To start with, what is teriyaki? Teriyaki is a Japanese cooking style in which ingredients are broiled or roasted in a sweet marinade, usually a soy sauce marinade. Japanese foods with teriyaki are largely fish ingredients, while in America meats like chicken and beef are often marinated with teriyaki. The word breaks down into two parts, tari- the sugary shine given off, and yaki- the grilling or broiling cooking method.

There are many different ingredients available to use when making your marinade. I'll give you an idea of what to use and it's up to you to perfect it for your tastes. Remember, cooking is all about experimenting and tweaking recipes the way you like it, so have fun. One more brief note, a marinade for our discussion is not the same as a sauce. A marinade is used for immersing our pre-cooked foods in, while a sauce compliments our food after it's cooked. Here is a list of ingredients to consider using. I've seen teriyaki marinades with only two ingredients, so don't fret if you don't want to include many of these. Soy sauce, sugar or brown sugar, garlic cloves, sesame seeds, pineapple juice, ginger, whiskey, orange juice, garlic powder, lemon juice, red or white wine, vegetable oil, honey, dry mustard, mirin, gingerroot. I'm a fan of sweeter teriyaki marinades so for this example I'll use 1/4 cup apple juice, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 minced clove of garlic, and 2 tbsp white wine. This is a sweeter marinade that would taste good on chicken.

Simply mix these ingredients in a bowl and soak the raw meat inside the refrigerator for about 4 hours. Take the meat out of the marinade and fully cook in the oven. That's really all there is to making your own teriyaki marinade. Adjust the measurements to how much meat you're cooking (for every 1-1/2 to 2 pounds of food use about 1 to 2 cups of marinade) and be sure to throw out the remaining marinade as it's been soaking in raw meat. If you want to baste the meat with marinade just before it's done cooking for more flavoring, make sure to use fresh marinade, not what's been soaking the raw meat.

If you don't want to go through the trouble of experimenting and putting together a marinade of your own, there are many available brands of teriyaki marinade you can purchase at your grocery store or online. Some smaller label brands are great but even larger brands are hit or miss, so find a teriyaki marinade that holds its own in the cooking community. Happy cooking!