Teriyaki refers to a Japanese way of cooking. The term teriyaki is a combination of two Japanese words "teri" which means luster and "yaki" which means grill or boil. To make a teriyaki dish, ingredients are broiled, roasted, or grilled after being marinated in or basted by teriyaki sauce. It's the teriyaki sauce that brings the shiny look (teri) to the ingredients.