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1
Rest all meat cuts at room temperature for 10–15 minutes before the meal begins. Prepare the grill — binchotan charcoal is preferred; bring it to full ash-grey ignition with no visible black. The grill surface must be clean and hot before any meat is placed. At serious yakiniku-ya the grate is changed every 15–20 minutes; replicate this discipline at home by scraping and wiping the grate between courses. The grill is ready when a drop of water placed on the surface evaporates instantly on contact.
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2
Open with tan-shio. Lay the 1.5 mm tongue slices onto the hot grate without crowding — no more than one layer, never pressing the meat down. Season with fine sea salt. Wait until the outer edge of each slice shows a 2 mm band of grey cooked meat, then flip once. Total contact time is brief; the tongue is done when both faces show uniform light colour and the slice has contracted slightly at the edges. Finish with a few drops of sesame oil and serve immediately with lemon wedges. This course sets the palate before heavier marinated cuts follow.
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3
Proceed to tare-marinated cuts — short rib or pork belly that has rested in house tare for 30 minutes. Place slices on the grate without overlapping. The pre-applied tare will caramelise against the grill; watch for the surface to turn deep mahogany and for the fat edges to render and blister. Flip once only when the 2 mm grey band appears at the outer edge. The caramelised tare should be fragrant and slightly crisped, not burnt. Dip additional tare at the table if desired.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies: the grilling of kotteri small intestine. Each cleaned 4 cm cylinder is folded into a tight form and placed fold-side-down on the grate. The fat packed into the intestine's interior must render outward through the fold — this is the mechanism of the dish. The grill will flare dramatically as fat hits the charcoal. Maintain composure: do not move the pieces, do not press them. After 60–90 seconds, the fold-side exterior will be char-crisped and the visible surface will have puffed. Flip once. A further 60–90 seconds produces an exterior that is charred and crackling while the interior remains unctuous and yielding. Remove immediately at this point — any further time on the grill produces a chewy, dried result that cannot be recovered.
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5
Interleave vegetables between meat courses to cleanse the grill and the palate. Shishito peppers are placed whole on the grate; they are done when the skin blisters and collapses at the sides and a faint char appears at the tip. Onion rounds are grilled until translucent and lightly charred at the edges.
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6
Conclude the meat sequence with A5 wagyu or zabuton. These cuts require minimal contact: 20 seconds per side maximum. The fat in high-marbled wagyu renders almost instantly at grill temperature. The slice is ready to flip when the lower face has changed colour at the very edge; the finished piece should glisten with rendered intramuscular fat and show light char marks, not full browning across the surface. Dip briefly in tare or consume with fine salt only.
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7
Close the meal with steamed short-grain rice and clear consommé or doenjang jjigae. This finishing starch-and-soup course is essential to the structure of the meal — it cleanses the palate of smoke, fat, and tare and provides the closure that yakiniku is designed to end with.