Yakitori

Charcoal-grilled chicken skewers glazed with a sweet and savoury tare sauce — the soul of Japanese izakaya culture.

Yakitori — literally grilled bird — has its roots in Japan's izakaya culture, the casual after-work drinking establishments central to Japanese social life since the Edo period. Historically, eating meat was discouraged in Japan due to Buddhist influence, and yakitori was originally made from offal and cheaper cuts. The use of binchotan — a dense white charcoal made from Japanese oak — is central to authentic yakitori. It burns hotter and cleaner than regular charcoal, imparting no smoke flavour but cooking at an extremely consistent temperature. The tare sauce at many yakitori restaurants is kept going for years, with new sauce added as it reduces, meaning the tare at a 50-year-old restaurant contains traces of 50 years of cooking.

Authentic yakitori uses binchotan charcoal. Every part of the chicken is used. The tare sauce is traditionally kept going for years, deepening in flavour.