BODY: Few things divide a Japanese dinner table like the word "raw chicken." So when Ryuji — the mega-popular cooking YouTuber behind the "Bazz Recipe" empire — announced he'd teach home cooks how to make chicken tataki, the internet braced itself.
In his post, Ryuji promised a version "so delicious it will never get flamed," even as he cheekily acknowledged the dish is "currently causing controversy." The method involves giving chicken thigh a special treatment before serving it with fragrant Japanese herbs like ooba (shiso leaf) and myoga ginger. "Eating this in summer is unbeatable," he wrote. "You absolutely should learn this technique."
Chicken tataki means meat seared hard on the outside but left rare — sometimes nearly raw — in the center. That's exactly where the anxiety kicked in. Comment sections filled with worried viewers citing the very real risk of campylobacter food poisoning, a hazard Japanese health authorities warn about every year, especially with undercooked poultry.
Ryuji's response became the story itself. Rather than soften his stance, he doubled down with a plea that quickly spread: "Please, make food exactly as the recipe says." The line captured a recurring tension in his content — precise, tested techniques versus home cooks who improvise and then blame the result.
The insider take
Raw and rare chicken isn't a stunt in Japan — torisashi and tori tataki are regional staples, especially in Kyushu, where local supply chains and fresh handling make it a point of pride. But in Tokyo, the dish carries an asterisk: it's a "know your source" food, and public health messaging leans hard against replicating it at home. Ryuji's exasperated "follow the recipe" reads less like arrogance and more like a creator who knows his audience will screw with the one variable — doneness — that actually keeps them safe.
Originally reported by はてなブックマーク (Japanese).