Yakiniku Recipe (Japanese BBQ)
October 7th, 2009 | Japanese Recipes | 18 Comments
Yakiniku (焼き肉) or Japanese grilled meat/BBQ is my favorite.
I love playing with my food. When I was a child, I often engaged myself in masak-masak (literally means cook-cook in Malay language)—a childhood cottage cooking game where I would “steal” ingredients from my mother’s kitchen and then cooked them into “food” using candles and kid’s cookware. I had the whole set up: two bricks in between a candle, a mini “wok,” and a wooden stick for stirring. I was like mad playing masak-masak, it was the best childhood game ever…(learn how to make yakiniku or Japanese BBQ at home after the jump)
Half of the fun of yakiniku is the cooking part, where you grill little pieces of meat and vegetables over gas or electric grill, or charcoals (the traditional way). Making yakiniku at home is a lot simpler than you thought. I got myself a bottle of Japanese yakiniku no tare (Japanese BBQ dipping sauce) and a grill rack. I placed the grill rack on top of my gas stove and immediately have the perfect set up for yakiniku. (Check out the gallery above to view my set up.)
Yakiniku is mostly beef, but I had chicken drumsticks. I cut the chicken meat into tiny pieces and then marinated them with some miso paste, sake, and lots of chopped scallions (the white part). This hot-off-the-grill yakiniku was just as delightful as the ones served at my favorite restaurant Manpuku, at only a fraction of the cost. Try it yourself!
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken drumsticks (skin removed and cut into small pieces)
1 scallion (white part only, cut into very thin slices)
1/2 teaspoon miso paste
1 teaspoon sake
Yakiniku no tare (for dipping)
Method:
Marinate the chicken meat with sake, miso paste, and chopped scallions for 30 minutes.
Place a portable grill rack on top of the stove. Turn the heat to low and place the chicken meat on top. Make sure your grill rack has small “openings” so the meat doesn’t fall through it. Cook the meat until slightly charred and then turn over to the other side.
Transfer the cooked meat to a plate and dip with some yakiniku no tare.
Cook’s Note:
You can grill kobe beef slices, beef short ribs, flank steak, seafood (shrimp, squid, scallop), mushrooms, and vegetables using the same method. They all taste great.
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Looks SO good!
Alta, yes, thanks.
It looks really good, but really not like the yakiniku I am used to.
Usually, the meat is very finely sliced pieces of beef (steack, tongue,…) and/or pork, not that much chicken (as you write in your notes). And veggies, as you mention, we are talking about asian food after all! They are sometimes marinated, but sometimes they leave at it is. The grill, though, is really like the one they give you.
Sauces can range from the teriyaki one (probably a mix of soy sauce, sugar, mirin and sake, although I tend to buy it as well :-) ) to ponzu and simple soy sauce.
The problem is, not all of us are lucky enough to have a gas stove, and it does not look like it will work on vitroceramic :-(
I use the miso marinating on pork meat I am going to freeze. Then you simply unfreeze it, cook it and it’s delicious.
Thanks.
Yes, yakinuku is mostly for beef, but I am not much a red meat eater. Actually, in my favorite yakiniku restaurant, they serve all sorts of stuff: beef, chicken, seafood, and vegetables. For the marinate, it’s either marinate with shio (salt) or tare (sauce). http://www.manpuku.us.
Love your blog, especially all the photos. I live in Irvine also, do you want a cooking buddy?
Hi Melody, thanks for your note. You live in Irvine, cool. Cooking sounds fun. :)
Good stuff, but this is more like Yakitori than Yakiniku…but delicious none the less!
Keep up the great blogging!
Yakitori is in skewers and they don’t use yakiniku sauce for dipping. This is how yakiniku is, well, at least the restaurants I have been to, except the professional set up.
I had this when I was in Japan and it was so incredible tasty, I wanted it every day for the rest of my life =)
Yes, what’s not to love about yakiniku and meat grilled over fire and dipped with a umami sauce?
I used to play masak-masak too when I was young. What I love cooking is sausages. ^^
Your cooking looks professional from your masak-masak experience.
Hi RM,
What I usually do with my Yakiniku Tare is putting a ratio of 1:1 mirin and shoyu. Add some crushed garlic and some gochujang *the spicy korean miso* :D
Made this for dinner tonight. very nice! thanks for the idea
Chris, glad you love it. :)
I found a copy of this entry here.
http://masalamixs.blogspot.com/2009/10/yakiniku-recipe-japanese-bbq.html
Thought you might like to know.
BTW, I am trying this out right now, looks very good.
Sorry to be pedantic but I believe that Yaki Niku is actually Korean. I live in Japan and the Japanese always refer to it as “Korean BBQ”. I could be wrong but I’m sure the Koreans have their own word for this style BBQ and perhaps it would be better to this recipe in the Korean section of the website. Again sorry if this is wrong!
Thanks for telling me. Good to know.