Original Teriyaki

Okay, time for teriyaki, but I mean the real thing, not the ho-hum dish we typically see here in America, the one with a gummy, starch-thickened sauce that drowns chicken or fish. The "teri" in teriyaki means "glossy," and that's the secret of this thing -- you coat an ingredient with a light, thin glaze to give it incredible sweet-savory flavor and a lovely, shiny sheen. Wonderful. The sugar and mirin in the sauce, by the way, are what create that gloss. Teriyaki is a delicious method for preparing chicken, fish or beef; fast and easy, too. (Yep, great for family cooking!) Start by preparing a teriyaki sauce, which you can make ahead of time and keep in the fridge for at least a month. (I bumped into Hiroko of Sakaya in the subway this morning and she reminded me that the teriyaki sauce flavors mingle and improve over time, too -- thanks, neighbor!) Then choose your main ingredient: boneless chicken leg, chicken breast, salmon fillet or steak, swordfish, mahi mahi, beef steak or even artichoke hearts.

The way to cook teriyaki is first to brown your ingredient on both sides in a hot skillet, then brush on the glaze, flipping and brushing on more glaze as you cook, until the ingredient is done. You can easily cook teriyaki on a charcoal or gas grill, too. So to prepare, say, swordfish steak teriyaki (like in the picture above), preheat a skillet over medium high heat. Add a little oil to coat the pan. When the oil is hot, lay the fish in the skillet and sear both sides, about 2 minutes. Now lightly brush the swordfish with teriyaki sauce, and grill for about 1 minute. Carefully flip the fish, and lightly brush more teriyaki sauce on the other side. Grill for another minute. Repeat the flipping and glazing routine for about another 1 to 2 minutes on each side (depending on how thick the steak), and you're done. Serve with a steaming bowl of rice.

Now, what about the teriyaki sauce? Glad you asked.

There are a bunch of methods to prepare this glaze. The way I like to do it is combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, garlic and ginger in a saucepan and simmer down until half the liquid evaporates. The result is a fragrant, intensely flavored, syrupy liquid, with an undercurrent of garlic and ginger. You can also prepare this sauce without the garlic or ginger, or just use either/or. Here's the recipe:

(Makes about 1/2 a cup)

1/2 cup shoyu (Japanese dark soy sauce)
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup sake
3 tablespoons unrefined cane sugar (which imparts a nice molassesy flavor)
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, crushed (optional)
1/2 inch piece of ginger sliced thickly (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquid reduces by about half (make sure the surface is bubbling lightly). It's okay if the sauce gets foamy towards the end; just remove from heat for a moment to check how much liquid has cooked off. Once the teriyaki sauce is ready, remove and discard the garlic and/or ginger, if you're using, so it doesn't overpower. Allow the sauce to come to room temperature, and use. Store leftover sauce in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.

Posted by Harris Salat in Fish | Permalink | Comments (11) | Email | Print

Comments (11)

I've always wondered about this recipe. I know substitutions are never ideal, so please forgive my question, but is there something that can be used in lieu of Mirin and Sake in Japanese recipes?

Omid | Posted 21:16 16 August 2010

wondering why no sake and mirin. is it the alcohol in it? the alcohol evaporates in the cooking process. not sure about doing this without sake, anyone have an opinion? you can sub more sugar for mirin if you'd like -- thanks, Harris

Harris Salat | Posted 21:24 16 August 2010

what about using dark brown sugar or a 1/2 & 1/2 w/ molasses?

artoeat | Posted 22:16 16 August 2010

wondering if you can use this for cooking vegetables, too. or is that not usually done. the swordfish looks amazing! I am making this tonight

Christine Alaimo | Posted 08:59 17 August 2010

hi Christine, thanks for your comment. sure, why not veggies? i've had artichoke teriyaki and it was delish. anyone have suggestions for veggies? thanks, harris

Harris Salat | Posted 09:01 17 August 2010

Correct me if I am wrong but I think Omid is worried about the sugar content of mirin and sake.

Natalie Sztern | Posted 12:21 17 August 2010

Harris, thank you for including my name into your post! I think that the sake does improve the taste of sauce. It's not necessary if you don't have access to sake. Sake gives the sauce more umami flavor, create layers and depth, and mellow down soy sauce flavors -- rounding the edges of sodium flavor. Mirin does the same. Mirin has an alcohol content, so mirin gives more umami sweetness and mild the sugar sweetness, plus adds some texture to the flavor. If you don't have access to mirin, maybe try with honey?

Hiroko | Posted 14:00 17 August 2010

Is the unrefined sugar the brown packets that are in Starbucks or something more exotic. And if so where do I find it?

Jeanne Cohen | Posted 16:03 17 August 2010

Hi, it doesn't have to be exotic. Japanese markets sell unrefined Japanese cane sugar, but any unrefined brown sugar would work. And if you can't get brown sugar, use white sugar, no problem. -- Harris

Harris Salat | Posted 16:09 17 August 2010

Harris, its funny, we use same sugar for teriyaki.This kind is often named "sukanat" from “Sugar Cane Natural”, it is full with flavor and vitamins.Many natural food stores sell this kind of sugar too(here in Germany). I like its taste, Japanese sweet recipes use it a lot. In my opinion, it is great for all kind of glazes like teriyaki/yakitori and so on, I use it almost in all my japanese cooking.Only be careful because it makes food darker(for example white bean paste ;-)) Did you ever tried teriyaki with orange or yuzu juice? This is delicious!

Amatō | Posted 08:37 19 August 2010

Looks delicious. It was nice learning about true teriyaki. I have everything I need right now except mirin and I can get that tomorrow. Thanks.

Tom Baker | Posted 20:24 28 August 2010

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