Viewer-Recipe "Otsumami Championship," Part 4: Wasabi Dishes and Yasumoto's Chicken Shabu Take the Top Spots

First up was a viewer submission, "pickled canned mackerel." You drain a can of water-packed mackerel, then mix in minced garlic and parsley, salt and pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice, adding cumin if you like. Ryuji explained that the liquid in the can is actually delicious and he'd normally rather people not throw it out, but for this recipe it needs to be drained.

When they tasted it, everyone reacted with "this is really good." The spices worked well, and there was no fishy smell from the mackerel at all. Someone said it could be served as-is at a stylish bar, and wondered why no bar has it on the menu.

When it came to scoring, one cast member hesitated, saying, "It's S-class, but I feel like something even more amazing is coming later." They said this was because they had regretted handing out nothing but S grades last time. In the end, though, they gave it an S+. Their reasons: they had never thought of using fresh parsley, the dish was complete in itself, and the flavors were built in a way that suited the mackerel so well that it was surprisingly delicious.

Next was another viewer submission, "avocado and zha cai hiyayakko." You cut avocado, zha cai, and tomato if you like into pieces of whatever size, toss them in sesame oil, and put them on top of tofu. The avocado they had was quite ripe, so they removed some of the black parts before using it. Ryuji judged that since the zha cai is the only source of salt, it's better to use plenty of it, and that the avocado's fat means you don't need much sesame oil. He also liked that it uses up overripe avocados and tomatoes, and they agreed you could use about two avocados for one block of tofu.

It tasted good, and someone commented that the zha cai dominated, making it taste like Chinese food. One suggestion was to deliberately break it up and eat it like a salad, which would suit slow sipping. In the evaluation, opinions included wanting something meaty and that adding something like crispy bacon would work. The verdict was that it was highly polished as a recipe and good enough on its own, but as a drinking snack it needed one more push.

The third dish was a recipe from Tetsuya Onishi, and the cast laughed that a professional had slipped in among the general submissions. You simply mix squid shiokara with soy sauce, mirin, doubanjiang, and a little sliced chili.

Ryuji explained that this recipe is actually difficult. The Momoya squid shiokara they used last time has 17% salt and can be stored at room temperature, but the one they prepared this time has 5% salt and needs to be refrigerated. If you added soy sauce and doubanjiang to a 17%-salt shiokara, it would be too salty to eat, so he reasoned that Onishi must have had the low-salt type in mind.

At the tasting, someone said, "I might like this more than regular shiokara," and everyone agreed with the observation that it had something of a changja feel. One cast member said it also went well with sake, and that with this seasoning it was exactly their kind of thing, so much so that they could drink with just this one dish for the rest of their life. Ryuji, on the other hand, added a caveat: it's a delicious, good recipe, but it depends on the type of shiokara, and without specified quantities and a specified shiokara, people are bound to fail. He said the combination with the seasonings itself works very well. Ryuji also mentioned that his grandfather's version (adding about half a bottle of shichimi) was an unforgettable flavor, and that he'd like to compare the two.

This time there was also a "drinking acquaintances" category. This dish, "mascarpone okaka," was taught to them by Senbero net, who is active on X. Ryuji introduced mascarpone as a cream cheese made from fresh cream and showed off its fluffy texture. It was topped generously with bonito flakes, and while dashi soy sauce is apparently ideal, they didn't have any on hand, so they poured over a mixture of Ajinomoto and soy sauce. Since mascarpone itself has no salt, he said it's fine to pour on plenty.

Everyone who tasted it was surprised, and someone said, "Drinkers really are on another level." It was apparently something Senbero net had eaten at a standing bar somewhere. They also praised how almost no effort it takes, and concluded that viewers should head to the supermarket right away, calling it a new way to use mascarpone.

The viewer-submitted "Aji-Shio edamame" involves putting 300g of frozen edamame and hot water at about 40°C in a heatproof bowl, adding two heaping teaspoons of Aji-Shio, heating it in a 600W microwave, and then draining the water. The edamame were cooked just right and tasted perfectly good. However, many said they couldn't really tell what the Aji-Shio was doing, and sprinkling Aji-Shio on after heating was plenty tasty too. It got a B, with the judgment that, for now, just sprinkling Aji-Shio on boiled edamame might be good enough.

Next, in the drinking-friends category, was a recipe from voice actor Hiroki Yasumoto. When Ryuji asked him to teach him a simple drinking snack, Yasumoto reportedly replied, "What are you saying? You're the pro."

The ingredients are a Bun Bun Chopper, chicken breast, garlic chives, ponzu, chili oil, and Ajinomoto. You put roughly chopped chives into the Bun Bun Chopper, add 4 tablespoons of ponzu, 2 shakes of Ajinomoto, and about 8 pumps of chili oil, then spin it; because there's liquid, it spins well and makes a paste-like chive sauce. The cast said this sauce would probably be delicious on anything, and Ryuji said he had made similar sauces before but had never blended one this far in a Bun Bun Chopper. You slice the chicken breast thinly, put the slices into hot water one at a time, swish them for about a minute, lightly wipe off the moisture, and then pour on the sauce.

At the tasting, "seriously delicious" came up again and again, and someone even called it a "god-tier recipe." Because the sauce is a paste, it clings well to the chicken, and the strength of the chives really comes through. It got an SS, and one cast member said it would have received the same score even if Yasumoto had submitted it anonymously, and that there's no one it wouldn't win over. Someone also pointed out that spinning it in the Bun Bun Chopper is the key, and that simply chopping the chives won't give you this sauce.

The viewer-submitted "chikuwa and cheese with nori and wasabi" is just chikuwa and baby cheese cut up and tossed with nori tsukudani and wasabi. Chikuwa tears easily by hand, so everyone pitched in to tear it. About 1 tablespoon of nori tsukudani goes in, and the wasabi is adjusted to taste.

When they tasted it, someone exclaimed, "I really love this," and they all agreed that the wasabi absolutely should be included. They said it works with both shochu and sake. One cast member called themselves out, asking why they had initially tried to drop this recipe from the shortlist.

In the evaluation, one opinion at first was that it would have been an SS if tenkasu had been added for a textural accent. However, they rated very highly the fact that it tastes better than you'd imagine without using any heat, just by tossing everything together, and in the end it was revised to an SS.

The eighth dish was Ryuji's own recipe, a microwave ajillo using chicken tenders. Three chicken tenders are laid whole in a heatproof container. Saying he has long held that kombu dashi goes well with chicken, Ryuji sprinkled on half a teaspoon of kombu dashi (or about 4 shakes of Ajinomoto). He then rubbed in about 3 pinches of salt, explaining that making it on the salty side is how he does it lately. Two crushed cloves of garlic, chili, black pepper, and herbs (about 8 shakes of oregano) are added, then olive oil, and it's heated in a 600W microwave. For this amount, 3 minutes is right; he said 4 to 5 minutes makes it tough.

Ryuji explained that you can remove the tendons or not; removing them just makes it a bit tastier. The garlic becomes so soft it falls apart and can be eaten as is, or used in pasta. He said it's best eaten on toast, but it was also well received on its own.

When someone said they associated ajillo with using huge amounts of olive oil, Ryuji replied that ajillo is a dish where you eat the oil too, but the usual method gets expensive on oil, and that this approach, using only enough to half-submerge the ingredients, is the most suitable for home cooking.

In the evaluation, one cast member pointed out, "If I had to say one thing, it's that I don't have oregano at home." Ryuji himself began reflecting on whether, while it was the right answer as a cooking researcher, it had truly been the best choice as a drinker. He said it tastes really good, but if asked whether it's number one compared with the others, it isn't; it's a cooking researcher's way of thinking.

The last dish was the viewer-submitted "napa cabbage and nametake with wasabi." You mix pickled napa cabbage and jarred nametake with a generous 10 to 12 cm of tube wasabi.

At the tasting, people commented that the funky smell of the pickled cabbage disappeared, the wasabi came through well, and each ingredient stood out. It also goes well with rice and is the kind of thing you can't stop eating. At this point, the cast switched from shochu highball to sake and got excited about how well they paired. Someone also wondered whether it was fair, rule-wise, for the score to change depending on what you drink with it.

In the evaluation, one opinion was that paired with sake, it was the best of all the recipes. However, taking versatility into account as well, it was placed at a very high level rather than at the top. The cast agreed that the balance was remarkable, in that it wouldn't work if any one of the wasabi, nametake, or napa cabbage were missing.

Finally, each cast member announced their top three.

Tatsuya put Yasumoto's chicken shabu in 3rd, the napa cabbage and nametake with wasabi in 2nd, and the chikuwa and cheese with nori and wasabi in 1st. In their overall comments, they said they had discovered wasabi's potential and how well it goes with alcohol, and that it was educational to see how combinations change the flavor.

Another cast member put the microwave chicken tender ajillo in 3rd, the pickled canned mackerel in 2nd, and Yasumoto's chicken shabu in 1st. Their overall comment was a single line: "For drinking snacks, you really want meat."

Ryuji put the pickled canned mackerel in 3rd, Yasumoto's chicken shabu in 2nd, and the chikuwa and cheese with nori and wasabi in 1st. He said that on taste alone Yasumoto's recipe might win, but for the Otsumami Championship he placed it 2nd, taking into account the effort of boiling water. He rated his 1st-place pick for the way its deliciousness far outweighed how easy it was. The pickled canned mackerel was a dark horse; even though it went first, the impression it left never faded, so he put it in 3rd.

In the end, the wasabi dishes and Yasumoto's chicken shabu overlapped in multiple cast members' top picks. Looking back, the cast said that across four installments this series has never had a single miss, and that they would have liked to include the recipes from Yasumoto, Onishi, and Senbero net that had ranked high. They wrapped up by encouraging viewers to try any recipes that caught their interest.