What is Teriyaki? Is it a sauce or a cooking method?

Hello! That's a great question, and it's something many people get confused about.

Simply put, "Teriyaki" is primarily a cooking method, but because the core of this method involves a signature sauce, it is now often used to directly refer to this sauce as well.

You can understand it this way:

The Origin of the Word "Teriyaki"
- "Teri" (照) in Japanese means "luster" or "to shine."
- "Yaki" (焼) means "grill," "broil," or "fry."
- So, combined, the literal meaning is "broiled with a gloss." This gloss comes from the sauce brushed onto the ingredients during cooking.
As a Cooking Method The traditional way involves grilling or broiling fish or meat (like chicken or beef) until almost cooked, then repeatedly basting or brushing it with a special sauce. This allows the sauce to thicken slightly under high heat and tightly coat the surface of the food, forming a shiny, caramelized crust. This process is called "Teriyaki."
As a Sauce The "special sauce" mentioned above is Teriyaki sauce. Its basic recipe is quite simple, mainly consisting of soy sauce, mirin (a type of sweet Japanese rice wine), sake, and sugar. These ingredients mixed together create that unique sweet and savory flavor.

In summary:

Initially, "Teriyaki" referred to a cooking technique of "grilling while basting with sauce to make the food shiny."

However, nowadays, especially outside Japan, for convenience, many pre-mixed "Teriyaki sauce" bottles are sold in supermarkets. Many people buy them to use directly for stir-frying, marinating meat, or as a dipping sauce. So, over time, the word "Teriyaki" has also come to directly refer to this sauce.

Therefore, you can say it is both a method and a sauce, but fundamentally, it originated as a cooking method.