Ryuji Recreates "Chilled Crab Ramen" While Talking About Food Poisoning, Running a Restaurant, and the Rift with Komeo

According to Ryuji, the chilled crab ramen Komeo served at the Azabu-Juban Festival caused food poisoning, and Komeo was ordered to suspend business. After that, Ryuji received many comments asking "Aren't you going to say anything?" along with requests to "make a chilled crab ramen that will absolutely not cause food poisoning."

Until then, Ryuji had not said a single word about the incident. As reasons, Ryuji cited the fact that food poisoning can happen even with thorough hygiene management, and that it is especially likely at food stalls, where many items are not cooked. There have been past cases of mass food poisoning from whole pickled cucumbers, and Ryuji speculates that the fact this was a "chilled" dish may also have played a role. Since there are restaurants that continue operating even after causing food poisoning and being suspended, Ryuji said they had no particular intention of blaming Komeo for the food poisoning itself.

On the other hand, Ryuji also revealed that they had not put out a video with Komeo for about a year. Ryuji said the reason for that was "a separate issue" from the food poisoning, and this story is told as the cooking progresses.

The recreation was done in two versions: a "crab version" using canned flaked crab meat (red snow crab), and an easy "imitation crab version." For the noodles, Ryuji prepared flat noodles thinking they would be a good match, but said Chinese-style ramen noodles are fine too. The base of the soup is canned cream-style corn and unsweetened soy milk. Ryuji explains that Komeo originally made "chilled corn ramen," and this dish combined that with crab. For toppings, Ryuji uses shredded chili threads and daikon radish sprouts. The original was topped with fried soft-shell crab, but Ryuji left it out on the grounds that most homes probably wouldn't have it.

The reason Ryuji gives for why this ramen was chosen for a food stall is how easy it is to make. In the original, the soup was stored in plastic bottles, and if the tare was prepared together with the kaeshi in advance, the dish was complete just by adding noodles that had been boiled and chilled. With hot ramen, the soup has to be kept warm the whole time, so Ryuji suspects it was designed so that only the noodles needed to be boiled.

However, what Ryuji pointed out as particularly dangerous was the soy milk. When soy milk or tofu goes bad, it causes terrible stomach pain, and it is completely unsuited to storage under the blazing sun, Ryuji said. Unopened, it keeps for a while, but once opened it deteriorates quickly. Ryuji sometimes uses it for several weeks after opening, but that is because they check it repeatedly; Ryuji explained that the carton used in the shoot was on its third day after opening, and urged viewers to use their own judgment at home at their own risk.

For the canned corn, use cream-style corn that has been strained like a potage, not the whole-kernel corn used for salads. Put half of a 180g can, 90g, into a bowl, add the same amount of soy milk, 90cc, and mix. That alone gives you the base for a chilled soup, with no need to go to the trouble of grinding corn. Ryuji says this convenience may also be one of the reasons Komeo chose this dish.

Citing people who ate the original, Ryuji mentioned comments that "the soup was lukewarm," and said it may not have been properly chilled. Ryuji also relayed that staff member Takeshi had actually eaten this ramen, got a terrible stomachache, had eaten nothing but the chilled corn ramen that day, and said it tasted bad because no chemical seasoning was used. Regarding that last assessment, Ryuji stressed, "I'm not the one who said it." The price was apparently around 2,000 yen.

When making it at home, Ryuji thinks it should be fine, since the room isn't that hot and the soup won't be left sitting out.

Ramen always contains dashi. Since Ryuji can't exactly ask Komeo directly, the only option is to recreate it by guesswork. Because Komeo used the word "kaeshi," and because footage of the tare preparation showed quite a lot of soy sauce being used, Ryuji first added 2 teaspoons of soy sauce. Ryuji said it's better not to make the color any darker than this.

At this stage there's no dashi and it doesn't taste good, so umami needs to be added. Reasoning that for crab ramen it would be kombu, which doesn't interfere with the aroma of crab, Ryuji added 1 teaspoon of granulated kombu dashi. While describing Komeo as having a "mysterious restriction" of not using chemical seasonings, Ryuji said this is how they would do it.

On tasting, the umami of the kombu dashi alone made it quite delicious, but the crab umami was lacking. So for the crab version, Ryuji dissolved half a can of flaked red snow crab (590 yen) into the soup, and for the imitation crab version, shredded imitation crab sticks (198 yen) into it. Ryuji said this is because imitation crab contains crab extract.

Ryuji then added 4 shakes of Ajinomoto, which Komeo dislikes. In addition, Ryuji added 3 shakes of white pepper to soften the fishy smell of the seafood (also saying that ramen probably contains pepper anyway), and a pinch of salt, since chilled ramen calls for saltiness. Ryuji used a washed, clean spoon for tasting, adding, "This time we're doing proper hygiene management too."

At the tasting stage, Ryuji judged that the canned crab gave a more crab-like flavor. Imitation crab doesn't release much crab flavor into the soup. When a staff member suggested "What about adding crab rice porridge seasoning?", Ryuji said that would be fine too, but noted that seasonings using crab extract aren't widely available. Canned crab is preferable if possible, but since it's expensive, Ryuji's conclusion is that you can make it delicious with imitation crab as well.

While adding the soy sauce, Ryuji began talking about why they distanced themselves from Komeo. Ryuji said they had also talked about it on a livestream: a lot of what Komeo says is lies.

It started with osechi. Ryuji and Komeo were making osechi with the same company, and Ryuji knows that company's internal workings well. Komeo once tweeted something to the effect that, after selling out of one osechi, they had mistakenly ordered one more (Ryuji also put it as five), and asked people to please buy it. Ryuji offered to talk to the company on Komeo's behalf, but got no reply; finding this suspicious, Ryuji checked with the company and was told "that's not quite what happened." Ryuji says that, under their system, such an order would be impossible.

Here Ryuji chooses their words carefully. Either the supplier or Komeo is lying, but since the supplier has nothing to gain from lying, Ryuji thinks it's Komeo—this is strictly Ryuji's speculation. Ryuji also said it might be their own misunderstanding, so if it's not true, they'd like Komeo to explain in Komeo's own words. Ryuji said that what they hate most is lying to customers to take their money, and considers this issue more of a problem than the food poisoning. There has still been no reply. However, Ryuji said that when they met previously, Komeo got down on their knees and bowed to the ground in apology. Ryuji didn't ask what the apology was for. Ryuji said it will probably come to light later anyway, so it's better for Komeo to say it themselves.

Ryuji said they clearly told the osechi company that they would not work with them if the company partnered with a liar, and had the company cut ties with Komeo. Because Ryuji would be lumped together with them, Ryuji asked the company to give them a heads-up in advance before partnering with an influencer, and to work only with trustworthy people. Ryuji says this is something they tell every company they do business with. If a company can't tell whether someone is clean, Ryuji will look into it and tell them, along with the reasons. When you partner with an influencer, you get seen as "the company that works with that person," so it's a difficult matter for companies too, Ryuji said. Admitting with a laugh that they're too earnest and have many enemies, Ryuji said they believe they do business the right way.

While the soup was chilling "ice-cold" in the refrigerator, Ryuji explained why they don't run a restaurant. Ryuji said it's important to chill the soup thoroughly, since lukewarm soup gets called bad-tasting and it's also bad for hygiene.

According to Ryuji, even long-established restaurants have caused food poisoning. Normally it's the name of the restaurant that comes out, but if the owner or chef is famous, that person gets singled out for criticism. Not just food poisoning—nowadays everything, including complaints about staff attitude, gets brought up, and you end up bearing responsibility. Ryuji's main business is creating recipes and filming videos, and food service is just a side business. If something happened at a restaurant Ryuji ran, it would cause trouble for the main company, so as a risk hedge Ryuji has decided not to run restaurants under their own name. Ryuji supervises menus for chain restaurants but doesn't operate any themselves.

Ryuji said they've long said that if they ever did open a restaurant, they'd do it with their name hidden. That's because Ryuji wants to draw customers through deliciousness, not through their name. Ryuji jokingly added that viewers might even have eaten at a Ryuji restaurant without knowing it.

At the noodle-boiling stage, Ryuji returned to the convenience of chilled corn ramen. Canned cream-style corn is sold year-round regardless of season, so as long as you have cream-style corn and canned corn, you can make it anytime. This time Ryuji added crab, but thinks it would be quite delicious without crab too. Ryuji suggested it would also work with a seafood mix, flaked fish, or crispy fried bacon instead.

Ryuji then touched on the reported cause. In addition to salmonella, bacteria that come from river fish and the like were apparently also detected. Ryuji relayed that, for this reason, it's being said that bacteria from the restaurant where the prep was done (a restaurant Ryuji and team had visited before) may have gotten mixed in. Ryuji said contamination can happen via cutting boards and such, and it's something that can occur if you run a food stall.

Ryuji also takes part in food stalls, but has almost no cooking done on-site. It's mostly just delivering frozen curry made in a central kitchen as-is, and heating it in the package before serving. When Ryuji cooks themselves, they make karaage. That's because if you fry it thoroughly at high temperature, it won't cause food poisoning.

Ryuji doesn't know how much of Komeo's side of the explanation is true, but acknowledges that food poisoning itself can happen. However, making money by lying to customers is wrong, so Ryuji repeated that they want an explanation regarding the osechi issue.

After stating that what follows is their own speculation, Ryuji talked about the people around Komeo. In the Breaking Down crowd, there is a very strong sense that "as long as it goes viral, it's fine," and many people think a few lies are fine if it means going viral—that lying is a means to an end, Ryuji said. Ryuji hates that approach, and once told Komeo, "You should be choosier about who you associate with," but Komeo didn't stop associating with them. Ryuji believes the result of that may have led to what happened this time.

Ryuji also said Komeo has a consultant, and that it's unclear whether things were done on Komeo's own instructions or on the consultant's. Putting out a video like this might bring problems down on Ryuji too, but Ryuji said they don't mind. Joking self-deprecatingly that this is mostly talk and nobody's really looking at the recipe, Ryuji nonetheless said that this method won't cause food poisoning.

Boil the flat noodles for about 3 minutes and 40 seconds, drain them in a colander, rinse under tap water, and firm them up in ice water. Ryuji questioned whether, at a food stall, freshly boiled noodles could really have been chilled on the spot like this. They may have used noodles that had been boiled and chilled in advance, but Ryuji doesn't know. If you boil them on the spot, it's safe, Ryuji said.

Ryuji then emphasized that if you're involved in food service, you have to be upright. People wouldn't want to eat food made by someone shady, and customers come to eat because they trust you, so you must not lie. Ryuji said they think this way because, although they don't own a restaurant, they also work in food service.

Toss the well-drained noodles with the chilled soup. With the soy milk and corn, the soup is somewhat thick and heavy, and clings well to the noodles. For plating, the crab version gets a generous topping of flaked crab, daikon radish sprouts, and whole-kernel corn if you like. The imitation crab version gets large pieces of imitation crab on top. Komeo used chili threads, so putting those on top makes it look nicer. To finish, scatter on some taberu rayu (chunky chili oil). The original used a red sauce containing fried onions and the like, so this is a substitute. Ryuji said it's unclear whether the original used daikon sprouts, since there are few images of it.

First, they tasted the imitation crab version. A staff member said it tasted like dandan noodles, and Ryuji responded that it's because of the chili oil and soy milk, while noting that the corn has a strong presence. Comments included that they thought it might be heavy but it went down easily, that the taberu rayu is the key, and that without the chili oil, it's probably a flavor kids would like too. Ryuji suggested that for the imitation crab version, you could also add fish dashi such as iriko, while saying they liked it as-is.

Next was the crab version. Since a bit of the liquid from the can is also in there, the crab flavor comes through clearly, Ryuji said. Ryuji, a crab lover, strongly preferred this one, but some staff members said they preferred the imitation crab version.

However, Ryuji's final verdict was a little different. It would probably taste better without the crab, Ryuji said. This time it's only kombu dashi, but Ryuji said they'd prefer swapping in something like bacon and seasoning it with dashi such as chicken and kombu, or chicken and katsuobushi. Ryuji also said crab and corn may not go together all that well, and that it made them want to make chilled corn ramen with a regular soup. Even so, the soup was delicious, and Ryuji ended up drinking quite a lot of it.

Ryuji said they probably won't ever make this dish again. That's because they wouldn't do it themselves, and think it would cause a backlash if they served it. Ryuji said that anyone who wants to eat chilled crab ramen should make it with their recipe.

Finally, Ryuji called on Komeo to compete on cooking alone. The people around Komeo aren't cooking people but Breaking Down people, and cooking isn't something where going viral is all that matters. Ryuji also says "as long as it goes viral, it's fine," but guarantees at least a minimum of ease of preparation and deliciousness. So Ryuji wants Komeo to devote themselves to cooking too—this was how the video closed.