History of Teriyaki Sauce

Teriyaki sauce is a traditional Sweet Japanese sauce that was first used since the 17th century. It is used along with Sukiyaki and Yakitori. These three cooking methods are closely interlaced, and were developed alongside one another. ‘Yaki’, the base word in all 3 types, only means grilled. Yaki dishes will include very similar ingredients with differences in how the meat or vegetables are grilled.

It is said that the history of teriyaki sauce can be traced back to early Japanese immigrants who settled in Hawaii, and who created a distinctive marinade using local products like pineapple juice, which they blended with soy sauce. Eventually, the sauce that most people call teriyaki was born. Its ingredients are brown sugar, cornstarch, garlic, mirin (rice wine) sake, soy sauce and sugar.

It is interesting to note that in Japan, there is apparently no official teriyaki sauce history, and the term refers rather to the aforementioned cooking method, and applies primarily to the preparation of fish, such as mackerel, salmon, trout and tuna.

Vincent Ngiam