Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Yakiniku Sauce Recipe

Yakiniku Sauce Recipe for Japanese Barbecue

I love Yakiniku.
Even the word can get a Japanese wagyu lover very excited.
Tender slices of beef that you grill at the table and dip in an addictively yummy sauce.
Since going out to a yakiniku restaurant (such as Gyu-kaku) does not always fit the family budget, we do it at home.  Easy.  Cheap.  Yum.

But now we live in Australia, one little bottle of yakiniku sauce costs $5 to $7.  Ouch.  
There is a better way.

Yes! I did it.  I made a recipe for Gyu-kaku Yakiniku Sauce (tare).
I read the ingredients listing on my bottle of Gyu-kaku Yakiniku tare/sauce,  and through trial and error and many, many comparison taste tests, I replicated it.
I am pretty impressed with myself and I hope you will be too when you taste this stuff.

Gyu-kaku Yakiniku Sauce Recipe 焼角 焼肉タレ

1/3 cup Shoyu (Japanese Soy Sauce such as Kikkoman)
1/4 cup Water
1 Tbsp Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
2/3 cup Sugar
1-2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
A little sesame oil
1-2 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Seeds (Irigoma) (ground if you prefer more flavour)
Ground Black Pepper, to taste 

1.  Place sesame oil and crushed garlic in a saucepan. Sauté gently over low heat 1 min.  

2. Add all other ingredients in a saucepan and gently bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.  Simmer very gently 5 min until it just starts to thicken.

Done.  Too easy.

This recipe makes about 250ml of Yakiniku Tare.  It keeps, refrigerated, for...ever.  (although we use it up in about 3 Yakiniku sessions.)

This is how we do Yakiniku in the restaurant, on a wire mesh over hot coals:

As well as the Karubi beef, we also had Eringi mushrooms and Piiman (like small and very tender, thin-skinned bell peppers) that you can see in my photo above.  Fresh shiitake mushrooms also go awesomely.

 For more ideas of Meat and Vegetables that can be used, here are my previous posts on Yakiniku:




...And this is how we do Yakiniku at home on a frypan at the table:

Wagyu is too expensive for my family's regular meals (except special occasions) so I bought a bag of frozen beef belly slices from the local Korean grocery store.  Don't worry about all that fat on there, most of it melts away when you cook it.  Soooo yummy!

The other meat I used here was some rib-eye fillet steak, which I sliced to half the usual thickness, and into pieces about 4x7cm.  You might see me at the butcher or supermarket picking out the most marbled tray of rib eye fillet.  

Both of these wagyu alternatives were delicious and about a third of the price of wagyu!

If you have a health grill, even better.  I just used a frypan this time because it is so much easier to wash up.
I told you.  I love easy.


The sauce served in Gyu-kaku Yakiniku Restaurants is so popular it is sold in supermarkets in Japan:



And now it is made in your kitchen (^_^)~*
You're Welcome!
❤️