Individual pieces of chicken — various cuts and offal — threaded onto bamboo skewers and grilled over binchōtan charcoal, basted repeatedly with a reduced soy-mirin-sake tare that builds a lacquered, caramelised coating through successive basting applications. Yakitori is Japan's primary charcoal-grilled preparation — and the specific use of binchōtan (a traditional Japanese white charcoal of remarkable heat density and minimal smoke) is as important to its character as any ingredient. The sequential basting — 8–12 applications of tare over the course of a 5–7 minute grill — builds the characteristic multi-layer, glossy yakitori crust one thin layer at a time.
**The cuts:** Yakitori celebrates every part of the chicken — each cut served separately as a distinct preparation: - Momo (thigh): the most popular cut, balanced fat and lean. - Negima (thigh with spring onion): alternating pieces of thigh and spring onion on the skewer. - Tebasaki (wing): crispy, collagen-rich. - Nankotsu (cartilage): crisp, requiring longer grilling. - Sunagimo (gizzard): firm, slightly gamey, requires careful cleaning. - Reba (liver): must be cooked to just-done (pink interior acceptable) — overcooking makes it grainy and dry. - Hatsu (heart): small, dense, rich. - Tsukune (chicken meatball): minced chicken formed around the skewer. **The tare (yakitori tare):** - Soy sauce: 200ml. - Mirin: 200ml. - Sake: 100ml. - Sugar: 2 tablespoons. Reduce by 30% over low heat, stirring. Cool. The tare should coat the back of a spoon thinly — not too thick (burns rapidly) and not too thin (no lacquering effect). Stores refrigerated for months; improves with age and re-use. **Binchōtan:** White charcoal made from ubame oak (Cyclobalanopsis myrsinifolia) through a traditional production process that produces a nearly smokeless charcoal that burns at higher temperatures (600–1,000°C at the surface) and for longer (4–6 hours) than standard charcoal. Its near-smokelessness means the grilled food acquires no smoky note from the charcoal — the flavour comes entirely from the ingredient and the tare. **The basting technique:** 1. Place the skewered chicken over the hot binchōtan. 2. After 90 seconds, turn. 3. Apply the first layer of tare with a pastry brush. The tare hits the hot surface and immediately sizzles and begins to caramelise. 4. Turn, apply tare to the other side. 5. Continue this turn-and-baste cycle for 5–7 minutes total. 6. Each basting application builds a thin caramelised layer. 8–12 applications produce a multi-layered, deeply lacquered crust. Decisive moment: The first baste — applied when the chicken surface has developed some initial Maillard colour and the surface proteins have set enough to hold the tare. Applying tare to raw, cold chicken: the tare runs off. Applied to a surface that has 90 seconds of charcoal heat: it adheres and begins to caramelise immediately.
Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat, *Japanese Soul Food* (2013)