Yakimono

Yakimono (焼き物) literally means 'grilled thing' — 'yaki' (焼き) denoting grilling or firing, and 'mono' (物) meaning thing or dish. In the context of washoku (Japanese cuisine) and especially kaiseki (the formal multi-course Japanese meal), yakimono is the name of the grilled course, typically the fourth or fifth dish, presented after the soup and sashimi courses and before rice. As a standalone culinary concept, yakimono is a broad category encompassing any food subjected to direct dry heat: fish grilled whole on a wire basket (ami yaki), skewered chicken pieces cooked over charcoal (kushiyaki / yakitori), salt-crusted whole fish baked upright beside an open flame (sugata yaki), ingredients coated in sweet miso and broiled (saikyo miso yaki), and pan-seared meats finished over binchotan. The unifying principle is contact with or proximity to a strong dry heat source, producing surface caramelisation and a characteristic fragrance — 'koge' (香げ), the appealing scent of controlled scorching — with a moist interior. In kaiseki, the yakimono selection showcases the season: spring might bring cherry-blossom-smoked cherry trout, autumn a ginkgo-leaf-wrapped matsutake mushroom. Each method within yakimono has its own sub-vocabulary: 'shio yaki' (salt grilling), 'teriyaki' (glaze grilling), 'misoyaki' (miso marinated), 'tsuke yaki' (marinade grilled).

“The kaiseki yakimono arrived as a single fillet of Kyoto-farmed ayu, salt-grilled with the fins crisped to a lacquer finish and the flesh still yielding and sweet.”

• techniquesGrilling
• CuisineJapanese cuisine
• ConceptKaiseki structure

1. 1.Kaiseki: The Exquisite Cuisine of Kyoto's Kikunoi Restaurant — Murata Yoshihiro
2. 2.The Japanese Kitchen — Hiroko Shimbo
3. 3.Japanese Farm Food — Nancy Singleton Hachisu
4. 4.Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen — Elizabeth Andoh

Confidence: high