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:

Our Home is a Yakiniku Restaurant

Gyutan 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!

❤️

Gyutan Yakiniku

Gyu-tan is one of my favorite cuts for Yakiniku.  Gyutan means beef tongue.  People travel to Sendai (in north-eastern Japan) to eat it as a special delicacy, however it is now popular as Yakiniku in restaurants throughout Japan. 

 (Yes, that's my beloved Sendai that was hit by a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in 2011) 

If you've never tried it before, your first question will probably be "What does gyutan taste like?"

The flavour of gyutan (apart from tasting like beef, obviously) I would describe as "buttery".  When cooked just right, gyutan is very tender and moist, and a little chewy at the same time.  

Ok, this description is probably sounding a little vague to you, so maybe you'll just have to try it!

In Yakiniku, gyutan may be sprinkled with salt and pepper during cooking, and/or you may like to dip it in Yakiniku Tare (Yakiniku Sauce) or Ponzu.

I find it equally delicious with Tare or Ponzu.

Click to see more about Yakiniku: How to make Yakiniku

Here is my recipe for Yakiniku Sauce, similar to Gyu-kaku Yakiniku Sauce.

 In my photo below is the sliced Gyutan along with some Beef Heart (Shinzou) marinated with garlic, sake, oil and a little salt.  The gyutan I leave plain as it is delicious on its own.  

In Australia, we enjoy gyutan and beef heart often as at $5/kg for whole tongues from (Woolworths) supermarkets, it's about the cheapest cut of meat.

If you don't feel like skinning and slicing a whole tongue, have a look in the freezer of your Korean grocery store, and you'll pay a little more (around $16/kg) for perfectly prepared, thinly sliced beef tongue.

If you buy a whole beef tongue for the first time (yes, I agree it is a little scary-looking) and you've never prepared beef tongue before it's quite a tricky procedure.  However, there is an easy way for removing the skin and slicing a beef tongue thinly for gyutan as you see in my photo below.
Click here for my Gyutan Preparation Tutorial.

♡　♡　♡ 

I first tried Gyutan at a restaurant in Matsushima, one of the great natural wonders of Japan, located near Sendai.

Our home is a Yakiniku Restaurant

...That's the English translation of the name of our favorite Yakiniku Sauce:

我が家は焼き肉屋さん

Yakiniku doesn't have to mean an expensive restaurant.
It is so simple to prepare at home.
Super easy.  Super oishii (yummy).

"Yaki" means "grill" and "niku" means "meat".  It's table cooking (electric grill or frypan work fine), so, just like Sukiyaki, it's a lot of fun.

How to Make Yakiniku
(Here's an example of what I used last night)

• Meat:  Thinly sliced beef, with a little sake, sesame oil, +/- garlic and salt, sliced chicken marinated with sake, oil and salt.
• Vegetables:  sliced onion, thinly sliced pumpkin, cabbage (cut 2 inch squares), enoki mushrooms, carrot.  I love the onion.
• Sauce:  Yakiniku Sauce (called Yakiniku Ta-re in Japanese).  Served in a small dipping bowl for each person. Yakiniku Sauce Recipe Here
• Steamed Rice:  in a small bowl for each person.
• Chopsticks.

Too easy.  Everyone does the cooking and eating together.  Don't you love not having to cook?

More Meat:
We also like ox tongue (skin removed and thinly sliced, sprinkled lightly with salt and pepper) or heart (thinly sliced, marinated with sesame oil and garlic).  Ox tongue (beef tongue) is $5/kilo at Woolworths supermarket here. I think that's the cheapest meat in Australia.  Tastes buttery and a little rubbery.  I love it though.  Sendai is famous for it.


More Vegetables:
Eggplant, bell peppers (in Japan we have Piiman), zucchini are my favourites with yakiniku.  I always have a ton of veggies.
Moyashi (bean sprouts) also go well, as do regular button mushrooms.

Sauce:
You can make your own yakiniku ta-re or gomadare (sesame seed sauce) with my recipes (click link to see each recipe).  
Some meats like gyu-tan also taste good with Ponzu (bought, or try mixing soy sauce, lemon juice and a little sugar)  I'll post about that too...