Grilled Chicken with Soy Sauce Tare

In the Japanese kitchen, tare (pronounced tah-reh) is a multipurpose seasoning liquid made by combining high-impact ingredients to create deep, concentrated, umami-rich flavor. The base might be miso, sesame paste or even salt, but soy sauce (shoyu, in Japanese) is the most common. Among its many uses, tare can be added to broths for noodle soups, mixed with other ingredients to make dipping sauces or brushed on as a basting sauce for grilled foods such as yakitori (chicken skewers). In this recipe, we make a simple shoyu tare for seasoning grilled bone-in chicken thighs that have been slashed to allow fat to render and the seasoning to soak in. The recipe makes about ¾ cup of tare but you will need only ½ cup for the chicken; the remainder will keep in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.