Whats-For-Dinner-16.12-The Teriyaki Variations

I’m a recipe guy. I almost always follow a recipe when cooking. So it’s a bit ironic that for my first WFD diary, I’m going with something that I’ve never had a recipe for—teriyaki.

I have to begin by thanking and acknowledging my wife Mrs. Spectre (she kept her maiden name) and her long-time BFF Midori, who was born and raised in Japan, and later taught my wife how to make teriyaki. Of course, there’s tons of recipes for basic teriyaki,  just as there are for apple pie or meatloaf. I therefore encourage you to adjust the basic recipe for taste as you go along. 

Teriyaki, as I learned it, consists of five ingredients, as shown in the title pic:

• soy sauce
• mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
• garlic
• ginger
• green onions

Basic teriyaki works for just about any type or cut of meat—chicken, pork, beef, ribs, salmon (oof; teriyaki salmon—drooool), and probably works for tofu and other vegetarian options (wouldn’t know; not my thing). As you can see from the pic, I prefer to use low-sodium soy sauce, for both flavor and health reasons. If you can’t find mirin in your area, and you don’t feel like ordering it online (it’s not expensive, about $7 a bottle), I suggest using brown sugar, although you can always use a different sweetener.

The first step is to mix the soy sauce and mirin. I use a glass pie plate or baking dish, or a gallon baggie if I have to. I suggest using about 1 cup soy sauce, and 1/3 to 1/2 cup mirin, depending on how sweet you like it. Because the liquid is the base of teriyaki, I suggest pouring the soy sauce into the dish, adding 1/3 cup mirin, then blending it with your finger and tasting. If it’s not as sweet as you like, add a bit more mirin, tasting until it’s to your liking.

Next, chop one bunch of green onions, mince a piece of ginger roughly the size of your thumb (remove the skin first), and mince 4 medium cloves of garlic. Add all to the soy/mirin mixture, stir well, then add the meat. A lot of teriyaki recipes call for marinating for an hour, but I like to marinate for at least 4 hours, turning every hour or so, to let the flavors really soak in. The exception is salmon, or other fish, which doesn’t need more than 1-2 hours, turning once.

To cook, you can use the oven—don’t drain the marinade, just cook the meat and marinade in the baking dish—but IMO, grilling is better, especially since that allows you to grill some pineapple, a perfect go-with. Grilling fruit kebobs is good, too—stone fruit, bananas, strawberries, etc.

Now that I’ve covered basic teriyaki, let’s look at some variations. The first is one I came up with on my own—plum teriyaki pork ribs. It’s essentially the same as basic teriyaki, except I use 3/4 cup red plum jam (Bonne Maman is especially good) instead of mirin—otherwise, it’s just too sweet. I used boneless pork ribs, but I imagine it would work well on bone-in ribs, or chicken; beef, I’m not so sure about. It’s same process as for basic teriyaki, but use a blender to mix the soy and jam, adjusting to taste, before adding the rest. It gives a much different taste, and if you grill the ribs, make sure to do so on low heat, or the sugar in the jam will burn, not caramelize (which isn’t a concern with mirin).

Another variation is to use teriyaki as a sauce, rather than a marinade. Here’s a recipe I found (forget where) and made recently.

ORANGE-TERIYAKI PORK TENDERLOIN

2 T sesame oil, divided
1 pound pork tenderloin (or other boneless pork), cut crosswise into (at least 12) equal slices
1/4 c soy sauce
2 T mirin
2 T orange juice
1 t sugar
1/2 t peeled, grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, grated
1/2 t orange zest

1 T sesame seeds, toasted
3 green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/4-inch pieces

Heat 1 T sesame oil in a pan over medium-high heat; cook pork slices 2-3 minutes each side or until done; remove from pan and keep warm. (NOTE: I didn’t do this; instead, I brushed the pork slices with sesame oil and flash-grilled them. You could also just cook the whole thing and slice it up after.)

Add 1 T sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, orange juice, sugar, ginger, garlic to small saucepan; bring to a boil; cook 5-10 minutes or until syrupy; remove from heat and add orange zest; return pork to pan; turn to coat; sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions.

Finally, here’s a Hawaiian variation on teriyaki that I’m very fond of (again, forget where I got this):

HAWAIIAN CHICKEN

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1/3 c soy sauce
1/4 c pineapple juice
1/2 c water
1/2 c brown sugar
4 scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t fresh ginger, minced
1 t sesame oil

This one needs to marinate for at least 8 hours, and is far tastier when grilled than when cooked in the oven. This goes well with coconut rice, and it should be the law that one has to grill pineapple when making this dish.

FYI, in the course of researching this diary, I tried doing a citrus teriyaki, and have been unable to find/create one that I like well enough to post. If I find or create a good one, I’ll be sure to post it as a comment in a future WFD.

Enjoy!