First off, sounds more like what I call a bean masher that you are using..small holes for smashing refried beans..(I realize they sell them as potato mashers.)

I use a wavy one strand of metal for potato mashing.

See the link for all kinds of "shapes" of mashers.

And I use this sauce recipe basically, but make some personal changes.

Baked Teriyaki I use rice vinegar, brown sugar and a splash of maple syrup.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mashers..

I used to make my own terayaki marinade...but I have come to love Soy Vey Veri Veri terayaki marinade...
As for Smashers for potatoes...I use a flat meat smasher thingey. Batte carne. I have heard of people using a glass.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soyvay

Teriyaki sauce is simple. Here is the recipe I have used:
- Sake 7 parts
- Mirin 7 parts
- Soy sauce 7 parts
- Sugar 1 part

It has a sweeter, cleaner taste than commercial teriyaki which I find too salty, dark and bitter.

You can get mirin (sweet Japanese cooking wine) and sake at most supermarkets, or an Asian grocery. Mirin is great stuff.

I don't marinate when I'm making chicken teriyaki. I simply bbq my (boneless)chicken, slice it, and then top it with a sauce, like we used to do at the Japanese restaurant where I worked. If you made it this way, you could please your son and serve yourself sauce on the side to dip in as you liked (or not.)It also gives any other guests the control over how much sauce they use, which is nice because everyone's taste for salt is different.

At the restaurant, they simmered chicken bones in equal parts of sake and soy sauce, with sliced ginger (appx. 4 or 5 thin slices per cup of soy) and sugar to taste. Straining out the bones and ginger slices, they then thickened the sauce to a thin-gravy thickness with corn starch. The owners were from Yokohama, and their sauces tended to be a good deal sweeter than those of many other restaurants.

For myself, I tend to water down the soy with some chicken stock as well, as the style of sauce I loved so when I worked there has become really too salty for me now.

Teriyaki is a very forgiving sauce, because you can always add a bit more of this or that until you get the flavor the way you like it.

Be sure and use a Japanese soy sauce, such as Kikkoman or Yamasa rather than Chinese, because the flavor is different.

To make teriyaki sauce into a nice stir fry sauce, add a good amount of finely grated fresh ginger (appx. 1 T per cup of soy). Then stir fry your meats/vegetables/tofu, add the sauce and thicken with a little corn starch slurry. This dish is called Shogayaki (Shoga is ginger).

Thank you all so much, will go and get the mirin and give it a shot. As for the masher a big BGO, the one I had like that, I used to texture the walls and ceiling in one of my bathrooms. LOL Will try the meat masher or a glass!
Thanks again for the help.

I'm with lindac on this one -- Soy Vey Veri Veri terayaki is the best! I wouldn't bother buying all those pricey ingredients until you try it.

I love Soy Vey teriyaki too, particularly as a dipping sauce.

I did find a place fairly close to my house (Fresh Market) to buy what lindac suggested, will try to find time to get there and pick some up! Thanks again.

another Soy Vey fan here. I really like the island teriyaki too, along with grilled fresh pineapple.

Alexa