Yakitori Skewers (Charcoal Grilled Chicken, Bacon & Veggies)

Yakitori

1. Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 1 hour (or more).
2. Chicken thigh/leg: If using bone-in chicken thigh or leg, remove the bones. You can either choose to keep the skin on or remove it and skewer the skin separately (see directions below). Lay the meat flat on the cutting board and cut the meat in 2x2 square shapes. Try to keep the chicken in even shapes to make sure they all cook at the same rate. Chicken with green onions: Slice the green onions in 1 ½ inch pieces. Fold each chicken square in half and place one on the skewer. Add one green onion piece so that it lies parallel to the chicken horizontally. Repeat once more, and end with a chicken piece. Chicken with shiso leaves: Skewer 3 to 4 pieces of chicken and then wrap one shiso leaf around the skewered meat stick. It should stick to the meat and not move around.
3. Chicken skin: Try to cut the chicken skin in long strips. Carefully add the chicken skin on one skewer while folding the skin like an accordion onto the skewer. This can be a little slippery so be careful and try to dry the skin with a paper towel before piercing and also dry your hands throughout the process so you can get a good grip on the skin.
4. Pork belly: Cut into ¼ inch thick slices. Depending on the skewers, use one thick skewer or two thin skewers to stack about 2 slices of pork belly horizontally flat.   
5. Quail eggs: In a pot of boiling water over medium-high heat, carefully lower the quail eggs into the water and boil for 3 minutes (this is for eggs about 10-11.5 g in weight, if your eggs are heavier, add 30 seconds to the boiling time). Immediately transfer to an ice water bath for two minutes. Peel the shells. Add the eggs vertically on the skewers so that the pointed top is face the sharp point of the skewer.
6. Trumpet mushroom: Clean the mushrooms under running water to remove dirt. Cut the mushrooms into 1-inch sections and skewer the mushroom onto one skewer per mushroom, leaving about ¼ inch space in between each section.
7. Enoki mushroom bacon: Cut the bottoms of the enoki mushrooms and clean them under running water—making sure not to break apart the mushrooms too much. Take the bacon and cut it in about 3-inch pieces. Separate the enoki mushroom into ½ inch thick sections and take one bacon piece and wrap it around the enoki mushroom. Use the skewer to pierce the overlap of the bacon—this will secure the bacon onto the enoki. Repeat until you have three pieces of the bacon wrapped enoki on the skewer.
8. Asparagus bacon: Clean the asparagus under running water, cut the ends off to remove the tough bottoms (about ½ or 1 inch from the bottom). Cut the asparagus into 2-inch pieces. Cut about 2 pieces bacon into 2-inch strips. Wrap one piece of bacon around one piece of asparagus and use the skewer to pierce the overlap of the bacon to secure. Repeat until you have 4 pieces of bacon wrapped asparagus on the skewer.
9. Shishito peppers: Clean the shishito peppers and use two skewers to secure about 3 shishito peppers of the same size onto the skewers horizontally.
10. Okra: Clean the okra and use two skewers to secure about 3 okra of the same size onto the skewers horizontally.

Tare

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small sauce pot over medium-high heat. Use a whisk to make sure everything is incorporated. Bring the sauce to a boil and lower to medium heat. Continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon (or reduces in half).
2. Transfer the sauce into a jar to cool for at least 15 minutes, or until it’s cool to the touch.

Grilling

1. Heat your coals. I use a chimney starter, and let it heat up for 10-15 minutes. I like to flip the binchō-tan inside it midway so it heats more evenly. You know it’s done when all the coals are almost entirely covered in white ash. Arrange these coals into your yakitori grill, place the grate on and start grilling.
2. Start grilling. I like to start with the somewhat fattier pork belly or bacon wrapped pieces so the grill gets some oil on it. But generally you can just put on the skewers and flip them every 20 seconds or so, making sure both sides evenly coast to proper doneness with a good sear.
3. Manage the heat. There are often hot spots on the grill, hotter than others. This means you should be moving the skewers around so each one can cook evenly, and so one spot doesn’t just burn anything you put on it. If something is charring before it’s fully cooked (test with an instant read thermometer to know), move it to a cooler spot.
4. Season each skewer with salt a bit on both sides when you first put it on the grill, and re-season with salt midway too. If you will be basting with tare / yakitori sauce at the end you can scale back a bit. When the first batch of skewers is done make sure you taste one to test its seasoning level, and adjust if needed for the next batches. Add baste or dip any skewers you wanted to in the tare.
5. Cool off the coals. Move the coals to a galvanized or metal container / bucket and pour a few cups of water on them to cool them off. Even after grilling for four hours, my coals are usually still pretty large. If you put out the heat, you can reheat and use them during future grill sessions!