Japanese

Teriyaki Sauce and Glazes

Teriyaki sauce — soy, mirin, sake, and sometimes sugar — is the basis for the glazed grilling preparation already covered in TJ-08, but merits separate entry as a prepared sauce used across multiple applications. The ratio and preparation method determine whether the result is a light basting glaze, a thick coating sauce, or a table condiment. [VERIFY] Tsuji's specific teriyaki sauce ratios and applications.

ServesFour portions

Sourced1of 4 in BC

Cook

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

4 parts (e.g. 80 ml)

Soy sauce

Purely Artisan Foods · San Diego →

3 parts (e.g. 60 ml)

Mirin

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

2 parts (e.g. 40 ml)

Sake

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

Sugar

optional; omit when heat cannot be precisely controlled

Your own market

Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.

The Method

Combine soy sauce, mirin, and sake in a small saucepan in the ratio 4 : 3 : 2. If sugar is used, add it now. Stir briefly over low heat until any sugar dissolves — the liquid should be uniform in colour with no granules visible at the base of the pan.

Raise the heat to a moderate simmer. For a basting glaze or coating sauce, reduce the liquid until it thickens to a syrup consistency: a spoon drawn across the surface leaves a brief trail before the sauce closes over it. For a marinade or table condiment, remove from heat before reduction begins and allow to cool. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies — reduction beyond syrup produces a sauce that scorches on contact with the grill, while insufficient reduction yields a glaze too thin to adhere.

Where sugar has been included, monitor closely throughout reduction: caramelisation begins rapidly and the sauce can cross from glossy to bitter without warning. Mirin alone carries sufficient natural sugars; when precise heat control is not available, omit added sugar entirely. The finished sauce should coat the back of a spoon with a clean, even film.

For the basting application, allow the reduced sauce to cool slightly before the first brush coat is applied to the protein; successive coats build the characteristic lacquered surface. For table use, decant into a small vessel and serve at room temperature. The sauce prepared in advance and stored will thicken further on standing.

III

Quality Hierarchy

Reserve — Aged tamari-style soy of single-origin provenance; hon-mirin (true mirin, fermented from glutinous rice and shochu) aged a minimum of two months; a named junmai sake used also at table.

Estate — A quality koikuchi soy sauce; commercially available hon-mirin; a sound junmai or junmai ginjo sake.

Market — Standard koikuchi soy sauce widely available in the market; aji-mirin (seasoned mirin-style condiment); an inexpensive cooking sake labelled ryorishu.

House — Any commercially available soy sauce; mirin-style seasoning; dry sherry or vermouth standing in for sake where no Japanese rice wine is at hand — results will diverge from the classic profile.

Sensory Tests

◇Sight. The liquid surface shifts from a flat, watery sheen to a slow-moving gloss as reduction proceeds.

◇Sight. A spoon drawn across the surface of the reducing sauce leaves a brief, clean trail — the mark of syrup consistency reached.

◇Smell. A sharp alcoholic note from the sake dissipates early; what remains should be a warm, rounded sweetness — any acrid or burnt edge signals the sauce has reduced too far.

◇Touch. A small amount of the reduced sauce pressed between thumb and forefinger pulls away in a short, fine thread — confirming the glaze will adhere to the protein surface.

◇Where it lives or dies. The sauce must reach syrup consistency without crossing into scorched bitterness — reduction is the single point at which the glaze either adheres and caramelises correctly or is irretrievably lost.

V · Cross-Cuisine Parallels

The lacquered reduction shares structural logic with the Chinese hong shao (red-braising) glaze — soy, Shaoxing wine, and rock sugar reduced to a coating consistency over slow heat (TJ-08 thread). The basting-and-reducing method corresponds to the Korean bulgogi marinade applied as a finish glaze, where soy, sesame oil, and sweetener are reduced over charcoal in the closing moments of cooking (TJ-08 thread).

Pillar V

Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.

The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.

Enter · from $49 a year

What to Pour

The pairing

Nikka From The Barrel

Nikka Whisky — Miyagikyo Distillery · Miyagikyo — Nikka Distillery

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

Whisky

From British Columbia

Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.

Without alcohol

No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.

Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →

The whole pairing

VII · Origin & Lineage

Teriyaki — from teri (lustre) and yaki (grilled or broiled) — is a preparation documented in the Japanese culinary tradition as a method of building a successive glaze on protein over direct heat. The sauce of soy, mirin, and sake represents the canonical three-element base from which regional and domestic variations depart, most commonly by the addition of sugar. Tsuji's entry treats the sauce separately from the grilling technique, noting its range of applications from light marinade to thick coating condiment, with the ratio 4 : 3 : 2 (soy : mirin : sake) as the governing proportion. [VERIFY per source note in entry.]

Pillar VII

Origin and lineage are part of membership.

Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.

Enter · from $49 a year

Sourced through Provenance

The hands behind the plate.

Purely Artisan Foods

San Diego · Soy sauce

→