Start with pork belly, three pieces, each about 1 inch square; thread them on a skewer, sprinkle lightly with salt and grill quickly over a hot flame. Eat them as soon as they come off the fire: The outside is browned and delicately crisp, the inside chewy and juicy. The pork flavor is deep and profound, with a subliminal hint of wood smoke.

Traditionally, yakitori refers to grilled chicken parts — "yaki" means grilled and "tori" means bird. Many yakitori restaurants serve an encyclopedic assortment of poultry parts, including gizzards and crisped cartilage. Modern usage, though, broadens the definition to include a variety of grilled foods.

The pleasure of yakitori is its variety. Whether you're ordering at a yakitori bar or grilling at home, start with simple, punchy flavors — fabulous pork belly or chicken parts. Progress to bacon-wrapped cherry tomatoes or chicken thighs marinated in yakitori sauce and wrapped around green onions. Lighten the mix with vegetables — shishito peppers or shiitake mushrooms.

Japanese markets stock most of the meat ready to go: thinly sliced pork belly (even Berkshire, or Kurobuta, pork belly is available) and boneless chicken breasts and thighs, with and without skin.

The only sauce you'll need is a simple mixture of mirin, soy sauce and sake, and that goes mainly on chicken thighs. Usually the mirin and soy are measured in equal amounts. Cooks have their own preferences for what proportion of sake to use; some prefer leaving out the sake altogether. Similarly, cooks vary on the inclusion of garlic, green onions and ginger.

I like a blend of equal parts of mirin, soy and sake, a balance of flavor between sauce and chicken. Less sake and you taste more sauce than meat; more sake and the sauce flavor fades into the background.

Keep in mind that yakitori sauce is different and more subtle than teriyaki sauce. The latter is appreciated for its thick, shiny texture and sticky sweet flavor. "Teri" translates as glossy or lustrous. Yakitori sauce, on the other hand, is a seasoning, not a glaze.

Soak bamboo skewers in water for at least half an hour before threading on the food. This won't prevent the skewers from burning, but it will slow it down. Yakitori grills are narrow to keep the skewer tips off the fire. Also, short skewers are easier to handle than longer ones, and flat skewers (particularly ones that are forked) keep the food from rolling around during turning.

Devote a half hour early in the day to assembling the skewers, then refrigerate them, covered tightly with plastic wrap until you're ready to cook. Because everything is cut into small pieces, the actual grilling will take about 20 minutes at most.

The only tricky part of serving a yakitori dinner is working the fire. The skewers need to be cooked over a hot-enough flame that the meat crisps and browns, but you also need a safe spot to move them in case of flare-ups when the fat renders and spills onto the fire.

The solution is a two-stage fire: Mound coals along one side of the grill; this will be the hot part of the fire (ready when you can hold your hand just above grill level and only count to three comfortably). The opposite side will be cool enough that the fire won't flame up, but warm enough that the food will continue cooking through. You can also cook the skewers on a cast-iron grill pan on the stove. Preheat it well over a medium-high flame.

Whichever method you choose, it seems to work best if you keep the food moving rather than giving the pieces a single turn. Cook the skewers on one side long enough to get a good grill mark, then flip them and sear the other side. Move them to a slightly cooler area and turn a couple of times more until the outside is deeply browned and the food is cooked through.

It's best to cook things in a series rather than all at once, so it can be eaten while hot. Working a grill this way will keep you hopping, and you'll need to give it your full attention. But on the other hand, the cooking isn't hard and it doesn't take long.

CHICKEN THIGHS WITH YAKITORI SAUCE