Yakitori

A Japanese dish of skewered chicken.Yakitori is one of the most common Japanese "snacks" served with drinks. Yakitori bars are very common in Japan (see yakitori recipe.

Substitute For Yakitori Sauce

The key to the dish is the yakitori sauce.  You can easily make your own with these simple ingredients.  We've included some options for each ingredient in case you're out of something.

• 4 tablespoons sake or Shaoxing wine (or use vermouth)
• 5 tablespoons shoyu (or any other soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon mirin  (or use dry sherry in a pinch)
• 1 tablespoon superfine (caster) sugar (or, grind some granulated sugar in a small coffee grinder).

Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small pan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or unit the sauce has thickened.

Other Substitutes

Short of making your own as we suggest above, you can also use:

• Equal amounts of bottled teriyaki sauce which is very similar.