Tori no Teriyaki (鶏の照り焼き, chicken teriyaki)

Teriyaki has suffered from its own fame. A bottle made it look like a sauce, thick and sweet and a little bossy. In the Japanese kitchen it is a method: cook the food, glaze it with tare, and stop when the surface shines. That is all. Honmono is often rather plain when you finally meet it.

Use chicken thigh, skin on, and keep it whole. The thigh has enough fat to forgive a weeknight cook, and the skin gives the glaze something to hold. Look for flesh that smells clean, not sour or tired, with skin that is pale and unbroken. Sourcing first, always. No sauce should be asked to rescue poor chicken.

The detail that decides the dish is skin-side first, low and slow. You render the fat under the skin before the tare goes in, because soy, mirin, and sake cannot make a clear gloss through a puddle of grease. Pour off the fat, add the tare, and let it reduce around the chicken until the bubbles slow and the shine appears. Not difficult. Only a little unfamiliar.

At the table, tori no teriyaki sits easily beside rice, miso soup, and one small vegetable. This is the method, not the menu: grilled or pan-cooked food with a restrained glaze, sliced so each piece carries skin, meat, and shine together. Slice across the grain, set it with a little height, and leave it room.