Tsukune

TSUKUNE 擂鉢

A succulent, soft, juicy ground meat skewered and chargrilled, basted in sweet and savory soy sauce /yakitori sauce. Generally, Tsukune is synonymous with chicken, however, pork, fish and other meats are also in use. Do not confuse with Tsumire with Tsukune, tsumire is fish meatballs simmered in broth for pot dish while Tsukune is grilled or oven baked.

This recipe is throughly infused to core for unique Tuskune experience with exclusive Himalayan pepper found in the foothills of Himalaya and textured soy flakes coatings. No miso is used to eliminate pungent release with the addition of onion and garlic, however you can use white bean paste to give the light miso feel when ginger is in the mix, enjoy!.

METHODS

Let´s begin by preparing the basting sauce;
Clean and bash the chicken bones, and char-roast them in the broiler (250°C for 10 minutes). Bring together all the ingredients roasted bones, water, sake, soy sauce, onion, ginger, and garlic in the broth pot over medium heat, and keep it simmering until reduced to 1/3 of the content. Remove the bones and vegetables, and strain through fine mesh like cheesecloth. Place the pot over a medium heat and slowly bring to 80-85°C, add katsuobushi flakes /hondashi and leave to infuse on minimum heat, after 5 minutes, strain the teriyaki. Introduce brown sugar and keep mixing well over medium heat until dissolved completely, and leave it to cool.
300g Chicken bones
1l Water
60ml Sake
150ml Light soy sauce
45g Brown sugar
25g Onion sliced
5g Ginger sliced
5g Garlic sliced
25g Katsuobushi flakes /3g hondashi

Preparing Tsukuri soy sauce;
Bring the soy sauce, mirin and kombu in a pan, then cover and leave to infuse at room temperature for 2 hours. After 2 hours, place the pan over a medium heat and slowly bring to 60-65°C. Hold the mixture at that temperature for a few minutes, then increase to around 85°C. Add the katsuobushi flakes continue to simmer for a few minutes, then add the orange skin and lemon juice, and remove from the heat, strain the Tsukuri through, leave to cool and store in the fridge.
50ml Light soy sauce
60ml Mirin
1g Dried kombu
5g Katsuobushi flakes
5g Orange skin
5g Lemon juice

Preparing yolk;
Wash the egg then very gently crack them open, separating the yolks from the whites (discard the whites). Place the yolks into a small bowl and pour over around the light soy sauce. Set aside at room temperature for 2 hours

Making Tsukune;
Add chicken mince, chicken fat and salt in a bowl and mix well until the chicken mince becomes sticky, introduce the remaining ingredients starch, egg, onion, ginger juice, garlic, himalayan pepper /Sansho pepper powder, soy sauce, toasted and grated sesame seeds to the bowl and mix well. Leave it to rest for 10-15 minutes. Take about 45-50g of chicken mix, rollover the mix from one hand to another while using the palm of your hands to form an oval like. Take the meatball coat over textured soy flakes, place onto skewer, put aluminum foil around the skewers to prevent them from burning, and set on baking rack.
500g Minced chicken thighs
80g Minced chicken fat
5g salt
25g Starch
2u Eggs
15g Grated onion
5g Grated ginger (juice only)
10g Fine grated garlic
3g Himalayan pepper /Sansho pepper powder
10ml Light soy sauce
10g Toasted and grated sesame seeds
100g Textured soy flakes

Preheat oven at 250°C, once the oven is preheated, reduce heat to 200°C and place skewers in the oven, using a basting brush, generously brush teriyaki on each skewers when rotting skewers every 5 minutes, should take around 15-20 minutes or once internal temp reaches 70-80°C.

Grilling Tsukune;
Prepare grill, once grill is preheated, place skewers on the grill. Using a basting brush, generously brush teriyaki on each skewer. Rotate skewers every 2-3 minutes basting on each rotation keeping covered until done, should take around 15 minutes, do not cook the tsukune close to charcoal/grill radiation, be careful, over caramelising the teriyaki is not the right thing to do.

SERVING

Put soy marinated yolk and Tsukuri soy sauce in service bowl and drizzle around with shiso oil before serving along with a pinch of spring onion and sweet plum paste, serve immediately.