While chicken teriyaki applies to any cut of chicken cooked with the sauce, yakitori refers specifically to small bits of chicken that have been threaded onto skewers and grilled. Typically there are pieces of scallion as well, and chicken liver skewers would come with on a separate skewer. The sansho mentioned as garnish is worth seeking out. It has a lovely bright citrusy flavor with a scent to match. It is a perfect foil to soy based sauces, and is great on omelets and grilled fish.
INGREDIENTS:
1¼ pound chicken breast or thigh, boneless/skinless, cut into roughly 1-inch squares, ½-inch thick 3-6 scallions, whites only, cut into 1-inch lengths, washed, outer skin rubbed off, lightly cracked with the flat of a knife 1½ cups Traditional Teriyaki Sauce (see recipe), or as needed* Peanut or rice bran oil, or other neutral flavored high temperature oil Sansho, toasted sesame seeds, or very finely sliced scallion greens, for garnish as neededMETHOD:
Toss the chicken with a little of the teriyaki sauce, just enough to moisten it, and marinate for a couple hours. Drain in a strainer and blot with paper towels when ready to skewer.
Thread the chicken through the wide part onto metal or soaked bamboo skewers. Do a couple pieces of chicken, then a piece of onion crosswise, then chicken, etc. Put a little of the teriyaki sauce into a wide shallow dish. This will be for dipping the skewers in while grilling.
Heat a grill to a medium heat and oil it well. Blot the chicken of any marinade, and lightly spray the chicken with oil or use your fingers to brush a light coating on the chicken.
Grill the chicken until it is turning a nice golden color, then use tongs to dip the cooked side into the teriyaki sauce, then place back on the dipped side up. Cook until golden and almost done, dip in the sauce then return to the grill, flipping to glaze the first side. Cook a minute or so, flip and glaze the second side. The chicken should be just done-still moist and tender but without any pink- and the glaze should be golden with some darker spots, but not carbonized.
Place the skewers on a platter and garnish. Or, if you wish, pass the platter and the garnish separately, allowing diners to garnish as they choose.
Chef’s Notes:
*The Traditional teriyaki is excellent, but the “extra character” version is great if you have blander grocery store chicken breasts you are working with.
There are SO many variations to this dish. The first is making this the easy way. Marinating in teriyaki sauce adds a lot of flavor but adds the risk of burning easily as the sauce chars so readily. So, you can skip the marination process entirely, and salt and pepper the chicken, lightly oil it, and grill it. Follow the method for dipping the chicken in the sauce as written above. When I do the recipe like this, I reduce half the teriyaki sauce a bit so it is thicker, and brush or drizzle it on as the skewers come of the grill (see Teriyaki recipe for details). Another method is to leave the skin on the chicken. This way, the skin bastes the meat and keeps it from sticking and adds flavor, but you have to watch for flare-ups. This is best done with thigh meat. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper. The dish can also be made under the broiler. Use a lightly oiled rack over a sheet pan or broiler pan and put the chicken 4 inches from the broiler. If you don’t marinate the chicken, give it a little brush with some oil, then follow the instructions for grilling. If you decide to go traditional and cook the livers, halve 8-10 chicken livers, marinate 8 hours in teriyaki, then thread with onions. Grill briefly until just cooked with a little pink inside and still moist. Serve next to the chicken skewers. These go quite well with sake or cold Japanese beer.
Serves: 4
Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen
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