Japanese Teriyaki Sauce
A four-ingredient glaze reduced to a mahogany lacquer — soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar cooked together until they thicken into a glossy, clingy sauce that chars to a sweet-salty shellac on grilled fish or chicken.
Ingredients
For 4 servings · tick what is ready
Use the scaled ingredient list. Steps and temperatures stay unchanged; use a larger pan or dish if needed. Seasonings to taste stay to taste.
How to make it
Combine all four ingredients in a small, heavy saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8–12 minutes. The sauce will bubble vigorously at first, then the bubbles will slow and grow larger and more viscous as it reduces. Watch closely in the last few minutes — the sugars go from syrup to burnt very quickly. The sauce is done when it coats the back of a spoon and a line drawn through it with a finger holds cleanly for 2 seconds.
Pour the sauce into a glass jar or heatproof container and allow to cool completely at room temperature. As it cools, it will thicken from a pourable syrup to a clingy glaze. If it becomes too thick at room temperature, warm gently with a splash of water. Store refrigerated for up to 3 weeks. Brush onto protein during the last few minutes of grilling or broiling — applying early causes the sugars to burn before the protein is cooked.
About this recipe
By ForkRecipe Kitchen · Source: ForkRecipe / FoodML and contributors. Recipe content available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Serving count is an estimate; check quantities in the source recipe.