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1
To prepare the tukedare, combine the soy sauce, sake, water, ginger juice, sesame oil, lemon juice, kombu, and sugar in a saucepot over high heat.
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2
Stir until the sugar dissolves.
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3
Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat and simmer until the kombu becomes soft, about 20 minutes.
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4
Strain the sauce into a narrow container and mix in the ichimi togarashi.
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5
Set aside.
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6
To prepare the yakitori, remove the wings from the chicken.
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Butterfly the middle piece (which has 2 bones), keeping the bone and skin.
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8
Thread 2 skewers through both pieces to hold them together, with the skin side down.
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Set aside.
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10
Next, remove the skin from the remaining chicken and set aside.
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11
Remove the bones from the chicken breast, legs, and thighs and cut the meat into 1-inch cubes.
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Now youre ready to skewer.
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13
The trick here is to alternate different combinations of meat and vegetableshave fun with it!
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14
To start, thread 3 pieces of dark meat onto a skewer, alternating with some onion and shiitake mushrooms.
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Be sure to leave at least 1 inch of the skewer uncovered.
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Now repeat with the chicken breast cubes, this time alternately skewering with scallions and shiitake mushrooms.
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Next, try a combination with bell peppers.
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Repeat until all the skewers are prepared.
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19
Finally, dont forget to skewer the chicken skin and chicken liver, both traditional delicacies in Japan.
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20
But with these two, do not add any vegetables (so the skin and liver can cook uniformly).
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21
Heat a barbecue grill or stove-top grill pan over medium heat.
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22
Set several skewers of chicken and vegetables and the skin on the grill so the uncovered parts of the skewers hang over the edge.
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Flip the yakitori after 2 minutes, then cook 1 minute longer on the other side to sear evenly.
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24
Remove and dip the yakitori into tukedare to lightly coat (you can also use a pastry brush for this step).
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25
Now youre ready to slowly caramelize the sauce and cook the chicken, using the following technique: Return the skewers to the grill and cook for 1 minute.
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26
Remove and again dip into the tukedare.
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Return to the grill, turning the skewer to cook the other side for another minute.
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Repeat these steps until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is caramelized, 8 to 10 minutes.
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29
Remember to grill over lower heat than we typically use to barbecue in America, and grill patiently and slowly.
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30
Youll turn and dip the skewers at least four times.
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31
Lightly salt the reserved chicken wings and liver pieces and follow the slow turning technique described abovebut do not dip them into the tukedare.
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32
In Japan, yakitori wings are traditionally grilled only with a salt coating, not with sauce.
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33
Line up the grilled yakitori on a platter and serve.
