gilles
LikeLike