Koikuchi soy sauce
Japan's standard all-purpose soy sauce: soybeans and wheat grown over with koji mould, brined, fermented for months, pressed and usually heated into a reddish-brown, savoury liquid.
Soy-mirin tare for glazing
A modern tare-style glaze of koikuchi soy sauce, mirin, water, sugar and optional ginger, gently reduced and brushed onto food near the end of cooking.
One tare-style glaze
Tare names a broad family of Japanese sauces for grilling, dipping and other uses. This page records one modern, untested development formula: koikuchi soy sauce and mirin in equal weights, with water, sugar and optional ginger. It is not a single definition of teriyaki, and it is not presented as a traditional or historically attested recipe.
The formula is distinct from a mirin-free approximation. Replacing the mirin with water and extra sugar changes the flavour, and the substitution belongs as a named variation rather than a claim that longer simmering makes the original alcohol-free.
Sources for this section
The formula and its reduction
The starting batch uses 80 g each of koikuchi soy sauce and mirin, 40 g water and 25 g sugar. Five grams of sliced ginger is optional. This weighs 225 g without the ginger or 230 g with it. The report estimates a final mass of roughly 180–200 g after about 10 minutes of gentle simmering; the time varies with the pan and heat and is not a safety endpoint.
Koikuchi provides the soy-sauce base, while mirin adds sweetness and can help form a lustrous glaze. The water and sugar make up this formula's liquid and sweetness balance. Ginger contributes an optional aromatic note. These are the reported proportions of one development batch, not ratios tested at other scales.
Sources for this section
Using it on food
As the mixture simmers, the sugar dissolves and water evaporates, so the sauce becomes more concentrated. Stop when it is lightly syrupy: it thickens further as it cools. Remove the ginger before using the tare.
The archive suggests brushing it onto grilled or pan-fried food near the end of cooking. The sugar can burn if the glaze is exposed to heat for too long. Set aside a clean table portion before handling raw food; sauce or a brush that has touched raw meat must not go back into the storage container.
Sources for this section
Handling and limits
This formula has not been cooked in a test kitchen, compared with a restaurant tare, or assessed for keeping. Cool it promptly and refrigerate it for short-term use, or freeze portions. General Food Standards Agency advice for leftovers is relevant to handling but does not validate this recipe's storage life. The report's 48-hour refrigerated window is a planning convention, not a measured shelf life for the tare.
Do not store this reduction at room temperature or treat it as a canning recipe. It contains soy sauce and mirin; koikuchi soy sauce commonly contains wheat, so check product labels for allergen details. Mirin contains alcohol, and Kikkoman notes that heating does not remove all of it.
Sources for this section
History
The supplied report describes this as an original development formula for one tare-style glaze, not a historical recipe or a universal teriyaki formula.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Untested storage and preservation
This original development formula has not been kitchen-tested or assessed for shelf life; its reduction does not establish a safe room-temperature product.
Hazard sourceCool promptly, refrigerate for short-term use or freeze portions; do not can or store at room temperature.
Control sourceKeep a clean portion aside before brushing and do not return sauce or a brush exposed to raw meat to the storage container.
Control sourceThis is an untested development formula, not a validated preservation process; no measured shelf life is established.
Mirin contains alcohol. Heating reduces it but does not make it disappear completely.
Contains soy and wheat from soy sauce; check the labels of the products used.
- Combine 80 g koikuchi soy sauce, 80 g mirin, 40 g water and 25 g sugar. Add 5 g sliced fresh ginger if using it. The starting mass is 225 g without ginger or 230 g with it.
- Simmer gently until lightly syrupy. The source estimates about 10 minutes and a reduced mass of roughly 180–200 g; neither figure is a preservation endpoint.
- Remove and discard the ginger. The tare thickens further as it cools.
- Before cooking, set aside a clean portion for serving at the table.
- Brush the remaining tare onto food near the end of cooking so the sugars are less exposed to burning. Do not return sauce or a brush that has touched raw meat to the storage container.
- Cool promptly. Refrigerate for short-term use or freeze portions. This untested formula has no measured shelf life and is not for room-temperature storage or home canning.
Conditions
Temperature controlRefrigerated
Places
Japan
Modern adaptation · Country evidenceCountry-level culinary association only; this is an original modern development formula, not an origin claim.
Related
Made from
Mirin
Hon-mirin is a Japanese rice seasoning made by saccharifying glutinous rice with rice koji in shochu, then pressing and usually heating the mash.
More from Japan
Akazu (red sake-lees vinegar)
Japanese reddish-brown vinegar from sake lees matured about three years, turned to vinegar by acetic bacteria; the vinegar of Handa and Edomae sushi rice.
Amabito no Moshio
Amabito no Moshio is a modern, pale beige Japanese seaweed salt made from Seto Inland Sea water and hondawara seaweed. Its documented factory method concentrates filtered brine in kettles, then separates and dries the salt.
Awaji moshio
Awaji moshio is a modern Japanese seaweed salt made by TaDa PHILOSOPHY from Awaji Island seawater and seaweed. Its premium process concentrates brine, extracts seaweed flavor, then crystallizes, separates, dries and grades the salt.
Fresh ponzu-shoyu
This fresh ponzu-shoyu mixes Japanese koikuchi soy sauce with yuzu or a lemon-lime blend, rice vinegar, water and sugar; optional kombu and bonito give a short chilled infusion.
Fresh yuzu-chilli-salt paste
A fresh, uncooked yuzu and green chilli paste inspired by Kyushu’s yuzu kosho, made here as an untested small-batch seasoning rather than a preservation formula.
Goma dare sesame sauce
A creamy Japanese sesame dipping sauce with soy, rice vinegar and dashi. Gradual mixing turns the thick sesame paste into a smooth sauce.
Gomashio
Toasted sesame seeds and sea salt are ground together into a coarse seasoning for rice. This small pan-roasted batch keeps most of the seed texture.
Green tea leaf salt (ocha-shio)
Green tea leaf salt is a dry seasoning made by grinding tea leaves, sieving them and mixing the powder with fine salt. This Japanese-style version follows a documented equal-parts method.
Related in the family
Ajvar
Ajvar is a cooked Balkan pepper preserve built around roasted red peppers, peeled, drained, ground and slowly fried with oil and seasoning. Leskovac’s protected version is a pepper specialty; regional versions vary.
Amlou
Amlou is a nutty, lightly sweet Moroccan spread of roasted almonds, culinary argan oil and honey. The almonds are ground first, then loosened with oil and sweetened; the balance can range from a thick spread to a dip.
Apple sauce for goose and pork
Apple sauce for goose and pork is a plain English accompaniment: cooked apples pulped with water, then sweetened with sugar and finished with a little butter.
Bagna cauda
A warm dip of garlic, anchovy and olive oil, often enriched with butter, that Piedmont serves over a flame with raw and cooked vegetables and bread.
Banana ketchup in a Filipino-inspired direction
A sweet-hot table sauce of ripe banana simmered with vinegar, sugar, onion, garlic and fresh chilli, in the manner of Philippine banana ketchup. An untested development batch of about 500 g.
Bazhe (walnut sauce base)
A Georgian walnut sauce of ground walnuts, garlic, vinegar and spices, thinned with water or broth. It is served with poultry, vegetables and bread, and is the sauce of the dish satsivi.
Butterscotch sauce
A pourable dessert sauce of brown sugar, butter and cream, with a little corn syrup and salt. It is the sauce form of the butterscotch confection and is made without water, unlike caramel.
Byzantine murrī
Byzantine murrī is a cooked imitation of murrī from the medieval Arabic repertoire, made from scorched honey, toasted bread, walnuts, quince, carob and spices rather than from a long grain fermentation.
Community
No community contributions have been published for this entry yet.
Share what you made
Sign in to contribute. Published comments and photos are free to read.
Sources
Japan Soy Sauce AssociationIngredient context
Types and how to use themThe report cites this association for koikuchi as a general-purpose soy sauce used in cooking or at the table.
Cited in: The formula and its reduction
Kikkoman CorporationMethod context · Safety
Mirin FAQKikkoman describes mirin and soy sauce being used together for a lustrous glaze.
Kikkoman states that alcohol evaporates during heating but does not completely disappear.
Cited in: One tare-style glaze; The formula and its reduction; Using it on food; Handling and limits
Food Standards Agency, GOV.UKHandling · Safety
How to chill, freeze and defrost food safelyGeneral guidance says to cool cooked food promptly, refrigerate leftovers within one to two hours, keep a refrigerator between 0 and 5°C, and eat leftovers within 48 hours or freeze; this does not establish a formula-specific shelf life.
Cited in: Handling and limits