WhoDunnitdinners Podcast #1 Seishi Yokomizo: dishevelled detectives, intriguing instruments and salary men

What do you get if you cross a devilishly delicious whodunnit detective story set in mid-century Japan, two murder mystery dinner party writers and a plate of grilled chicken? Episode #1 of the Whodunnitdinners podcast, that’s what!

In our first podcast, Katie introduced me to a little-known novel called, ‘The Honjin Murders’ by celebrated Japanese author, Seishi Yokomizo, featuring eccentric detective Kendaichi. 

(As promised on the podcast we've added picture of the fictional detective’s statue in Kurashiki City, which is his fictional place of birth.)

After Katie had tantalised me with the details of the rogue detective and his locked-room mystery (check out our podcast to hear more), I brought the dinner challenge she had set me right back at her. 

Previously, Katie had tasked me with introducing her and our listeners to some post-war Japanese food, without revealing to me in advance the story it would be complementing. 

With that as my brief, I plumped for Japanese yakitori - literally ‘grilled chicken’ - and although yakitori disappointingly turned out not to be a feature of the story itself, it was still a perfect example of simple, local fare that would have been eaten at the time. If you’re interested to find out more about this popular dish, I will go into more detail about the culture around it on the podcast. 

So, if you’d like to recreate yakitori for yourself at home, here are my three suggestions, depending on your level of laziness! (You can easily substitute for prawns or veggie like mushrooms, if you don’t eat meat).

1. Easy peasy Japaneasy yakitori 

Many of you will already have enjoyed the delights of Yo! Sushi, a chain of restaurants made famous by its ‘kaiten sushi’ - a revolving conveyor belt of small sushi plates. Well thankfully, they produce sachets of their marinades that you can pick up from most supermarkets in the UK. These are decent quality and all you have to do is slice up your chicken thighs (better than chicken breast for this dish), dunk them in the marinade, place them on bamboo skewers then grill or BBQ for 10 minutes or so. Bosh. 

2. Tokyo drifting* yakitori  

My tried and tested go-to online source for cooking ideas is so often BBC Good Food. The recipes are well reviewed and you can always find what you want. The good thing about this recipe is that there are very few ingredients, but you will have to make a small effort to source two of them. Soy sauce and sugar are easy enough to get hold of, but you will need a specialist section of a supermarket or an Asian foodstore to find the mirin or sake. (I use ‘dashi’ which is Japanese fish stock, from an Asian store, instead of sake, as that can be very expensive.)

*Fun fact - The song Tokyo Drift was released by the Teriyaki Boyz. Teriyaki means ‘glazed and grilled’ which refers to this type of Japanese food. This type of glaze was originally used for seafood. 

3. ‘I think I’m turning Japanese’ yakitori 

If you decide you want to fully invest in the Japanese cooking experience, I wholeheartedly recommend getting hold of the book ‘Japaneasy’ by Tim Anderson, an American writer who was a Masterchef champion. It’s accessible and well written and you’ll get the background to all the flavours plus substitute ingredients when you can’t get the real thing. In his recipe on p72 for ‘Chicken Thigh and Spring Onion Yakitori’ he spells it out: ‘juicy chicken + delicious sauce + hot grill = GOOD.” And I’ll be honest, my family do notice the depth of flavour if you go with his recipe instead of the simpler ones, but it depends how much of a stickler you are. 

Suppose you’ve found these recipe ideas suitably tantalising. In that case, you should take a listen to the full 30-minute Whodunnitdinners podcast, which will introduce you to a little-known Japanese murder mystery called The Honjin Murders, explain the reference to the 'intriguing instrument' in the title of this blog and give you more background on the glories of yakitori. To hear the full Whodunnitdinners podcast, go here.