Make This Japanese Chicken on a Stick and Change Your Barbecue Game Forever

Summer weekend eating doesn't get much better then grilled meat on a stick but it's about time you turned your barbecue game up a notch. Forget those dodgy frozen kebabs from Sainsbury's and try your hand at tsukune: Japan's answer to chicken on a skewer.

The Japanese street food staple is hot-off-the-coals from East London restaurant Jidori, who specialise in yakitori cuisine—an ancient style of Japanese cooking that basically involves grilling all parts of the chicken on a stick. Although tsukune calls for ground chicken thighs, you can mince up any part of the bird for the skewers (yep, even the backside).

Jidori head chef Shunta Matsubara serves his tsukune with tare—a mirin, sake, and soy-based sauce with two magic ingredients: rendered chicken wing tip fat and a plump golden yolk.

Get ready to spend all weekend humble-bragging about your beak-to-butt cooking skills.