You can safely cook chicken to be medium rare, buuuuuuuuut only via sous vide. You would need to get it up to at least 140F, and then keep it there for between 30 and 360 minutes, depending on how thick the piece of chicken is.
Personally, I would not want to. I enjoy beef carpaccio and steak tartare, i enjoy some sushi and sashimi, but poultry and pork, IMO, should be cooked.
They do eat raw chicken in Japan, but I guess you have to treat it the same way as raw fish to be sanitary (fast freezing for 24h to kill parasites and bacteria).
Just be warned that not all bacteria and parasites can be killed with a hard (0F) freeze. IIRC, there are a few parasites found in feral pigs and bear that are very freeze resistant. I think some variety of trichinella? I don’t think that poultry is susceptible to trichinella infestations, but most chickens aren’t kept or slaughtered in very sanitary conditions.
They don’t have the same diseases as America, so it is safe to do that there. If you tried that here, you will put yourself on a surprise weight loss vacation.
Pork can be done all the way down to medium rare now that Trichinosis has basically been eradicated from pork. Though most say it’s best at medium.
Accurate. You could do this in an oven or grill too, but you might dry things out some. It’s all about the meat’s internal temperature and time. If the meat could reach 165° F instantly it would kill everything. If you hold it at 120° F for two hours you kill nearly everything.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/smprv/uploads/files/RTE_Poultry_Tables1.pdf
Keep in mind that the temperatures refer to the coldest part; until all internal temperatures are at least 120, you can’t start your timer.
Salmonella can be killed at less than 140 if it’s for long enough, you can sous vide chicken reasonably safely down to 135 or maybe even push it a little lower. HOWEVER this will not be medium rare. Medium rare is 130. 135-140 are solidly medium, barely a blush of pink at that temp really.
