Beef Yakitori

Sundays are a time of much reverie for myself and my fellow nerds. We gather at noon for an unbridled geekgasm of food, games and much trash talking. For today's affair I made beef yakitori, owing to the fact that chicken (the traditional ingredient in yakitori) isn't something I like on its own. I paired the skewers with rice and sweet and sour cucumbers. (see below)

     Sometimes when I get up to start cooking on Sunday, I'm tired and not so into it. As I go through my preparations, listening to music and thinking about the game ahead, I start to feel it. By the time my friends arrive, I'm excited and ready to go. I wish more people embraced entertaining at home and face to face interaction. Facebook isn't networking. It's giving your private information away to marketing firms.

Beef Yakitori

Ingredients
2 lbs. boneless sirloin, trimmed of fat and sinew to produce lean steaks
vegetable oil
salt
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons miso paste
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Sesame seeds and parsley for garnish

Directions
1. After you trim the fat and sinew from the sirloin, tenderize the meat with a meat tenderizing mallet. To do this, place a layer of plastic wrap on your cutting bard, lay the steak on top, then place another layer of plastic warp on top of that. Tenderize the meat by gently beating it. Flip the meat and repeat the tenderising. Then cut the sirloin into strips about 2" wide x 4"-5" long.

2. Light a grill or preheat a grilling pan. Insert skewers into the steak, then place on a plate, Drizzle the skewers with oil and sprinkle with salt.

2. In a bowl prepare the glaze by combining the brown sugar with the soy sauce, miso paste and sesame oil.

3. Grill the skewers over high heat for 40 seconds to a minute. Flip and grill the other side for 40 seconds to a minute.

3. Brush the skewers with the glaze and grill each side for 30-40 seconds each. Total cooking time is 3-4 minutes.

4. Transfer yakitori to plates and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Notes
     Low sodium soy sauce is important because the miso paste is plenty salty on its own. Be sure to soak the skewers in water for at least 30 minutes so that they don't ignite when grilling. I served my skewers on top of a bed of rice, which I first drizzled with left over glaze. Speaking of the glaze, you might also want to double the amount of ingredients in the glaze. The excess glaze can be served in small bowls as a dipping sauce for the skewers.