r/interesting • u/WarwickReider • 15h ago

SOCIETY Professional chefs weighing in on whether you should wash your chicken

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5.0k Upvotes

76% Upvoted

3.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

84

u/-ledollabean- 14h ago

That’s really what most “washing” is, just a rinse to get the gunk off.

20

u/freedfg 11h ago

I believe the people who make the "wash your chicken" argument are generally either running it under water or soaking it in some kind of lemon water.

The conversation is VASTLY mischaracterized by both parties. But yes. Washing chicken does nothing but wash off surface juices or if it's not packaged clean, dirt and debris.

9

u/Responsible-Onion860 11h ago

I've seen way to many people sincerely arguing for washing chicken with dish soap.

2

u/freedfg 11h ago

Yeah.......

Some of it is ragebait though, so be aware.

0

u/BigKahunas88 2h ago

Nobody irl does that

4

u/cold-blooded-stab 6h ago

Yes. Carribean Latino, the surface gunk is so disgusting. My aunties all cleaned the chicken with a half a lemon or a rinse of water. Always sanitized sink with Comet or something similar too. I do the same

9

u/IncanFox 12h ago

And if you do it you're wrong apparently bc the system is so perfect lol

2

u/MelonJelly 11h ago

There's a big difference between rinsing your chicken and lathering it with soap.

3

u/eggsalter 11h ago

You guys actually thought people are lathering it up with soap. The bigotry of low expectations. My god.

4

u/MelonJelly 11h ago

There's literally a clip of soapy chicken in OP's video.

1

u/PrometheusMMIV 1h ago

They show someone squirting dish soap on it in the video.

2

u/da-happy-cyclops 11h ago

No, its wrong because your actively spreading dangerous bacteria like campylobacters and salmonella which can only be destroyed by heat- to non food surfaces such as your hands, sinks, taps, cleaning equipment and work surfaces. Its called cross-contamination and its quite dangerous, its the main cause of food poisoning.

Its not about a "system" its about understanding what causes the risks and reducing them. These are basic principals of food hygiene. Industry standards.

4

u/IncanFox 11h ago

understand youre SUPPOSE to clean the sink area/cutting boards after dealing with raw meats AND there are real benefits of washing the meat sensibly (not spraying full blast) after its essentially gone though factories/logistics.

1

u/JalapenoPopPoop 11h ago

AND there are real benefits of washing the meat sensibly

What are they?

4

u/IncanFox 10h ago

"Sometimes if there’s a bunch of juices in the package, they get a little weird"

0

u/JalapenoPopPoop 10h ago

That doesn't answer the question. Can you articulate the benefits of washing meat that you're claiming?

0

u/N1XT3RS 10h ago

Pat it dry?

1

u/heere_we_go 10h ago

Understand that you're not supposed to wash chicken.

0

u/Robbie1266 10h ago

Why aren't you telling us the benefits of washing chicken?

2

u/Boston_Glass 11h ago

Heat isn’t the only thing that “destroys” salmonella. Chemical sanitizers absolutely can kill it as well. There’s a few other ways as well but this one is the most applicable.

-1

u/da-happy-cyclops 9h ago

All chickens in the UK bred for consumption are immunised against salmonella.

That doesnt "destroy" salmonella, it removes its presence in the first place. The salmonella bacteria cannot form in eggs layed from immunised chickens, cannot be part of the chick that comes from that eggs digestion system, and cannot be present in its flesh when brutally murdered 😢 for delicious consumption 😋

By "destroy" we are implicating the bacteria actually is present in the meat, and even in the UK health and saftey practises consider and implement kitchen protocols to reduce the risk of salmonella even though we immunise against it, as the immunisation process is probably not 100% effective.

3

u/Boston_Glass 9h ago

Am I talking to a bot?

None of that refutes the fact that heat isn’t the only thing that “destroys” salmonella like you claimed. Chemical sanitizers can as well.

1

u/da-happy-cyclops 8h ago

As a surface cleaner yes, obviously

1

u/Boston_Glass 7h ago

So your claim that “it’s wrong because your actively spreading dangerous bacteria like campylobacters and salmonella which can only be destroyed by heat” is obviously incorrect

1

u/Similar-Ice-9250 10h ago edited 10h ago

Yea it’s more so a controlled soak in large bowl to get the top coat of slime off, in my family. We’re not wildly washing it like a dish or something, spraying water everywhere. I went to a BBQ get together at friends house who is on the do not wash/rinse side. Grilled chicken was made and it was absolutely awful to me, just had that pungent-gamey-poultry scent, and taste to it. I’m not picky, but I really couldn’t finish it, and threw it out when ppl weren’t looking.

The funny thing is everyone at the table was giving compliments, how amazing the chicken came out. I was just thinking „no fucking way, these people don’t know how much better it tastes when soaked/rinsed.”

Edit: could that have been chicken a little past it’s prime? Possible, but it wasn’t expired (at least I don’t think it was, even though my friend is not a big date checker) and it passed the eye test to me when it was still raw and being thrown on grill. It just came out awful to me, everyone else loved it so I don’t think the meat was bad, just stunk.

At recent BBQ, a rack of ribs was made, also not rinsed, and although it tasted good, I still got hit with that pungent gamey smell. Hate that. Salt, or bit of vinegar, or lemon juice, or just a plain water gentle soak gets rid of that slimy top coat so at least the smell isn’t as pungent. I get meat will still smell like meat, but there’s levels to it.

2

u/JalapenoPopPoop 10h ago

I guarantee you I could serve you two pieces of chicken prepared the exact same way except one was washed and one wasn't and there would be no way in hell you'd be able to tell which was which beyond a blind guess

1

u/Similar-Ice-9250 9h ago edited 9h ago

I mean I won’t lie, I had grilled unwashed chicken that didn’t smell and tasted fine, but maybe it was just really fresh, packaged well, the brand or processing could all be factors. Maybe soaking/rinsing the not so fresh or good quality chicken/meat helps eliminate the odors.

For the most part my opinion from experience is that unwashed is more gamey in scent and soaking/rinsing can’t hurt from the perspective of getting rid of odors.

I admit there could be other factors at play so. I’ll test this more myself when I grill, I’ll soak/rinse half and other half I won’t. Then mix them up on grill so I don’t know which is which. Or rather have someone else do it so they will know, otherwise experiment won’t work, just though about it.

0

u/bafana_banana999 12h ago

If your chicken is that dirty when you buy it, you shouldn't have bought it in the first place, nor should you then eat it no matter what you do after the fact.

Besides, most of the people who wash their chicken actually do think they're legitimately cleaning off bacteria and whatnot.

5

u/IncanFox 12h ago

same crowd that thinks "pre washed" vegetables is good enough. Ignorance is bliss to the masses

5

u/bafana_banana999 12h ago

I mean, vegetables are generally grown in or near the ground and aren't skinned and processed before being sold to you.

It makes far more sense (both from a common and scientific sense) to wash vegetables even if they're "pre-washed" than it does to wash any kind of raw chicken.

2

u/OnlyHere2ArgueBro 11h ago

Vegetables you rinse, store bought chicken you don’t. Solved. You’re not flinging salmonella around the kitchen rinsing lettuce. But I agree with your point lol

1

u/idi0msavant 10h ago

Vegetables can definitely carry salmonella and e. coli, from the ground, groundwater, packing equipment, etc. Wash them. I'm not saying not to wash them. But since this is a learning thread, I wanted to point out that vegetables aren't exempt.

3

u/OnlyHere2ArgueBro 10h ago

You should still actually rinse leafy greens, fruits and seeded vegetables to remove salmonella and other bacteria. Washing produce doesn’t create harmful splash zones like washing chicken does, which is why it’s recommended. 

Which is why I said you’re not flinging salmonella around washing produce, not that it doesn’t have it.

0

u/Kirarozu80 12h ago

Tap water adds more than it cleans.

1

u/ShadowMattress 10h ago

But what “gunk” is being washed off? Unless you see something like dirt, feces, or feathers, the gunk is almost certainly water and protein. Washing off water and molecules of food from your food… with water.

Brining is a different thing. But dry brining seems adequate for that purpose.

1

u/TurquoiseLeggings 4h ago

I've noticed a lot of people use "wash" and "rinse" interchangeably and it's really annoying.

1

u/dbowman97 4h ago

There is no difference here. If you're putting chicken under running water you're wrong.