Grilled Chicken with Soy Sauce Tare
- Makes4 servings
- Cook Time1¼ hours
- 2
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.
Don’t discard the shiitakes after straining them out of the tare. The flavorful, savory-sweet mushrooms can be sliced and used in stir-fries, fried rice or noodle dishes (such as the sesame noodles.
Step 1
To make the tare, in a medium saucepan over medium-high, combine the mirin, sake, ginger, garlic, mushrooms and sugar.
Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by about half, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the soy sauce and return to a simmer, then remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Step 2
Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer set over a small bowl and press on the solids to extract any liquid; you should have about ¾ cup. Measure out ⅓ cup of the tare for basting the chicken.
Step 3
To cook the chicken, prepare a charcoal or gas grill. For a charcoal grill, spread a large chimney of hot coals evenly over one side of the grill bed; open the bottom grill vents and the lid vent.
Heat the grill, covered, for 5 minutes, then clean and oil the grate. For a gas grill, turn all burners to high and heat, covered, for 15 minutes, then clean and oil the cooking grate; leave the primary burner on high and turn the remaining burner(s) to low.
Step 4
While the grill heats, using a sharp knife, cut 2 parallel evenly spaced slashes on each chicken thigh, slicing through the skin all the way to the bone. Season both sides of the thighs with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken skin up on the cooler side of the grill. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Lightly brush the pieces with tare, then re-cover and cook until the thickest part of the thighs not touching the bone reach 175°F, another 15 to 20 minutes, brushing every 4 to 5 minutes with tare.
Step 5
Flip the chicken skin down still on the cooler side of the grill. Brush the bone side with the remaining tare reserved for basting and cook until the skin side is lightly charred, about 2 minutes. Flip the chicken bone side down onto the hot side of the grill and cook until lightly charred, 1 to 2 minutes.
Step 6
Transfer the chicken to a platter. Squeeze 2 of the lemon wedges over it, top with scallions and drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the remaining tare. Let rest for 5 minutes, then serve.
