Beef Kushiyaki (Japanese Skewers)

Kushiyaki means skewered and grilled in Japanese. This beef version uses fillet cut into 3cm cubes and threaded onto pairs of skewers. Threading the beef onto two parallel skewers rather than one prevents each cube from spinning in place when you turn them, which means both sides cook evenly against the heat.

The marinade is built on soy, caster sugar and sake, with lemon, ginger, garlic and oyster sauce. After the beef is threaded, the remaining marinade goes into a saucepan and reduces by a third over medium heat. The sugars concentrate as the liquid reduces and the result is a lacquered glaze that goes onto the beef during the second half of the cook.

Trim the silverskin from the fillet before cutting into cubes. Silverskin is the thin white connective tissue on the surface of the fillet and it doesn’t break down with heat, so anything left on will tighten when it hits the grill and pull the cube out of shape. Marinating time is 30 minutes minimum or up to 2 hours in the fridge for more depth of flavour. The cook is 6-8 minutes over high charcoal heat, turning every 2-3 minutes and glazing from the halfway point. The target is medium-rare. Charcoal or a Hibachi is the right setup for the smoke and dry, intense heat, but a gas BBQ grill works fine if that’s what you have.

Ingredient Notes

Beef fillet: Fillet (tenderloin) is the best cut because it’s very low in connective tissue and cooks quickly at high heat without toughening. Ask your butcher to remove the silverskin if you prefer to start from a completely prepped piece. Other quick-grilling cuts work as more economical substitutes: flank, striploin and rump. Whichever cut you use, trim away any visible silverskin and hard sinew before cutting into cubes.

Sake: Sake is a Japanese rice wine used in cooking to add mild sweetness and a clean umami note to marinades and sauces. It also has a slight tenderising effect on beef through its alcohol content. Dry sherry is the closest substitute in terms of flavour. Mirin can also be used but it’s considerably sweeter than sake, so if you substitute with mirin, reduce the caster sugar in the marinade by about half to keep the balance.

Caster sugar: The marinade uses a high ratio of sugar to soy sauce (110g to 160ml) to balance the saltiness and to help the glaze caramelise on the grill. Caster sugar is preferred over white sugar because the finer grain dissolves more readily in a cold marinade, so the sugars are evenly distributed before the beef goes in. Brown sugar works as a substitute and adds a slightly deeper, more molasses-forward flavour to the glaze.

Equipment

• Chopping board
• Chef’s knife
• Large bowl (marinating)
• Medium saucepan (reducing glaze)
• Sieve
• Bamboo or metal skewers
• Charcoal BBQ, Hibachi or gas BBQ grill
• Tongs