Yakitori — skewered chicken grilled over binchotan (Japanese white charcoal) and basted repeatedly with tare (a sweet soy glaze) — achieves its characteristic lacquered, slightly sticky, deeply flavoured exterior through multiple baste-and-grill cycles. The tare builds up in layers on the chicken's surface with each successive application; the sugar caramelises with each pass over the coals. A professional yakitori counter applies the tare 6–8 times during cooking.
- **Binchotan (white charcoal):** Produced from ubame oak (Quercus phillyraeoides), burned at 1,000°C+ to produce a charcoal that is nearly pure carbon. It burns hotter, more evenly, and much longer than regular charcoal, and produces almost no smoke — allowing the chicken's own rendered fat and the caramelising tare to be the dominant aromas. - **The tare:** A master sauce of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar — reduced to a glossy, thick coating consistency. Like the Chinese master sauce (CC-02), the tare improves over time as successive chicken additions leave protein and flavour compounds. [VERIFY] Tsuji's tare recipe. - **Momo (thigh):** The quintessential yakitori cut — the thigh's fat content and texture provide the best result. Breast dries; liver requires very brief, specific timing. - **The skewering:** Two skewers per piece for control during grilling — a single skewer allows the piece to spin. - **The baste cycle:** The tare is applied with a brush; each application is allowed to caramelise briefly before the next. Too many applications too quickly and the tare pools and burns rather than caramelising evenly. Decisive moment: The first caramelisation of the tare — approximately the third application. Before this point, the tare is simply a glaze; after the third application at correct temperature, it begins to build the characteristic lacquered crust.
Tsuji