塩
Also: Shio
One of the two ways yakitori is seasoned, per the Japan National Tourism Organization: shio is salt, as against tare, which is a sweetened sauce. The choice between them is the seasoning decision at a yakitori counter.
What it is
- Kind
- Dry rub
- Flavour direction
- Salt-forward
- When it goes on
- Applied to the skewer before or during grilling.
Where it comes from
A documented association, qualified. BBQHQ records which source documents the link and does not make claims about authenticity.
- Yakitori — documented in
What it goes with
Grouped by how the pairing is known rather than by how good it is. The first group is somebody else’s statement; the last is ours, and says so.
Documented in the same tradition
A source documents both this and the food within one tradition, without pairing them in a single sentence. The tradition is the link, and it is named.
- Chicken thigh, bone-in — Documented as one of the two ways yakitori is seasoned, on the parts a yakitori counter grills.
- Chicken wings — Same source, same tradition, a different part of the same bird.
Structurally compatible
A structural fact rather than a cultural one: what the sauce is made of against what the cook does to it. Sugar burns over a long direct cook whoever is doing the cooking.
- Chicken satay strips — A salt-only seasoning on skewered chicken behaves the same whatever the skewer is called: nothing to burn over a short, hot, direct cook. Recorded as a structural match and NOT as a yakitori pairing, because satay belongs to a different tradition and this catalogue does not move preparations between them.
What this rests on
- Yakitori is seasoned in one of two ways — shio, salt based, or tare, a sweetened sauce — and yakitori restaurants use every part of the chicken, including negima, sasami, gizzards and hearts.