How To Elevate Your Cookout With Japanese BBQ Sauce

At Tasting Table, we're always looking for ways to spruce up a meal, whether it be a raucous backyard barbecue or a carefully planned dinner party for your closest friends. We spoke to James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef Greg Gatlin for some of the easiest ways we might turn up dials of flavor during our next cookout. Gatlin, the founder of Gatlin's BBQ and the brains behind Gatlin's Fins & Feathers has been satisfying hungry palates for over a decade with tasty barbecue dishes. His recipes have garnered such recognition as Houston's go-to-craft barbecue establishment, and thanks to the delicious reliability of a menu at his BBQ joint that is packed with beef and pork sliders, ribs, baked potatoes, and mouth-watering sandwiches, Gatlin's business endeavors have steadily grown. 

Greg Gatlin steered us towards Japanese barbecue sauce to flavor our next barbecue recipes. "Japanese barbecue sauce can be used to baste meat during the cooking process or applied after your meats are done," he instructed. Sauces like Bachan's The Original Japanese Barbecue Sauce offer equal parts savory and sweet tasting profiles, packing ingredients such as soy, mirin, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, and green onions into a family-honed recipe that has been enjoyed for centuries. With little to prepare on our part, the sauce couldn't be more convenient for marinating meats or slathering on top of fillets.

For those accommodating various dietary restrictions of dining guests, Bachan's Japanese barbecue sauce is a vegan product with no preservatives, so even cubes of tofu can be spruced up with the addition and quickly tossed onto the grill to satisfy any meat-free eaters at your cookout. In Gatlin's mind, however, Japanese barbecue sauce is best when used to flavor meat-based recipes. "Japanese BBQ Sauce pairs well with beef short ribs and pork belly," he says.

If you'd like to explore different flavors and tastes, Thoughtfully Gourmet provides two bottles of teriyaki-style Japanese barbecue sauces in one set so you can sample different recipes and experiment with layers of ingredients. Both citrus soy and an original barbecue sauce flavor can bring umami depth to ingredients fired up on the grill or tucked into a warm oven to bake. Whether you're looking to stack oven-baked BBQ chicken onto plates or pile pulled pork on top of toasted buns, sampling the zingy flavors of Japanese barbecue sauce can bring new depth to familiar favorites. When served with a cold beer or a glass of iced tea, you may be hard-pressed to pack any leftovers after this satisfying meal.