In Pursuit of Chicken Yakitori

[mike.stavlund]

Yeah, sure I could just start Googling to learn more about the fine points of the art of Japanese chicken yakitori (skewered and grilled chicken pieces), but we all know that eventually, inexorably, I will come here and ask the brain trust that is WKC.  So what can you teach me?

I first got the idea from Gummi, but he apparently always eats it in a restaurant.  I did some up on the Smokey Joe, balancing the skewers on the edge of the lid.  Then today I stood some fire bricks up on edge in the trusty SS and poured the coals between them.  The trouble I'm having is charring the meat a bit too much.  Maybe I'm using a bit too much heat, or a bit too much sugar in the marinade/glaze, or just overcooking for fear of poisoning my family with the one bit that doesn't get enough heat.  Anyone have a recipe they like?  I just used the first one that came up on the Google:

1 1/2 cups mirin
3/4 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons sugar
1 garlic clove, pressed (optional)
1 lb boneless chicken thighs

The sauce gets reduced by half, then brushed on the chicken after it's started cooking.  But that yielded some really bland chicken, so the second time I made it I marinated the pieces in the sauce for an hour or so.  Much better flavor, but like I said it burned a good bit. 
Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/yakitori-74844?oc=linkback

[pbe gummi bear]

Mike, If your sauce is burning and you still want to marinade for flavor try marinading without the Mirin, then reduce the sauce to apply afterwards. In Japan the Yakitori shops have a huge bin of sauce that you dip the entire skewer into before eating it. No double dipping though! The sauce is extremely thick. How big are your pieces?

[MaxBobcat]

Yeah, sure I could just start Googling to learn more about the fine points of the art of Japanese chicken yakitori (skewered and grilled chicken pieces), but we all know that eventually, inexorably, I will come here and ask the brain trust that is WKC.  So what can you teach me?

I first got the idea from Gummi, but he apparently always eats it in a restaurant.  I did some up on the Smokey Joe, balancing the skewers on the edge of the lid.  Then today I stood some fire bricks up on edge in the trusty SS and poured the coals between them.  The trouble I'm having is charring the meat a bit too much.  Maybe I'm using a bit too much heat, or a bit too much sugar in the marinade/glaze, or just overcooking for fear of poisoning my family with the one bit that doesn't get enough heat.  Anyone have a recipe they like?  I just used the first one that came up on the Google:

1 1/2 cups mirin
3/4 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons sugar
1 garlic clove, pressed (optional)
1 lb boneless chicken thighs

The sauce gets reduced by half, then brushed on the chicken after it's started cooking.  But that yielded some really bland chicken, so the second time I made it I marinated the pieces in the sauce for an hour or so.  Much better flavor, but like I said it burned a good bit. 
Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/yakitori-74844?oc=linkback

Here's a guy who did a similar brick setup to you.

Looks like he went pretty light on the charcoal.  That could be your problem if you're charring the meat too much for your liking.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=155685

[pbe gummi bear]

Check out this David Chang clip on yakitori: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BydQ71-sGsY

I should have his Tare sauce ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tare_sauce ) recipe at home. I'll try to get it for you tonight. Also, don't forget the red pepper powder! It's a must for any yakitori experience. http://www.amazon.com/Nanami-Togarashi-Assorted-Chili-Pepper/dp/B0002YGSA0

[salad]

This is a good watch.  Addresses set up, when to turn and when to add sauce and why.  Bonus for the use of a Blue OTG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t7HD19eHTE

[pbe gummi bear]

This is a good watch.  Addresses set up, when to turn and when to add sauce and why.  Bonus for the use of a Blue OTG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t7HD19eHTE

Great video. I might have to buy a chicken and try all of this myself!

[mike.stavlund]

Wow, this is all really helpful.  I definitely came to the right place.

My pieces seem to be the right size, though I'm starting to think my fire is a bit too hot (that last video had the fire a good long ways from the meat, but I've had the coals right under the food.  Another key part I'm noticing in skewers that are flat to ensure that they don't spin around (my skewers don't have that pronounced of a flat spot).   I also saw where some folks use two parallel skewers to make it simple to turn and hold food in the proper position. 

That chicken wing technique from David Chang is killer... not the pork fat confit and all of those workarounds for a charcoal fire, but the partial boning and perpendicular skewering of the wings themselves.  I've been making the Jaques Pepin 'popsickles' that I saw in another thread, but those are way harder to balance over an open bed of coals. 

Keep the suggestions coming, please, and I promise to continue to practice.  (I'll post some photos of my setup, too-- it was just too dark tonight.)

Also, WARNING:  it is just a matter of time before gummi swoops into this discussion with the suggestion that we all need genuine Japanese honesuki knives to properly break down/de-bone chicken.  BEWARE OF THE ENABLER.  He is stealthy and he is adept, and a proper honesuki is a beautiful and alluring gem of damascus steel.

[1buckie]

" I also saw where some folks use two parallel skewers to make it simple to turn and hold food in the proper position. "

^^^^^ This.....if the pieces are just large enough to have it work OK.......


Also, I may very well be alone & mistaken on this, but my experience is soy sauce, if heated too much or too long will dry things out & even sometimes scorch if too high heat........

[mike.stavlund]

That's a good word, Buckie.  I think I need to find a way to hold off on the sauce until the cooking is well underway, but still get enough flavor into the meat.  Also, I'm noticing that the videos show the pieces all pushed together, where I've been separating them.

And gums, the red pepper powder is on its way!  Thanks. 

[salad]

This is a good watch.  Addresses set up, when to turn and when to add sauce and why.  Bonus for the use of a Blue OTG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t7HD19eHTE

Great video. I might have to buy a chicken and try all of this myself!

Yup. I'm going to have to try this soon.  The hardest part, I think, is getting the sauce right.

[pbe gummi bear]

David Chang keeps it simple with soy sauce, mirin, pepper, and chicken bones for his tare. Infusing the sauce with chicken bone flavor is extremely interesting. Pm me if you want the recipe from the Momofuku book.

I'm getting grand visions of getting a whole chicken to do a Yakitori cook. No part would go to waste!

[mike.stavlund]

Thanks, everyone! 

I tried again tonight, using the David Chang (Momofukiu) recipe for the tare sauce, and gummi's red pepper powder at the table.  The sauce is INCREDIBLE, and it's really a cool concept to bone out a chicken, use the bones from the chicken in a sauce, and to use the sauce on the original chicken.  It's tasty stuff, but IMHO not sufficient to flavor the meat itself.  I'm thinking that next time I'll marinate the meat for an hour or so in a brine containing salt and sugar (per other chicken dishes in Chang's book), and then finish it with the tare sauce.  I'm a little worried that the sugar will still burn, so I might back off of the sugar in the brine a bit. 

The red pepper powder gummi linked to in great stuff too.

And I skewered some peeled planks of red and yellow bell peppers, and it was quite delicious.  The sauce really set them off.

Sorry for the lack of photos; it was really dark even as I started cooking tonight. 

[pbe gummi bear]

My wife and I made Yakitori on Saturday using a modified David Chang Momofuku tare recipe. This is what I learned:

-The Yakitori cuts are smaller than you think. My first pass at cutting the pieces were huge and looked like a kebab. The pieces of Yakitori should be one bite.

-it's hard to debone a chicken. It's also hard to get the cuts right for the Yakitori on first pass.

- thighs have a lot of musclature and how you cut it makes a big difference on how the pieces stay together.

- if you are overcooking your chicken and the outside isn't charred, your temp is too low.

- skin causes big flareups but is mighty tasty when you get it right.

- lemon and red pepper paste adds really nice flavor to the skewers.

- tweak your tare recipe. If you use normal kikkoman it will end up too salty.

-cut your skin into long strips about .75" wide and accordion it onto the skewer every .25" or so.

- I didn't marinade the chicken and didn't find it to be lacking flavor when glazed with the tare.

- the picture above is half a chicken deboned. It made close to 20 meat skewers:
Thigh and leek
Breasts
Tenderloin
Chicken oysters (both sides)
Wing, butterfly cut
Wing drumstick lollipop
Skin
Cartilage (keel)
Cherry tomatoes
Yamaimo ( Japanese sticky mountain yam)
Garlic
Asparagus

Pics

[mike.stavlund]

Gosh, that's gorgeous, gummi. 

--Great feedback re: flavor, too-- I have been known to go a little heavy on the salt, so it's good for our friends to have a different data point. 

--My pieces are too big then, too. 

-- A well-balanced tare is a magical thing.  Pour some over rice or rice noodles, and you're got two tickets to food paradise. 

--Lemon is a *great idea*. 

--That's a funny looking Weber you got there, my man.

[DoppelBock]

Check out this David Chang clip on yakitori: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BydQ71-sGsY

I should have his Tare sauce ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tare_sauce ) recipe at home. I'll try to get it for you tonight. Also, don't forget the red pepper powder! It's a must for any yakitori experience. http://www.amazon.com/Nanami-Togarashi-Assorted-Chili-Pepper/dp/B0002YGSA0

Okay, FIRST the Peruvian Chicken, THEN the Yakitori...Chang/Stavlund style