Yakitori 焼き鳥 Part 1

Our first posting of a dish has to be Yakitori. It simply means "grilled bird". It is skewered small morsels of meat (mostly chicken) or vegetable grilled on a charcoal fire (or any other direct heat sources). Some Yakitori chefs prefer electric far-infrared heating elements for precise temperature control but charcoal is most authentic. Offal are also frequently used such as chicken liver, gizzard, pope's nose (if you know what this is), testes (did you know chicken has testes), skin, even cartilage and pork intestine etc. The seasoning are usually  "Tare (sauce)" or "Shio (salt)". "Tare" sauce main flavors are soy sauce and sugar (some yakitoti places may have a secret "tare" sauce which is said to have been used for generations. New ingredients are added to the old and the bottom of the "kame" or earthenware vessels where tare is kept may contain mysterious "sludge" imparting the  je ne sais qua character to the "Tare" sauce (although this is most likely just a myth) or simply salted ("Shio"). We prefer salt and lemon for most yakitori items.

Although Yakitori-ya or Yakitori restaurant specializes in this one particular type of cuisine and is not a traditional Izakaya, the idea is the same. The classic yakatori-ya is  small, shabby (it has to be) smoke filled (both from cigarette and yakitori grilling) noisy places. They are getting increasingly rare in Japan and are being replaced by more sanitized versions including (again) Yakitori chain stores. In any case, our fond memory of Yakitori goes back 25 years in Sapporo where my wife had first tasted Yakitori with turbid sake ("nigori zake").

Equipment: At home, we use a special Yakitori grill purchased from Korin. Bincho charcoal, which you can purchase from Korin as well, is said to be the best but we use lump hickory charcoal with good results. One can use any direct heat source including gas, charcoal or even electricity. A Weber grill works well but you certainly loose some of the enjoyment of cooking at the table as you eat.

For skewers we use both bamboo and metal. The metal skewers are specifically designed for Yakitori (purchased in one of the stores in Kappabashi district, Asakusa, Tokyo). They are much shorter than regular metal skewers and also flat preventing soft items such as chicken liver from rotating while being turned. You can use two bamboo skewers with the same results. Bamboo skewers, however, need to be pre-soaked to prevent them from burning.

In this picture, taken in our back yard at home, from right to left, we have chicken thigh, pork with onion (this is said to be in a "Muroran" style named after a port town in Hokkaido and eaten with hot mustard), eggplant, shishito (small green Japanese pepper) chicken wings and drumettes. The shishito pepper is usually not hot. However, it is somewhat like playing Russian roulette because some may be unexpectedly "atomic" hot. While this occasionally happens in Japan for some reason it is much more frequent in the United States.

Yakitori donburi 焼き鳥丼

Yakitori donburi 焼き鳥丼

This a quick "donburi" dish using left over "Yakotori". "Donburi" 丼, which is often shorten to "don", refers to a large (relative to a regular rice bowl) Japanese bowl, like the one seen below. It can also refer to the food placed in the bowl. The basic construction of a "donburi" dish is a bed of cooked rice with whatever toppings may be available accompanied by a small amount of savory sauce. This is a very typical "whole-meal-in-a-bowl" affair. Many Japanese fast food chain restaurants are specialized in this type of dish. Am

ong the most popular are "oyako donburi" 親子丼, which is a combination of chicken and egg  ("oyako" means "mother and offspring", for obvious reason), "gyudon" 牛丼 which is made with small cut-up pieces of seasoned beef, "ten-don" 天丼 which is topped with "tempura", and "katsu-don" カツ丼 which features breaded and deep fried pork cutlet called "tonkatsu". Although I have not tried it, "Yakitori donburi" is reportedly served as a lunch item in a famous Yakitori restaurant in Tokyo. This dish appears to place freshly made Yakitori (2-5 skewer-worth depending on the price) on the bed of rice with some Yakitori "tare" sauce.

When we make Yakitori at home,  we usually will have a good amount of left-overs. When I have thigh or liver left over from a barbecue, I make my version of Yakitori donburi. (I save the left-over barbecued wings and drumettes to re-heat in the toaster oven to eat crispy and hot by themselves). If I have grilled vegetables I add them to the donburi as well.

This time, I used left-over Yakitori liver,  thinly sliced onion, shiitake  mushroom, and greens (here, I used arugula but spinach, broccoli, green beans, snow pea all work well). In a small frying pan, arrange the ingredients except for fast cooking greens such as spinach and arugula. Add a mixture of mirin, dashi, and soy sauce in about equal amounts (or use a commercial Japanese noodle sauce diluted with water). Please make sure that the broth is not too salty since it will reduce during cooking). The liquid should just barely cover the ingredients, cover the pan and simmer until the onion is soft and cooked (10 minutes). Add the greens to cook just for few minutes. At this point, the broth should be reduced to a small amount. My wife likes more broth/sauce than I do. I like just a small amount of strong tasting sauce to moisten the underlying rice rather than enough sauce to make the rice too wet. It's a personal preference, however, and the initial strength and amount of the broth need to be adjusted accordingly. Slide the topping and sauce on the bed of hot rice. I sprinkle "sansho" powder which is a Japanese version of finely ground Sichuan pepper.

Izakaya in Sapporo Part 1 札幌の居酒屋パート1

We went from Tokyo to Sapporo by train rather than plane. We rode the Hokkaido Shinkansen 北海道新幹線 from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate Hokuto 新函館北斗. (We rode the Hokkaido Shinkansen for the first time in 2017 from Oomiya 大宮 to Shin-Hakodate since we started in Niigata 新潟.) Initially I thought we would have to take a shuttle train from Shin-Hakodate back to Hakodate to catch the limited express narrow gauge “zairai sen 在来線” train to Sapporo. Then I discovered a zairai sen actually went through Shin-Hakodate. So all we had to do was get from the shinkansen platform to the zairai sen platform to get the limited express Hokuto 北斗 to our final destination Sapporo 札幌 (my home town).

We didn’t have much time, however, to get from one platform to the other at Shin-Hakodate. But we would essentially be on the train all day so we would need some food for the trip. The question was what to do about ekiben 駅弁? Should we get some in Tokyo or at Shin-Hakodate? We decided, we would not have enough time to buy ekiben  at Hakodate, so we bought two in Tokyo. It was a good thing we did because we just made the transition between the two platforms in time; if we had stopped to get an ekiben we would have missed our train.  Purchasing those two ekibens, however,  required a bit of effort. We were leaving Tokyo early in the morning and it was too early for the ekiben stores on the basement floor of the department store connected to the station to be open. Still, we got two decent ekiben from a small kiosk in front of the SevenEleven which was open. They came with an advisory that they needed to be consumed by 1 PM that day for safety reasons. We were able to comply by eating them just after we took off to Sapporo from Shin-Hakodate just making 1 PM deadline.

1.  Yakitori-no- Ippei Sappro Minani 4 Store 焼き鳥の一平南4条店

札幌市中央区南4条西3丁目9-1 12Mビル3階

12M bldg 3F
Minami 4, Nishi 3, Chuo-ku, Sapporo

For reservation: 011-281-0006, Credit card accepted, Smoking allowed

Since we were in Hokkaido, I thought going to a yakitori-ya 焼き鳥屋  that specialized in “Muroran” yakitori 室蘭焼き鳥 was appropriate. Muroran is a port town located south east of Sapporo about one and half hours by car or train. It had been famous for its steel industry but now it has been in decline. My mother’s relatives including her (my grand-) parents lived in the Muroran area and I remember visiting them as a small child, although I was too young for yakitori. Muroran yakitori differs from regular yakitori because it is made with pork and onion rather than chicken and negi scallion and side of yellow mustard

Later I learned that this izakaya is a family company started in Muroran with multiple stores in Muroran, Sapporo and other places in Hokkaido. There are two stores in Sapporo and the one we went is the smaller of the two.

It is located very close to the main Susukino intersection (picture above). We first tried Muroran yakitori (pork and onion). It came with yellow mustard. It was very good. We also ordered chicken yakitori. We had “shiro-reba or white liver which is sort of foi gras of chicken. It was soft in texture and something we have never tasted before. (We usually have and like regular chicken liver.) Besides yakitori, we tried some fried dishes. One of the recommended items was grilled shell-on boiled quail eggs 殻付きウズラの炭火焼き. I was tempted but was not sure how the shell could be eaten. One of the young customers sitting next to us ordered it and started crunching. I asked how it was. He said hard but good. We also had “cheese karikari-age” チーズのカリカリ揚げ or crunchy fried cheese (picture below). It was very good but appeared to be a  premade frozen product since we encountered exactly the same item at another izakaya. We had a dish of fried squid and ama-ebi which was also very good. We finished with “Nasu-yaki” a grilled eggplant. This was a variation of “Yaki-nasu 焼きなす”. It came with a small bowl full of bonito flakes. 

2. Susukino Kaisen Izakaya Kobachi すすきの海鮮居酒や小鉢

札幌市中央区南6条西4-1-11 TM 29 1F

TM-29 bldg 1F
Minami 6 Nhishi 4, Chuo-ku
Sapporo

For reservation 011-533-6555, Credit card accepted Smoking allowed

Judging from reviews and photos, this place is run by a chef who specializes in fresh seafood and is famous for live squid and crabs. When I called to make a reservation, I was told that they didn’t have any live squid today which was fine with us (we had live squid sashimi in Hakodate 函館 some years ago. We are not really sure if we like “live” squid sashimi.) In any case, this place was on the first floor of a small building. The entrance was far in the back after you enter the building.  Our expectations were high for some nice Hokkaido sourced seafood. We sat at a small table and across from us was a semi-private room with the sliding doors open. Four or 5 middle aged men were feasting literally; cult sake, crabs etc. The chef and his wife were appropriately paying close attention. In any case, we started with sake and assorted sashimi. The wife (waitress) recommend a few sakes which were pretty good. 

The chef himself delivered the sashimi for us and explained the various items. A few of them he specially prepared and recommended we enjoy them without the addition of any soy sauce. We also had sea urchin in salt water 塩水うに which, even though from Hokkaido, was not that special. The rest of the sashimi was good but not outstanding. We had some grilled fish and fried oysters. I am sure we had some more. The place was very smoky (thanks to guys in the semi private room). The sake and food were basically good.

Nojo restaurant in San Francisco 農場レストラン

 Yakitori 焼き鳥 or grilled chicken (plus pork and vegetables) on a skewer is one of our favorite Izakaya-style food. When we visited New York, we went to "Torishin" 鳥心 which tried to reproduce an authentic (albeit cleaned-up or up-scale) Japanese Yakitori place or Yakitori-ya 焼き鳥屋 in New York. In contrast, "Nojo" 農場 (meaning "farm") in the Mission district of San Francisco is not trying to be an authentic Yakitori-ya but more of an American eatery which serves Yakitori (very authentic and good) as well as Japanese-inspired dishes not served on a stick. The story of how chef/owner Greg Dunmore decided to open a Yakitori restaurant is posted on their web site.
When we arrived, the restaurant was quite busy and noisy. There were a number of tables as well as a counter along the front of an open kitchen (main kitchen behind the wall). In the center of the open kitchen, was the grilling station or "Yakidai" 焼き台 which appears to be using gas rather than charcoal or electricity as a heat source. As you can see in the picture below the decor had some Japanese touches but over all the atmosphere was that of an American neighborhood eatery. The clientele did not appear to be Japanese (while we were there I was the only representative of that group). They were mostly young, local residents.



The tables for two were very close together. We had to be careful when being seated to not knock something over on the table next to us.  Conversation was almost impossible because of the high noise level. We sat for quite some time before someone acknowledged our existence. (It is torture to sit, hungry, in a restaurant and watch delicious looking food being delivered to other tables). Once we got on the wait staff’s radar screen, however, service improved. We started by choosing sake. They had a short but decent sake list (and beer, wine and chochu) and we settled for Wakatake Onigoroshi Junmai ginjo 若竹鬼殺し純米吟醸 from Shizuoka 静岡 (a safe choice). Because the service appeared slow, we decided to order most of what we wanted to try all at once and up front to avoid long waits between deliveries. Although we ordered everything in a jumble, we were impressed by how they sorted out the meal by grouping our orders. They did not serve everything at once. Dishes came out in an orderly progression that showed careful consideration to combining tastes and textures that went well together.
First came blackened Brussels sprouts. We have tried many recipes for Brussels sprouts and until we stumbled on blackened sprouts my wife was the only Brussels sprouts fan in the family.  So, among the salads and vegetable dishes they offered, we chose this dish. It was a nice size for us to share. It had a nice sauce (soy sauce and balsamic vinegar?) and some heat (Japanese Ichimi tougarashi 一味唐辛子?) with thin strips of what appeared to be cabbage but later we realized it was "Yuba" 湯葉.  We both liked this dish and it was a perfect starter.



We love Yakitori chicken wings but the yakitori menu did not contain wings. Instead, we found "crispy deep fried wings" on the not-on-a-stick menu and decided to try them. They served a generous amount (probably 6 wings and drummets)  but we started eating before we remembered to take a picture. So the below  picture shows just one each of wing and drummet. This was also a big hit. Very nice crispy skin and seasoning was just great. It was marinated first and deep dried with flour (rice flour?) and additional seasoning (some kind of flavored salt?).



Then the Yakitori started appearing. We had, neck meat ("seseri" せせり), skin ("kawa", かわ), and pork jowl ("kashira" かしら). Neck and Skin were rather small skewers but were excellent.  Pork jowl is fatty meat from the head/neck areas of the pig(I learned that bacon made from jowl was very popular in the South). It is also delectably “deadly” as our favorite pork belly (picture below).



Then came what was probably the best dish of the evening--candied duck liver (picture below). It was a good sized portion; perfect for us to share (again we had eaten most of it before the picture was taken), deep fried coated in some type of batter and then seasoned in sweet sticky sauce served on the bed of lettuce and radons of bacon.

The duck liver was not gamy and had a nice texture (especially if you like the texture of cooked liver). The lettuce was a good cool contract to this rich liver dish.

We ordered few more items which were "tsukune" つくね with egg yolk sauce, bacon wrapped mochi 餅のベーコン巻き and "automnal tsukemono" 漬物. Tsukune was good, served with a soy sauce based sauce and a raw egg yolk (hope the egg came from a near-by "farm" and was safe). We loved the bacon wrapped mochi (it instantly converted my wife to an ardent mochi fan. How can you go wrong with bacon wrapped anything?) We’d like to try something similar at home later. The only disappointment of the evening was  the "Tsukemono". They tasted almost like regular pickles out of a jar and did not have the subtle taste and crunch we would expect from such a dish.

Although we were quite full,  my wife wanted to try "Black sesame ice cream"as a desert.  It was quite good and interesting. For some reason, they gave us the dessert gratis (Thank you). We liked this place and will come again if we have a chance. After eating there we can see why it is so popular and forgive them the initial lapse in service. Next time, we will try the counter which will be easier for us to talk, although I am not sue if we can make a reservation at the counter.

Information on "Nojo"
Nojo restaurant 農場レストラン

231 Franklin Street, San Francisco

415-896-4587

http://www.nojosf.com/

Kushiwakamaru, Nakameguro 串若丸、中目黒

This evening, we met with our Izakaya friends, Tobias and Dave and their wives. We went to a Yakitori place called "Kushiwakamaru" 串若丸 in Nakameguro 中目黒. Since we were a party of six, finding an authentic Izakaya which could accommodate such a large group was not easy and this place was a perfect choice.

We arrived around 7pm (the place opens at 5pm), it was full so we waited in queue (sitting on the row of chairs provided outside for that purpose as shown in the picture below) for 15 minutes or so before being seated at a table.

 

It was a noisy, smoky, perfectly authentic yakitori-ya 焼き鳥屋. It would have been fun to sit at the counter but being such a large group we were glad to settle in at the corner table provided. I have to say yakitoris are fun but even more fun when they are enjoyed with good friends.  We had such a great time! With all the conversation, and laughter, sociability took center stage and I forgot to take pictures. I only took one food picture and that was after we had eaten most of the food (I am not as disciplined as many other food bloggers).

They served an interesting otoshi appetizer  "Shirasu-oroshi" しらすおろしwhich was grated daikon topped with "jako"( or "shirasu", dried small bait fish) in sweet vinegar sauce. It was good but the portion was huge and we (my wife and I) could not finish it. Before we started on the yakitori, we had fava beans (soramame ソラマメ), herring roe on kelp (komochi konbu 子持ち昆布), and Kushiwakamaru salad. We ordered every species of drink; beer, white wine, and sake to accommodate all preferences at the table (we had sake). It is interesting that this Yakitori-ya had wine.



Tobias and Dave ordered so many interesting and delicious yakitori, I cannot recall them all. I remember chicken tenderloin with pesto, Hokkaido potato with butter, pork belly wrapped wedges of tomato, small Japanese green pepper (piiman ピーマン) stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. The number of skewers in the large cup in the picture above, indicate that we did not leave hungry. Fully fed and watered, we staggered off to the next place for dessert and nightcaps.

Everything was really excellent. Although the place is authentic and old fashioned Yakitori-ya, the menu had some new yakitori items which are not traditional adding to the interest. We would like to add a special "shout out" thanks to Tobias, Dave and company for introducing us to one of their izakaya treasures and sharing it with us in such a good time.

Yakitori, two kinds 焼き鳥２種類、レバたれ、笹身のシソ梅肉

I started this blog with “Yakitori” posts 3 years ago. I also posted about our surrogate “Izakaya” “Tako Grill”.  Last year, to our surprise, Chef Kudo went back to Japan for good and opened up his restaurant “タコグリルTako Grill” in the small town he originally came from called “Kuroishi” 黒石 in Aomori prefecture 青森県. Now Mr. Terry Segawa 瀬川哲紀 who mostly took care of the business side of Tako Grill is more involved in the kitchen. He added quite nice Izakaya type snacks to the menu (actually, he now has a special Izakaya menu). When Terry is behind counter, he often offers something “off the menu”. These dishes are different and quite nice; one evening it was Yakitori (chicken liver and hearts). My wife really likes chicken liver Yakitori, which I have not made for some time. This prompted me to make these small yakitori skewers on weekend.
When I barbecue whole chickens, I usually discard the neck, gizzards and liver which are packaged in paper and tucked inside the cavity. (These are usually meant for making the American classic gravy-with-giblets). This time, I used the liver to make this small Yakitori while we are waiting for the whole chickens to finish cooking.

Since the Webber grill was otherwise occupied with the whole chickens and the mosquitos were still around making me reluctant to stand around outside tending the grill, I cooked these Yakitori in the toaster oven in “Hi-broil”.

Chicken liver: I removed attached fat, vessels etc and soaked them in sake for 20-30 minutes. I used a flat metal skewer. From two whole chickens, there was enough liver to make two small skewers (picture below).

Sauce: I made quick “tare” たれ or dipping sauce. It is a mixture of sake (1 tbs) mirin (1 tbs), sugar (2 tsp) and soy sauce (1 tbs). I first heated the sake and mirin mixture to boil, then dissolved sugar and added soy sauce. I then made a potato starch slurry (katakuriko 片栗粉 or potato starch plus sake). I streamed it in until the sauce was slightly thickened.

Chicken tenderloins: This is a variation of shiso and salted plum roll 梅しそ巻き which I previously posted. Instead of making it into a roll, I butterflied the chcken tenderloins, lined it with 1 or 2 leaves of perilla and smeared bainiku 梅肉 (I removed the meat of umeboshi 梅干 plum and minced it into paste with a small amount of mirin to make it a paste consistency). After closing the butterflied portions, I used a sawing motion to thread the skewer (see below).

I cooked the skewers on Hi-broil in the toaster oven (with the upper heating elements about 1 inch from the skewers) turning once or twice for 10-15 minutes. For the liver,  I coated the surface of the cooked liver with the dipping sauce and broiled it for one more minute turning once. I put on one more coat of “tare” sauce and sprinkled “sansho” 山椒 or powdered Szechwan pepper corn on the liver.

This was a perfect appetizer to eat while we waited for the chicken to cook. Sometimes the liver included in the packet found in the cavity of a whole chicken is not fresh and is all broken up, but I should check it before discarding. This was perfectly good chicken liver.

Kyoto Izakaya in Kyoto Station Area Part 2 京都駅駅付近付近の居酒屋 パート2

2. Yakitori Tsujiya 焼き鳥つじや

京都市下京区塩小路西洞院西入ル北不動堂町522-9

5229 Kita-fudoudoucho, Shimokyou-Ku
Kyoto

For reservation 075-341-1819, credit card accepted, Probably smoking allowed
Ordering by QR code (You need a smart phone with internet access)

As I was writing this up, I looked on the internet for information about this place. The TSUJIYA GROOVE is the holding company. Judging from their web site, they run two separate but similar chains. One is “Yakitori Tsujiya 焼き鳥つじや” with one store which is where we went. Another is “Sumi-bi Kushiyaki Tsujiya 炭火串焼つじや” with 4 stores. The difference between these two chains is uncertain to me based on their write-ups. Both serve chicken on skewers grilled using a charcoal fire.  Judging from the pictures, the latter appears to be in at the higher end of the price spectrum.

This was a low-key yakitori place. We were lucky we could make the reservation. Although we were 5 minutes late, they kept our seats at the corner of the counter just next to the “yakiba 焼き場” where yakitori is grilled. So we had a good view of how the grilling was taking place. They gave me a slip with a  “QR code” printed on it and asked that I order through their web site. Luckily, I had my iphone connected to a portable hot spot. We ordered sake from their recommendation and ordered the usual suspects of yakitori dishes; chicken thigh, liver, tuskune, wings, negima etc. Meanwhile the place was packed. A number of people came to the door but were turned away including some foreign tourists. (Japanese refer to these customers as “inbounds”. This is where I saw the head waitress use an internet translation program to communicate the “lack of space” and expected “long-time wait” to the foreign “inbounds” who came to the door.)

The yakitori was very good. It had a nice highly pronounced charcoal flavor. All the dishes were pretty good but we really liked the liver and ordered seconds. We ordered more sake and other dishes and our “shime 〆” ending dish was a grilled rice ball.

During our stay, people started coming down from the second floor where, I understand, they have tables for big parties. But the people kept coming, coming, coming in a steady flow. Finally, I asked how many people they could accommodate on the second floor. They laughed and said “many”.

This was really good experience with excellent yakitori.


3. Irodori 京の四季いろどり

京都府京都市下京区東塩小路町577 大将軍ビル3階

Daishougun Bldg 3F
Higashi-shiokouji-cho 577
Shimokyo-ku, Kyoto

For reservation 075-343-9266, Credit card accepted, No smoking

The day I called for a reservation they said none was available so I asked for one the next day. They had seats for two at the counter.  The place was just across from the station/our hotel.  This is run by a company which also runs grilled meat “Yakiniku 焼肉” restaurants (two) and pachinko parlors (two) but only one “Irodori”. The place appeared quite large. Our counter was quite spacious and guests were seated quite far apart. This counter may have been used as a sushi-bar at one time but the cold case was empty.  A sliding door inside the counter connected to a large kitchen.  Noise and laughter wafted and there appeared to be many tables and rooms which we could not see.

They offered a Kyoto local sake tasting. We chose 6 between the two of us. This was a good move.

Among the 6 we tasted the one third from the right called “Ine-mankai 伊根満開” meaning “Full bloom in Ine” really stood out. This is because of its “rose wine” color and its amazing taste. We wanted to know what produced this unusual color and since I had my phone I quickly looked it up on the internet. I found out this was brewed from “ancient red rice 古代米” by a woman “touji 杜氏” brew master at the sake brewery “Mukai shuzo 向井酒造” . This. brewery is located in “Ine-cho 伊根町”. Since the flavor was so specially memorable we chose it as our starter sake.

As usual, we ordered assorted sashimi. A middle aged man who must have been the sushi chef, brought the sashimi plate. It had obligatory “Tai” perch which we had else where and tended to be sinewy/chewy but not this one. Nicely soft with much more flavor. I asked if it had been aged and the chef said when he tested it he determined it was too firm so he aged it for a few days. Some sashimi fish especially white fish can be improved in texture and flavor by aging. We had some other dishes including roasted duck breast. All were quite good. Although it lacked the usual Izakaya atmosphere, the sake and food as well service were great.  We will definitely go back.

Yakitori; three kinds 焼き鳥３種類

On the weekend, I had a package of chicken thighs. I was afraid it would go bad soon. Although we could not grill outside because of the pesky mosquitoes, I decided to do "Yakitori" 焼き鳥 in the toaster oven. With some influences from eating Yakitori at Torishin 鳥心 in New York. I decided to make three different sauces/seasonings.

The picture below is what I cooked.  The closest skewer is Yuzu-koshou and Jalapeño pepper, the middle is sweet miso with "shiso" しそ perilla and the furthermost with onion is with a "tare" sauce.

  

I. "Tare" or "Tsume" sauce たれ or つめ (right in the picture below).

Many "Yakitori" places have their secret sauce which has been in use for many years.  The sauce is maintained by straining the old sauce, adding a new batch and cooking it again everyday.  Dipping grilled chicken into it everyday for many years, of course adds to the flavors. Home cooks could not possibly match this.

Another similar sauce is called  "Tsume" which is a short for “Tsume-dare” つめだれ. “Tsume” comes from the word  "nitsumeru" 煮詰める or to "reduce" by boiling. It is usually used to "paint" some sushi like "anago" 穴子. It is essentially a concentrated ”sweet and salty” or “ama-kara” 甘辛 sauce made from soy sauce (mirin, sake) and sugar with some savory elements (classically, for anago, I was told, grilled "anago" bones were used. Some recipes use pre-made “oyster sauce”).

Mine started out as the simmering liquid for "Vermillion snapper". After  the fish was cooked and removed,  the remaining and reduced seasoning liquid totally congealed in the refrigerator because of the protein components from the fish. I diluted this using “dashi broth” and made a simmered tofu or “Niyakko” 煮奴. After making this dish, what remained of the simmering liquid was kept in the refrigerator. This was the base of the sauce I used here. I tasted the sauce and added more soy sauce, mirin and reduced it to 1/3. It became slightly thick and tasted salty and sweet (not as sweet as some Yakitori “tare” sauce) with good savory “umami” flavors (right in the picture below). Of course, you can make this sauce simply by mixing soy sauce, mirin or sugar and thickening it with a potato starch slurry.

2. Sweet miso with perilla 大葉入り甘味噌 (left front in the picture above).

This is made with miso (2tbs), green perilla (2 large leaves finely chopped), and mirin (about 2 tbs or until the consistency of the miso reaches a saucy stage).  I thought of adding a bit of dark sesame oil but refrained.

3. Yuzu-koshou and Jalapeño pepper 柚子胡椒ハロペニョ (left back in the picture above).

I made the least amount since this was rather spicy. I finely chopped up half a Jalapeño pepper (1/2, seeded and deveined) and mixed with yuzu-koshou (1 tbs) and mixed in mirin (1 tbs). I was thinking of adding lemon zest (micrograted) but forgot to do it.

4. Chicken

I boned and skinned 6 thighs (3 were large but three were small). I cut them into a bite size chunks. I just made 4 skewers just from the chicken and two with sweet onion (left in the picture below).

Since I had to use more skewers than usual for cooking in the toaster oven, I also had to use a larger baking pan than usual but the skewers could not reach both rims of the pan. So I had to improvise. I added another metal skewer in the back so that the chicken skewers would not sit in the juice in the bottom of the baking tray. I used the broil function of my toaster oven which turns on the upper elements to highest power. I cooked the chicken without sauce (seasoned only with salt) turning once after 8 minutes until the chicken meat was almost completely cooked. I then smeared two skewers each with one of the three sauces. I then grilled each side for one to 2 more minutes being careful not burn it. (In the picture below, from the right, tare, miso and Yuzu-koshou).

For oven grilled Yakitori, they were not bad at all. The yuzu-koshou ones were rather spicy but not too spicy (at least for me). My wife liked the miso flavor the best. Both agreed “tare” was rather mundane. We had this with Dassai 50 Daiginjou 獺祭５０大吟醸. This sake may have been a bit to gentle and delicate for yakitori.
*Digression alert:
I was wondering about the name of this sake "Dassai" for some time. While I was drinking this sake, I read the label which explained the origin of this name. I supplemented this with some more Google search results. The first letter 獺 means "river otter" or "kawa-uso". The second letter 祭 means "festival". The combined word "Dassai" 獺祭 or "Otter festival" was based on the observation that after catching several fish, the otter will line them up on the river bank before eating them as though making an offering of the fish to it's ancestors. The word "Festival" obviously referred to a commemoration of ancestors such in the "obon" festival. The poet 李商隠 Li Shangyin in the late "Tang" 唐 dynasty called himself 獺祭魚 meaning "fish of the otter festival" equating himself to the fish caught by the otter as he sat among all the books and scrolls of his predecessors lined up around him to give inspiration for new poems. Later the Japanese poet 正岡子規 "Shiki Masaoka" took this name as well and called himself 獺祭書店主人 meaning "master of the otter festival book store". The sake brewery which makes "Dassai" is called "Asahi Sake brewer" 旭酒造 which is located in a small town called 獺越（おそごえ）"osogoe" in Yamaguchi prefecture 山口県. Taking one letter "otter" 獺 from the name of the place, they named their sake 獺祭 or "otter festival".

Braised Chicken liver and onion 鶏の肝とタマネギの炒め煮

In recent years, the mosquitoes have become extremely bad in our area. We used to sit outside in summer but now we can barely sit outside without being eaten alive. So, right now (April and May) is the only time of the year when the weather is warm enough but the mosquitoes are not out yet. We decided to do "Yakitori" 焼き鳥  this weekend on our deck. The chicken liver we got this time must not have been handled well and many pieces were all fragemtned and not suitable for "Yakitori". Although I could have made chopped liver, that could have caused some ethnic confusion. So, I decided to make this dish from the fragmented parts and we had it as the first dish before "Yakitori". I think this dish is appropriate for any Izakayas

After cleaning and washing the liver well, I soaked it in ice cold water for 10 - 15 minutes. After draining, I soaked the liver in sake (I use "Gekeikkan" 月桂冠 brewed in California for cooking) for 20 minutes or so to remove any unpleasant smell. I drained and put the livers on a paper towel to remove any excess moisture. The fragmented portions of the liver I got from one container of chicken livers were about 1/2 lb after this preparation. Besides the chicken liver, I used coarsely chooped onion (two small), finely chopped ginger and garlic (1 tsp each), garlic chives "nira" 韮 (about 1/4 cup chopped, from our garden).  I put penut oil (1 tbs) with a splash of dark sesame oil in a non-stick frying pan and put it on a medium high flame and added the onions and sautéed for 5 minutes until it becam soft and edges browned. I then added the garlic chives, garlic, and ginger and sautéed another 2-3 minutes and set aside. I cleaned the pan with a paper towel and added another tbs of penuts oil and put it on a medium high flame. When the oil was hot and shimmering, I added all the liver pieces and sauteed until the surface changed color (2-3 minutes). I like this portion of cooking to occur at rather high heat so that the juices will not come out. I added the sauteed vegetables back into the pan and added 2 tbs of mirin, 2 tbs of soy sauce and 2 tbs of sake. I stirred and flipped until the liquid reduces to 1/3 and became somewhat viscous. I could have added corn starch slurries here but I did not. After I put it in a serving bowl, I added cracked white pepper and thinly sliced scallion as a garnish. It is sort of onion and liver in a Japanese style. I did not follow any recipe but this flavor combination appears very common among Japanese dishes. This is a very good dish. 

We enjoyed it with a glass of a rather rustic turbid sake or "nigori sake" 濁り酒 from Kyoto Kizakura brewery 京都黄桜 "snow maiden" "Tozai Yuki musume" 東西雪娘 . Perfect pairing! It has tropical fruit on the palate with a slight sweetness but very straight forward sake. We continued with "Yakitori" with this sake. This rather simple but rustic sake is very enjoyable with down-to-earth dishes like Yakitori. The only strange thing about this sake is that it came in a pastel "pink" bottle and the label said it was named after a 226 year old carp (yes, a carp, see in the picutre) named "Hanako" meaning "flower child" (Although "Hanako" 花子 is a generic female Japanese name--you'll never meet a woman named "Hanako" much like you never meet a dog named pooch or rover--No direct comparison or offense meant or implied here. The person who came up with this name may have been at Woodstock). I am sure this is another one of those "bottled for export only" items. I wish the color of the bottle wasn't quite so pink and it was named after something more along the lines of Yeti or "Yuki otoko" 雪男.

Yakitori de le Canard 鴨ささみで焼き鳥

Last time we had duck tenders as a cutlet, we said we will make Yakitori using the duck tenders (a.k.a. “Yakitori de le canard” 鴨焼き鳥). Finally we managed to do it. I thought about how to prepare it and decided to marinate it and then cook it in the toaster oven. Since it is duck, and Japanese generally think “kamo” or duck goes well with “negi” or onion more precisely Japanese “tokyo” scallion I also served grilled onion. (digression alert *). Since we recently got some really good green beans (which doesn’t happen all that  often), I also added blanched green beans on the side. The combination worked well and “Yakitori de le canard” was a great success (Picture #1).

* The Japanese expression is “鴨がネギを背負ってくる” meaning “duck flies in with onion on its back”. This expression is used when something fortuitous happens in your favor with little or no effort on your part. Or (if you are a conman) it refers to the perfect victim coming to you with money outstretched in their hand.

Ingredients (2 small serving of 4 duck tenders per serving)
8 Duck tenders
One medium onion cut into small wedges
2 tbs Ponzu soy sauce (from the bottle or equal mixture of citrus juice and soy sauce)
2 tbs sake

Directions:
Mix the sake and ponzu in a ziploc bag, place the duck tenders inside and remove as much air as possible and let it marinate overnight in the refridgerator.
Drain the marinade and pat the surface of the tenders dry
Skewer the tenders using a bamboo skewer (picture #2)
Skewer the onion wedges (picture #2)

Line the toaster oven tray with an aluminum sheet. Place the tenders and onion on a metal grate over the sheet and broil the duck tenders and onion 5-7 minutes per-side turning once until done (picture #3).

This was a good “yakitori”. The marinade (sake and ponzu) made the duck meat very tender and flavorful. I may have over cooked it a bit and the meat was lightly dry. the sweet onion went well with the duck. Next time, I can skip the skewering and  cook it in a frying pan.

Yakitori 焼き鳥 Part 3

Chicken Skin 雛皮

We love cripsy skin of any kind very much. This is a common yakitori item made of just chicken skin.  But to make it all nicely crunchy without causing flared up when it cooks, which gives it a gasoline-taste,   requires some preparaion. You can use any part of the skin but I usually use the thigh part. To remove any strong smell and to render out some of the excess fat, the skin is placed in salted boiling water with some sake. (Although I have not tried, some people use roasted brown tea or "bancha" 番茶 for this.) I boil the skin a good 5-7 minutes until I see fat floating on the surface. Wash the skin in cold water and pat dry. Next question is how to skewer the pieces. Most yakitori-ya, apear to make multiple folds or make a stack of small square pieces of skin on skewers but, for us, this does not work well since the skin does not get crunchy throughout. Instead the edges of the squares or tops of the folds get too singed and the insides of the folds are soft. You see how we did it in the pictures. You need to avoid flare-ups while grilling by moving them to colder areas of the grill.

Chicken liver 肝 きも

Chicken liver is our (especially my wife's), favorite. Again, it requires some prepping and this is my version. Fortunately, chicken liver is very cheap and comes in plastic tubs at most grocery stores near us. But unfortunately, you need to carefully sort out the fragmented and blemished parts and remove any fat, vessels, connective tissue attached to it. Then soak it in ice water for 10-15 minutes. I then use a marinade consisting of equal parts mirin plus sake and soy sauce with grated ginger root (sort of teriyaki marinade but not very sweet). I marinade the liver for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. When skewering the liver paying attention to some details can help. As you can see in this picture, either I use metal yakitori skewers with flat surface (4 sewers on left) or use two bamboo skewers (two on right) to prevent the liver from rotating when it is turned. I spray the metal grills with a non-stick spray (I use a Weber brand which works best). Attention to these details will result in a lovely textured chicken liver--nice grilled surface with a creamy center, and lots of flavor. We should have some more discussion regarding sake and wine later but the liver goes extremely well with red wine. This evening, we had Syrah from Languedoc, Domaine Famille Ligneres Montagne d'Alaric "Notre Dame" 2004, before switching to sake.

Beef "Yakitori" 牛肉ステーキの焼き鳥

Spring is the best season in the Washington DC area. In addition to all the beautiful flowers and cool sunny weather there are no mosquitoes. This enables us to have a barbecue outside without become a meal ourselves for these pesky insects. During this mosquito free interlude we really enjoy sitting outside and doing “Yakitori” style cooking. This is one such occasion. We did not plan to do Yakitori but it was such a nice sunny day and when we checked the fridge we saw we had some ingredients that could be grilled so we did it on a whim. Instead of the usual chicken or pork, we grilled New York strip steak and also cooked mushrooms two ways.
We have this yakitori grill from Japan which was purchased from a New York company “Korin 光琳.  Given the ingredients I had, I knew I would not be grilling for a long time so I put just enough lump charcoal in the chimney starter to cover the bottom 1/3 of the grill (below left). Since it is still early spring, it gets a bit chilly when the sun goes down, so we wheeled out the infra-red outside heater which was very effective in keeping us warm and providing a golden ambient light while we cooked (below right).

Rather than grilling steak in usual way i.e. as one big piece, I trimmed the fat cap and cut it into cubes and skewered them (below, left). I seasoned it with salt and pepper. This was one American size serving of New York strip steak but perfect for two of us.

I also had a box of assorted shimeji (both white and brown) as well as Royal trumpet mushrooms). I cooked the shimeji mushroom with miso and butter with the addition of sliced onion in an aluminum foil pouch as before (below right).

I just tore the trumpet mushroom in half lengthwise, coated with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and put on a skewer. I grilled the pouch of mushrooms in miso, steak cubes, and royal trumpet mushrooms. As you can see all the trees were pushing new-growth leaves (below, right upper).

Once the beef, royal trumpet mushrooms (above, left) and shimeji with miso and butter in a packet (above, right) were done all I needed to do was to make grilled rice balls (below). I used the leftover miso sauce on the bottom of the mushroom packet which worked very well. As I mentioned before, this is the best way to make the perfect grilled rice ball. All the surfaces had a nice savory crust. This can only be accomplished by slow patient cooking on a hot charcoal fire.

Japanese often grill beef in small pieces such as in “Yakiniku” 焼肉 or “Dice” steak or “Saikoro steak” さいころステーキ in which cubes of steak are grilled. What I made is a sort of hybrid between them. The cubes increase the ratio of caramelized surface crust to tender meat inside. I think this gives the meat more flavor and dimension than when it is cooked as one large piece. The cubes were small enough that we (at least I)  could use only chop sticks to eat them. Although this was US prime not “Wagyu”, this was quite good.

Braised chicken liver with garlic chive 鶏レバーとニラの炒め物

Weather in the DC area has been heavenly the past week and, for the first time this year, we had Yakitori 焼き鳥 outside. We did our usual chicken wings, pork with onion, and chicken livers. We also grilled fingerling potatoes and yaki onigiri 焼おにぎり (grilled rice balls). Since our usual grocery store did not have any fresh chicken livers, I went to another gourmet grocery store and got a container of frozen chicken livers. The livers were whole and less damaged or fragmented than the ones from our regular grocery store. In any case, we did not grill all the chicken livers for yakitori so I made this dish since we also had spring garlic chives in our herb garden.

Despite the very generous amount of fresh garlic chive I used, the garlic chive flavor was not as strong as I would have thought it should be.

I did not use any particular recipe, just "winged" it.

Ingredients:

Chicken liver, frozen thawed, washed and soaked in water, cut into bite sized pieces (1 container - about 1 lb minus the two skewers of liver I used for Yakitori).

Garlic, 3 small cloves, finely chopped 

Garlic chive, cut into 1 inch lengths (Picture below)

Sake

Mirin

Soy sauce

Black pepper, freshly ground

Directions:

The chicken livers were a bit bloody after thawing but all the livers were intact and in much better shape than the usual chicken livers we get. I cut the livers into bite sized pieces and soaked them in cold filtered water changing the water several times. I blotted off the moisture with sheets of paper towel and seasoned the livers with salt and black pepper. In a frying on medium flame, I put in vegetable oil. Once the oil heated, I placed the liver in the pan and turned it several times until all the sides changed color. Then I added the garlic. After several minutes of stirring, I added sake (1 tbs) and put on the lid to steam (below). After a minutes or so, I removed the lid and turned up the flame and let the liquid evaporate.  

I added the garlic chive and stirred for few minutes.

I added mirin and soy sauce and further reduced the liquid while shaking the pan.

Once the liquid reduced just coating the liver, I cut the heat and seasoned further with freshly ground black pepper. I tasted it and decided I did not need to adjust the seasoning.

For the libation, we chose Joseph Phelps Pino Noir,  Freestone Vineyard, 2013. Since we are a member of the wine club, we just received this Pinot from them. I thought this could go well with this dish. This pinot predominantly tasted of red fruits (cherry, raspberry and also a hint of strawberry) upfront and showed an almost effervescent acidity with some spice elements. This went well with slightly "iron-ny" liver with sweet /salty and peppery savory seasoning.

The only disappointment I had with this dish was that the garlic chive flavor did not come through much at all. Maybe, I have to add more garlic chive just before cutting the flame. For that matter, I did not taste garlic that much either. We thought this frozen liver was quite good and even better than the "fresh" liver we get from our regular grocery store which appears to be roughly handled resulting in many fragmented pieces. This dish is similar to one I posted before with onion and garlic. We like both.

Japanese winter stew おでん

"Oden" おでん is classic Izakaya food. Yakitori 焼き鳥 and oden are the two main pillars of drinking food in Japan.  Although any given Izakaya may serve up oden and/or yakitori among other items,  there are drinking places specialized just in "oden" or "yakitori".  Often I used to go to a drinking place that specialized in oden, "oden-ya" おでん屋, in Sapporo, called "Katsu-ya" かつや.  The original and name-sake proprietor has passed away, and it has moved from a quaint blind alley off the Oodouri 大通 to the basement floor of a building near Sapporo train station. One of her daughters has taken over the business. It appears that the quality of the oden and atmosphere are unchanged. It is still a very cosy welcoming place and always very crowded with salary men on the way home. I found the image of inside Katsuya on the Internet in one of the blogs (hope the author will not mind my using his picture here). Once, my wife and I visited Katsuya in this new location long time ago when we visited Sapporo. This picture really brings back memories.

"Oden" was said to be derived from "dengaku" 田楽 which I posted before. Dengaku is skewered squares of tofu, konnyaku and vegetables grilled and then eaten with miso-based sauce. Later, after the invention of soy sauce, instead of grilling, skewered items are cooked in a soy sauce flavored broth. Eventually, it lost even the skewers (some oden items, such as meatballs-- two or three skewered together, still keep their skewers). There are many variations including regional differences in oden. My oden is definitely influenced by the types of oden Katsuya served. In commercial establishments like Katsuya, they have a large stainless steel vats with multiple segments so that different items will not mix and cook properly as seen above, but at home, it is most common to use a large donabe 土鍋 or earthen pot like the one I used (below). You could use any pot with a wide opening. You could place a portable cooker on the table, place the pot on the cooker and let diners serve themselves. I ususally cook oden on the stove and serve whichever items I like on a plate returning frequently for a subsequent selection of different items. One of the reasons for this is that we rarely sit at the table to eat. I cut some of the items such as eggs and "Kinchaku" (see below) using a pair of kitchen scissors to make it easier to eat with chopsticks.

I usually prepare oden in the order below at least several hours before serving.

Broth: I used a piece of kelp (2x8 inches) which was first soaked in water for 30-40 minutes or longer (4 cups or about 1 liter) or whatever amount is appropriate for your vessel. I then put the pot on a medium low flame. When it comes to a boil, I reduce the flame to very low and add dried bonito flakes or "Kezuri (katsuo)bushi" 削り(鰹)節. I use a special large teabag-like bag called "Dashi bukuro" だし袋 in which the bonito flakes are placed and the opening sealed (about 20 grams). This is just for convenience so that I do not have to filter the broth later (I usually take out the bag with bonito flakes when the vegetables are all cooked). You could just put the bonito flakes in the pot and simmer for 10-20 minutes and then strain using a fine mesh strainer. You could also set aside a portion of unseasoned broth just in case the broth get too salty.

Daikon 大根: Daikon is a must in any oden and requires some preparation. I peel the skin and cut the peeled diakon into 1 to 1.5 inch thick rounds and bevel the sharp edges, mentori 面取り. I pre-cook the daikon in a separate pot with enough water to cover the daikon and one pinch of raw rice grains for 20-30 minutes and then transfer to the oden pot.

Carrot and potato: These items may not be most common items in oden but "Katsu-ya" served them and we like them very much. Just peel and cut into the size you like (not too small) and bevel the sharp edges and place it in the oden pot.

Boiled eggs: This is also the must-have item. I just boil eggs for 10 minutes, peel and place them in the oden pot.

Konnyaku コンニャク: It does not have much taste on its own and it is mostly for texture.  most of Westerners will not appreciate this item but it is nonetheless a classic oden item. I make multiple shallow crosshatch cuts on both sides so that the broth will penetrate better. I then cut it into bite sized pieces (I cut this into a triangle which is traditional) then, par-boil it in plenty of water for one or two minutes. I drain the konnyaku and then place it in the oden pot.

Seasoning: At this point, I  season the broth. I use soy sauce, mirin, sake and salt (I use salt to prevent the broth from becoming too dark which would happen if I added too much soy sauce to get the desired saltiness especially because I usually use a reduced salt soy sauce. Alternatively, you could use "light colored" soy sauce or "usukuchi shouyu" 薄口醤油. You may even like a dark broth, in that case, just use soy sauce. I cannot give you an exact amount but I will err on the side of under seasoning and go light on mirin (Vegetables add some pleasant natural sweetness). You can always adjust the seasoning later.

Now, I put on the lid and let it simmer about 1 hour. It really should not boil at any time. After the vegetables are cooked and soft, I add more items listed below which do not require long cooking. If they were frozen, thaw first and the items which have been previously deep fried should be treated by pouring hot water over them in a colander (called "abura-nuki" 油抜き) to remove any excess oil and off flavor before adding to the pot.

Chikuwa 竹輪: Cylinder-shaped fish cake (ground white fish meat with some binder and seasoning is boiled and lightly grilled and is sold frozen here in the U.S.) with a hole in the center shaped like a bamboo. Cut diagonally in the center (in the picture above it is shown in the center of the pot above the Daikon.  In the picture below it is shown on the lower right).

Ganmodoki がんもどき: Deep fried oval patty made of tofu, egg white, black sesame seeds and other shredded vegetables (tan oval item with black specs -sesame seeds- in the picture below). Often, this is shortened as "ganmo".

Mochi in fried tofu pouch or mochi kinchaku 餅巾着: "Kinchaku" is a transitional Japanese purse. If you stuff anything in a tofu pouch or "Abura-age" 油揚げ, it is called "Kinchaku". Mochi 餅 is a rice cake made of pounded cooked rice.  I cut one end of a small rectangular abura-age and place mochi inside and close the pouch with tooth picks (This pouch is shown between the eggs and kelp in the picture above). This is the same type of preparation I do for the new year soup. (If you are an oden officinado, you would order this item using its short form name "mochikin"). After 5-10 minutes, the mochi will become soft and sticky but contained in the tofu pouch it is easier to eat. (They are seen in the picture above between eggs and kelp.)

Tied kelp 結び昆布: I happend to find this kelp preparation in a bag (cut in small size, tied in knots, steamed and dried) called "Musubi Konbu" or tied kelp at a Japanse grocery store. I put them in the pot after hydrating for 15 minutes. It does not taste that good and disintegrated after some time so this is the first and will be the last time I use this.

In the above picture, the dark triangles are konnyuku, tan oval ones with black specks (sesame seeds) are ganmodoki and tubes on the right are chikuwa. In the back, you see potato, kelp,  and carrot.

Just 10 minutes before serving, I add large cubes of tofu. Tofu should just be warmed through.  As seen in the above picture, I garnish the tofu with chopped chives (or scallion). the daikon here is very soft and you can cut it with just chopsticks. The yellow stuff at the far right corner is Japanse mustard which is very hot but a necessary condiment for oden.

Eggs are wonderful especially the egg yolks mixed into some of the broth and mustard. In the above picture, on the right is "mochi kinchaku", which is cut and showing the mochi inside. Between the eggs is chikuwa and the center front is potato.

This is a perfect dish for cold winter days with sake. Warmed sake is the classic accompaniment but we like cold sake even with oden. Depending on what you like, you could use many other items in oden such as tough sinewy parts of beef, "Gyu-suji" 牛筋 cooked for long time, octopus leg "Tako" 鮹 (these are Kansai 関西 or West of Japan items), thick Japanese omelets with crab meat ("Kanitama" かに玉), many other types of fishcakes especailly white soft square ones called "Hanpen" はんぺん, and satsuma-age 薩摩揚げ. A bit unusual are "tara no shirako" タラの白子, which is the sperm sac of cod fish (It does not sound appetizing but it does taste very good), a Japanese style stuffed cabbage ロールキャベツ, a type of small conch or sea snail called "Tsubu" つぶ and so on. We really like oden but only problem for us is that there are so many goodies in one pot and it fill us up too quickly.

Yaktori-style grilling 焼き鳥風グリル

For one reason or another, we have not had a chance to grill outside in Yakitori-style for a long time. Since it was warm, mosquitos were not out (yet), and we regained access to our Yakitori grill, we decided to do an impromptu Yakitori-style grill.  Since we did not have much time for preparation, I made a simple grill including;

1. Chicken wings and drumetts (marinated in sake, mirin, salt, and Sriracha hot sauce for several hours but I should have just grilled with salt and pepper)

2. Chicken tenders (marinated in sake and salt. After it was almost cooked, I smeared miso sauce - mixture of miso and mirin - and finished cooking).

3. Vegetable: small red potatoes (microwaved and then cut in half, coated with olive oil and salted), Royal trumpet mushrooms (torn lengthwise into 2 to 4 pieces depending on the size and seasoned with soy sauce, sake, mirin and coated with olive oil), and asparagus (coated with olive oil and seasoned with salt and black pepper). We also had shimeji mushrooms in a packet (a pat of butter, miso disolved in sake and mirin with an addition of sugar).

Here, from the left are two shimeji packets, red potatoes, wings, and tender.

The shimeji was very good with miso and butter flavors (below). As I mentioned before, a similar dish made of enoki mushroom was the dish we enjoyed at the Robatayaki restaurant  in San Francisco Japan town in our earlier days.

My wife was mashing up the grilled potatoes in this sauce (She even raided my packet since I had some sauce left). The royal trumpet mushroom had a nice firm meaty texture. The chicken parts were all good as expected, although the surface was a bit charred due to the sugar content of the marinade. After finishing the chicken and the vegetables, I also started grilling our perfect grilled rice balls as you can see in the first picture below. 

My wife disappeared and brought down some sliced Fuji apples and red seedless grapes on skewers. She suggested I grill them as a dessert (see the picture above). She also suggested that I smear the miso sauce I had used for the chicken tenders and the rice balls on the apples. I have heard of grilling peaches and pineapples but no apples and grapes. (Leave it to my wife to come up with out-of-the-box (grill??) ideas).

This picture shows a plate of our dessert. The apples were still firm and juicy inside but the surface was caramelized and sweet. The miso added a nutty and slighly salty flavor that was unusual but quite nice. The grilled grapes were new to me. I fully expected them to explode when they were over the fire, but they didn't. Again, the surface got slightly caramelized and the sweetness was enhanced. They went extremely well with the red wine we were drinking. We, as always, enjoyed eating al fresco.