cheeken1111
Active Member
Can also try a sake spritz and salting before grilling......
I want to grill now too....
I want to grill now too....
will try that the next time!Can also try a sake spritz and salting before grilling......
I want to grill now too....
it's not that dark or dangerous....the biggest question for me is if the 'investment' makes sense for the amount of use.....This feels like a very dark and dangerous rabbit hole to go down.
No no, it’s actually warm, well lit, and very tastyThis feels like a very dark and dangerous rabbit hole to go down.
I can do either option or both, but plan on doing nr 2, the major question is 'what equipment', loads of labor and refinement come with option 2 and that is fine with me.Option 1: Do paid work for long enough to be able to afford a Grand Yakitori Tour of Japan
Option 2: Equipment, special charcoal, and a whole lot of labor and refinement to be able to make a few bites of food at home.
Option 1 is looking easier. On the other hand, I get to use knives a lot with option 2.
Occupational therapy…I can do either option or both, but plan on doing nr 2, the major question is 'what equipment', loads of labor and refinement come with option 2 and that is fine with me.
I’ll take the curse as a compliment! It means we were convincing enough. Good luck with tomorrow!I curse every single person on this thread, because the haunting visions of chicken and charcoal have followed me for days, and I have relented. Grudgingly.
So tonight I thought I would make a grudging tare. Turns out I can't even do that right. Oh, I started with the most pedestrian ingredients imaginable. Kikkoman soy sauce. Kikkoman Mirin. Geikkeikan sake (why I bought that, when a bottle of Sho Chiku Bai was right there, I will never know). My homemade chicken stock, instead of a proper charcoal cooked chicken carcass.
I messed it up. The sake-mirin mixture cooked its water out, and while I was butchering the chicken (in more ways than one), I turned to see a brown foam. I think the yakitori gods are looking out for me, it was beautiful caramel that kind of made up for my not having charcoal chicken.
So the sauce is done, and it is actually delicious, not the Wal*Mart version I expected. The chicken...well, I had the Chicken and Charcoal pictures in front of me, and I'm not sure I did anything different from the way I usually take a chicken apart, except for the feeling around for the fillet, and keeping the tail.
Out of energy for today. Tomorrow, actual skewers. I'm kind of hoping they don't taste like my dreams, because I don't want to have to do all the work that yakitori seems to involve.
I will not! Even if proper tare involves just a touch of candymaking, I'll just accept that and move forward.Cheater tare tip: gelatin!
But then I would have to eat jarred asparagus.Buy a jar of asparagus and repurpose it. Those jars are nice and tall.
Something like a water pitcher would probably work well, especially a more narrow one.Yakitori Attempt #1: The Humbling
I expected a learning experience, and boy did I get one. I made some clumsy skewers, soaking them first.
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You can see my first tare, in that lard jar.
I hacked my Big Green Egg with some stone pieces I found in a makeshift firepit I've never used.
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And...a couple of the skewers burned through. Part of the genius of the BGE is that you use it closed, so you don't have to wait until the flare-ups stop, because they only happen when you open the lid. A bit of licking flame never hurt a steak. A stake is a different story. I rescued my skewers, and re-skewered them, and fell back on the Iwatani.
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At the end of the evening, I did get some good food, but what I mostly got was lessons.
1. Symmetry matters. If your skewers are not symmetrical, they won't stay put when you flip them.
2. I was making most of them way too big, too wide. I would guess that 1 1/4" is a practical maximum. The breast, in particular, was dry on the outside before being cooked through. And smaller pieces means a better caramelized outside-to-inside ratio.
3. Charcoal matters. The ones I started over charcoal had a much more compelling flavor than the all-Iwatani ones.
4. The BGE is terrible for this. If you want a perfect steak, perfect burgers, perfect pizza, than go BGE. But even after I waited until the charcoal was down enough to not flare up, my skewers still burnt through with the lid closed. And I used a ton of charcoal. Normally the BGE is one of the best ways to help your charcoal budget, but not for this.
5. The odder bits made the best skewers. Wingtips into small pieces? Awesome. Gizzard, heart? Just the best.
6. It's hard to know when you're done cooking. I need lots more experience.
7. Tare gets used up quickly. Yakitori guy knew what he was doing when he suggested starting with 800ml each of mirin and sake.
8. My tasty bootleg tare was respectable, but not what it could have been. I need to make the fancy version, with better mirin, better sake, really cooking charcoal chicken carcasses in it, and my good artisan Japanese soy. I will also throw in a chicken foot or two, for gelatin. It needs to cling better.
Also: I need a tall, narrow container for dipping. Where do I find that? Or, more important, what do you call such a thing? I'm sure I could find it if I knew its name.
I think I'm going to have to pursue this chimera further. There's magic here.
I think you want a lid. Otherwise, you might get mold in there.I'm liking the beer glass idea. Specifically, a Kolsch glass. I've wanted to have a couple of those around, anyway.
My thought was that the dipping container was distinct from the storage container. They appear to have very different requirements.I think you want a lid. Otherwise, you might get mold in there.
Ah, good point. Sure, put it into a sealed jar in the fridge in between sessions. That will work.My thought was that the dipping container was distinct from the storage container. They appear to have very different requirements.
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