What I learned about Yakitori cooking today...

Doc_Eggerton · December 2013

...Is that I have a lot to lean about Yakitori cooking.

Sauce recipe out of The Japanese Grill. Chicken livers wrapped in bacon, chicken hearts plain and wrapped in bacon, strip steak, chicken gizzards, and garlic cloves.

Everything was very good except the gizzards. I like fried, breaded gizzards, but not these on the grill.

Learn from my mistakes, pack the meat densely to protect the skewers. Don't try too much on a skewer, and create a bit of an aluminum foil lip at the spot where the skewers rest on the bricks. Oh, and have the coals well established and heat set so you don't have too much flame.

CPARKTX · December 2013

Your brick layout is a big improvement over mine, I'll try that next time...I struggle with room and spacing. I did find that if you add the bricks at the last minute they don't have time to get hit enough to burn the wood skewers.

sumoconnell · December 2013

Looks great!

I struggle with burnt skewers also. I've tried a couple things that don't work -

1. Soak them in water, and keep in the freezer. I think this helps about 1%

2. Pack meat more tightly - it's the ends that get burnt.. so unless those are covered, they still burn.

The only thing that works for me is to have a brush with water, and I keep brushing the ends. This is a PITA, but is effective. I don't think this is common in Asia - there is a trick, I'm sure of it!

I lived in Japan for a spell, and lived on Yakatori from a guy grilling outside a grocery store. I never liked the heart/liver/gizzards, but I always liked the thigh/breast/skin. He did chicken legs too. I bought a ($6 chinese) grill dedicated for skewers, but seems to make the burning problem worse..

What I learned about Yakitori cooking today...

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