Teriyaki Steak

Inspired by Ivan Orkin - New York, NY

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We’ve all enjoyed teriyaki before. Teriyaki is what most Americans associate with Japanese food outside of sushi and ramen. Ever since picking up Ivan Orkin’s fantastic work, The Gaijin Cookbook, I’ve expanded my taste for Japanese cooking way beyond what most of us associate with normal. Still, there’s no denying that teriyaki is a great sauce. Thanks to Ivan, I now know how to make it from scratch. It’s super easy and will give you something better than anything you can find at the store.

Parts of this recipe were adapted by Ivan Orkin’s recipe for “Teriyaki 12.0” in his cookbook, “The Gaijin Cookbook”. Ivan also own a ramen shop in New York City called Ivan Ramen. In my opinion, it’s the best ramen in the city.

INGREDIENTS

TERIYAKI SAUCE (Makes 1 cup):

  • ¼ cup sake

  • ¼ cup mirin

  • ¼ soy sauce

  • ¼ oyster sauce

  • 1 TBS sugar

GO FOR IT

TERIYAKI SAUCE:

  1. In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients until sugar is dissolved

STEAK:

  1. Find a nice, thick steak and grill or cook it as you like best (I used Rib-Eye and cooked it to medium rare using my reverse sear method)

  2. While steak cooks, put teriyaki sauce into a sauce pan and simmer until it begins to thicken (should take no more than 5 minutes)

  3. Once steak is cooked and has been rested, cut into thick slices and drizzle over with thickened teriyaki sauce

NOTES:

The main takeaway from this post is learning how to make teriyaki sauce. As with other things I’ve posted that call for mirin and sake, you can substitute sake for more mirin (but sake is great to have in your kitchen all around both for meals and for libations as you cook).

That being said, don’t just use teriyaki for steak. Use it on pork and chicken, mix it with rice, or use it for just about anything when you find yourself craving teriyaki. Just remember to thicken it before applying to meats or it will run right off.