“Teri” means “glaze” and “yaki” means “seared”. Due to prohibitions on eating meat, the method was used on fish, not chicken, for most of the dish’s history. Japanese cooks would briefly sear yellowtail and then glaze it with a mixture of soy sauce, sake and/or mir in, and sugar. But when the emperor lifted those prohibitions in the second half of the 19th century, chicken teriyaki became an option, at least for those wealthy enough to buy or raise poultry.

Recipe is Chicken Teriyaki