Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

No offense meant to people who think raw chicken is ick, but one has got to wonder how much of our aversion to it is simply a product of purely North American circumstances.

I say as long as its very fresh and clean (we'd all want this of all our food, right?) it can't be that bad.

Having eaten it on many occasions in Japan, I'm neither an advocate or in opposition. I have alway's seen it prepared in the same manner. First, only the" tenderloin " from the Breast was used. After removing it from the breast and removing the strip of sinue,the chef would sanitize the work surfaces. After the meat was placed on a small cutting board . Placing the board over a sink the chef poured boiling water ever so briefly over both sides of the meat and then immediately plunged the piece into an ice water bath.This technique is used in some fish sashimi preparations as well. While ,I don't crave find myself craving chicken sashimi, I did feel safe as safe eating it as I do most things.

i for one am suprised by the ignorance of the majority of comments posted here. Jeffrey Steingarten writes about chicken sashimi in one of his articles in his books-

the fact that the chicken could be eaten raw only speaks very highly of the chef and his products, and the fact that he isn't using the industrial salmonella ridden chicken. Remember trichinosis in pigs, which is no longer such a big deal, was the result of extremely dirty and poor rearing processes especialy in diet.

as for those who are turned off by raw chicken- i'm sure it isn't an "alternative" to chicken fully cooked, as rare steak is eaten to well done, but a dish in itself. Just realize that it is possible to eat rare chicken that isn't contaminated with salmonella, and that our food preferences change over the years for the better. Ie rare steak to well done.

A related story:
I've seen an episode of Wife Swap with a family that was entirely dependant on their own resources (on a farm) and they ate their chicken completely rare as well.

As long as the chicken is from a reliable source (or not infected with salmonella) I think it's okay to eat! But this family's bodies were also was so adjusted to eating raw chicken and raw eggs that actual 'cooked' food was difficult for them to digest and made them sick (though I think they said it tastes better)

I wonder if there would be more nutrients in the raw from of chicken though?

When it comes to raw chicken, my issue is more of a textural thing rather than a "germ" thing.

I quite often will eat chicken that is a tiny bit pink in the middle or has red/pink bits near the bones. As long as the texture isn't the slimy uncooked chicken texture, I'm fine with it.

*shudder* It's like what I imagine biting into a slug would be like.

There are people in third world countries who drink dirty water straight from a nasty river. Their bodies have been conditioned to accept the bacteria they ingest. They eat, not only raw, but "spoiled" meat and vegetables. If we were to eat and drink the same I'm sure we would become ill. Americans have trouble drinking water in Mexico! I, for one, would never in a million years eat raw chicken no matter how it is prepared.

No, no, no. No raw chicken-- even for/with Bourdain. Also, no warthog anus.

Not to turn you off to raw eggs, but my microbiology prof in college worked for the Dept. of Agriculture as they were testing bacterial loads in raw eggs and finding out the most cost effective ways to pasteurize them. He told us that bacteria set up sites of infection in the chickens' *ovaries* so the bacteria is found throughout the egg. Washing the shell does next to nothing.

Buy pasteurized eggs!

please tell me that someone has seen the wife swap with the raw food eaters that eat raw chicken out of a jar from their fridge? classic.

i don't think if i was in japan at a place where everyone is eating chicken sashimi that i would be worried about my health, but at the same time i just don't think i'd like the FLAVOR of it. the smell and texture. on the other hand, a blush color in the meat when cooked i don't mind at all, it generally makes for juicier meat.

There's a special breed of chicken, I think blue footed chicken? I saw it on Iron Chef America and they said this chicken is raised to not have salmonella and can be eaten raw.

warm, raw egg yolk improves everything you put it on!(just like bacon). as far as roast chicken goes, a med. rare breast is the juciest, most chicken flavored chicken you will ever eat. I used to think i perferred dark meat to white, until i learned that the white should still be pinkish in the middle and between 125-130degrees. I understand that most people think this is raw. their loss.....

I find a lot of the anti-Slow Food rhetoric cranky and overwrought. We risk wasting a lot of energy by being too sloppy and arbitrary in identifying who our opponents are supposed to be. Slow Food is not against any of the things the commenters here (and Ed) are proponents of; on the contrary, it's vociferously in favor of them. Even without being a member, I can tell you that the long-term aim of the outfit is not just to swell its own membership rolls--the world isn't going to become a better place simply because a lot of people join a particular organization. What it's about is ideas, values, standards, all of which are stridently, pervasively democratic. "Elitist," "effete," and such labels--which get so facilely applied to Slow Food--are generally not terms that come to mind when one is talking about such folks as Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, and Winona LaDuke. And yet those very people are Slow Food's heroes, all present at the San Francisco event! My plea is, please don't conjure up enemies and animosities where they simply don't exist and have no reason to. There's way too much work to do!

You'd be surprised, V. I don't diswade easily.