Shoyu: The Seasoning Essential
Japanese cooks do not often marinate foods before grilling them. But they do baste foods on the grill to enhance their flavor and give them luster, and they serve some grilled foods with light and simple dipping sauces. Shoyu, or soy sauce, is the foundation of almost all of these basting mixtures and dips.
Based on fermented soybeans, soy sauce adds saltiness, color and a deep savoriness to grilled foods. Even in a Western kitchen, a splash of soy sauce in a barbecue marinade or glaze can add depth without imparting an Asian accent.
Let's look more closely at one of the most popular Japanese grilled dishes: yakitori, or grilled skewered chicken. In Japan, some restaurants specialize in yakitori only. For busy office workers, street vendors peddle the sizzling skewers prepared on long, narrow braziers. Leg or thigh meat is preferred for yakitori because it is fattier and likely to stay moist, while grilled breast meat easily becomes dry. However, yakitori restaurants will also offer skewered chicken livers, chicken meat balls, chicken skin, chicken gizzards and chicken wings, all basted with mouthwatering yakitori sauce.
This thick, dark, sweet sauce is made with dark soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and sometimes tamari, in proportions according to taste. According to Shizuo Tsuji, author of the classic Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art (Kodansha International), some restaurants keep the same yakitori sauce going for years, adding fresh ingredients to it as the volume diminishes. The sauce becomes more flavorful over time because the Japanese method is to dip the partially-cooked grilled chicken into the sauce rather than to baste the skewers on the grill. "The hot juices from the grilling chicken add a flavor background to the original sauce mixture," writes Tsuji. Of course, this means that the sauce must be reboiled and strained after every use to keep it safe.
To make Tsuji's quick yakitori sauce: Combine and bring to a boil 3/4 cup dark soy sauce, 7 tablespoons sake, 3 tablespoons mirin and 2 tablespoons sugar. Discard after using; do not reuse.