Miso-Marinated Grilled Chicken (鶏の味噌漬け焼き, Tori no Misozuke-yaki)

Two days in miso sounds like a project. It is mostly patience. Chicken thigh is forgiving, red miso is sturdy, and the refrigerator does the quiet work while you get on with your life.

Red miso is saltier and deeper than the pale Saikyō miso used for the famous Kyoto fish, so use a thinner coat and give it time. The miso seasons the surface, draws out a little moisture, and leaves behind a rounded sweetness from sake and mirin. We are not making a sauce to hide the chicken. We are giving good thigh meat a darker, grill-ready skin.

The one detail that decides the dish comes just before the fire: wipe the miso off. People leave it on because it looks like flavor. On the grill it turns bitter before the meat is cooked, the sort of kitchen joke nobody laughs at twice. What has entered the chicken is enough; the surface only needs a faint stain, then moderate heat until the glaze turns mahogany and glossy.

Serve it sliced beside rice, soup, and something sharp or green. In the method, not the menu, this is yakimono, the grilled dish that brings a little char and appetite to the table. Honmono need not be solemn. It asks you to wait, wipe, and not burn dinner.