A few years after She Who Must Be Obeyed and I were married we had the good fortune to head West for another stint of training.
Salt Lake City these days doesn’t really conjure up images of The Wild West, but back in 1984, less several hundred thousand folks (damn the Californians), it was a very, very livable city.
With the astounding snow fall scraped from the jet stream by the Wasatch range there was abundant skiing in the winter with runoff to fish nifty local water the rest of the year. The canyon streams held fish back in the day, the Provo was less than an hour away, with lots of lesser known but imminently fishable water within two hours.
Jackson Hole and all the incredible water therein was less than five hours away.
Those were days before mortgages, kids, businesses to run, etc.; we hiked / skied / fished / biked a bare minimum of three days a week.
We hit the ground in very early June of 1984 with literally just under 50 dollars in our pockets after paying for our move and first month’s rent. We unloaded the truck, drove to Alta that afternoon with snow falling and spent most of our bank roll that night on a dinner out and a movie (Ghostbusters – the original).
Those were the days when ramen noodles were 10 cents a bag and we could whip up a vegetable stir fry with all the trimmings for less than two dollars. The weekly grocery budget came in around 25 bucks a week.
A few months down the road we befriended a couple 15 or so years older; Bob was a very well paid trucking executive and with his lovely wife Terri were probably some of the most generous folks we’d ever met. They lived part way up one of the canyons in an impossibly large house and threw tremendous parties.
We poor folk took to calling their home the ‘Big House’ and that’s where we first tasted this recipe – Big House Grilled Teriyaki Chicken. In the twenty five years since we’ve never tasted a better teriyaki chicken.
We’ve tweaked the recipe a bit, but you’ll agree this is one of the best Teriyaki sauce recipes around. We’ve taken to making the sauce in multiples of 3 or 4 times – it keeps pretty well and is a must have during grilling season.
The Sauce
3/4 cup mirin
3/4 cup sake
3/4 cup dark soy sauce
2 tbs minced basil leaves
3 tbs minced fresh ginger
3 tbs sugar
2 tsp corn starch
2 tbs butterThe Other Stuff
10 to 12 chicken thighs
1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 bunch green onions
Mushrooms (chef’s choice)
A couple of firm Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
Make the sauce. Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and make sure the sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat and cool slightly.
Pour off 3/4 cup to marinate the chicken and 1/2 cup to marinate the vegetables. Bring the remaining sauce to a moderate simmer and reduce down to roughly 3/4 of a cup for table sauce.
Marinate. In one container place the rinsed and trimmed chicken and add 3/4 cup of the marinade. Make sure all the pieces are coated and marinate for at least an hour (up to 8). In another container place the pineapple, green onions, mushrooms and sliced romas, marinate for up to an hour before grilling.
Before grilling. Before grilling, drain the vegetables and thread onto soaked wooden or metal skewers. Heat the grill to medium. Bring the rest of the sauce to a low boil then add the cornstarch mixed with an equal amount of cold water, stir for a minute or so until it thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and stir (whisk is even better) in the butter.
Grill. Oil the grill grate. Grill the chicken for roughly 8 or 9 minutes a side. When you turn the chicken at half way point, place the vegetables on the grill and turn at 3 or 4 minutes. You’re looking for nice grill marks and some caramelization on the veges.
Serve. Brush everything coming off the grill with a bit of the sauce and go to it. This just calls for more sake or a Japanese beer and some grilled rice (yep, grilled rice).
Enjoy.
Tags: Friday Feast
