Teriyaki Sauce

Method

1. 1

   Stir the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar together in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves.

2. 2

   Bring it to a simmer over medium heat, uncovered. Cook 8 to 12 minutes, until it has reduced by about a third and a spoon dipped in comes out coated. Stay with it. The sugar scorches in the last minute if the heat is high or you walk off.

3. 3

   Cool it in the pan. It thickens more as it cools. Pour it into a clean jar. It keeps in the refrigerator for about two weeks.

4. 4

   Use it at the end of cooking. Toss hot beef, chicken, or fish with a few spoonfuls, or brush it on in the last minute. A long boil in the skillet burns the sugars and turns the shine bitter.

From the kitchen

• If you do not keep sake, use 2 tablespoons of water and another teaspoon of sugar. If you do not keep mirin either, use ½ cup water, 2 tablespoons of honey, and 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar in place of the mirin and the sake. Most of the alcohol in a real simmer cooks away. This second version is for a house that does not keep the wines at all. It will glaze. It will not smell quite the same.
• A bottle from the store is often sweetened hard and made with vegetable oil. This pan has neither.
• The beef teriyaki uses about half a cup of this sauce. The chicken teriyaki on this site is a different plate, the Pacific Northwest shop kind, and it has its own sauce.