Yakitori

Yakitori, meaning "grilled bird" in Japanese, consists of chicken pieces cooked on skewers over charcoal, typically flavored with either a salty-sweet glaze called tare or plain salt. While the term specifically refers to chicken, it can also describe any grilled, skewered food.

Preparation

For preparation, the chicken is cut into small, uniform chunks, threaded onto skewers, seasoned, and then cooked. Charcoal is the preferred heat source because it generates intense heat and strong flames while releasing almost no water vapor, which cooks the meat quickly and gives the skin a crispy texture.

Gas or electric heat can be used, but they fail to produce the same aroma or texture. Traditional cooking happens on portable charcoal grills, often seen at street stalls called yatai, though restaurants may use stationary grills and higher-grade binchōtan charcoal. At home, small electric appliances like takujō konro or yakitori-ki, which work similarly to a broiler or toaster, are common.

Seasoning

Seasoning falls into two main categories: salty (shio) or salty-sweet (tare). The salty version uses plain salt as the primary seasoning, though in places like Saitama prefecture, it may come with a spicy miso dipping sauce. The tare variety involves a glaze made from mirin, sake, soy sauce, and sugar, applied after cooking. Additional spices such as cayenne pepper, shichimi, Japanese pepper, black pepper, yuzu koshō, or wasabi can be added to taste.

Sales

Yakitori is sold in specialized shops called yakitori-ya, which are often small take-out stands, though sit-down restaurants and chains are also common. It appears on menus at izakaya across Japan and is available pre-cooked in frozen vacuum packs or even canned. Canned yakitori was popularized by Hotei Foods Corporation, whose TV commercial song became iconic. As a street food, yakitori is frequently sold from yatai carts found at festivals or along busy commuter routes, where customers enjoy it with beer or sake.

Many cuts and preparations exist, including chicken thigh (momo), breast (mune), gizzard with spring onion (hasami), inner breast meat (sasami), chicken and spring onion (negima), meatballs (tsukune), crispy skin (tori)kawa, wing (tebasaki), tail (bonjiri), pork small intestines (shiro), cartilage (nankotsu), heart (hāto or kokoro), liver (rebā), fatty liver (shiro rebā), gizzard (sunagimo or zuri), all white meat (toriniku), breast pieces (yotsumi), and neck meat (seseri).