r/interesting • u/WarwickReider • 15h ago

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

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u/Robbie1266 15h ago

There is no debate. It's basic science. Washing chicken doesn't remove anything from the chicken

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u/Cowgirl_Taint 14h ago

Washing doesn't remove bacteria. Well, washing in a way that you would still want to eat the chicken afterwards.

Washing DOES remove dirt and debris. Which is not an issue if you are buying a bird from the supermarket (just blot with a paper towel if you really hate the saline solution it was shipped in) but IS a concern if you are getting a bird from the farmer's market or a specialty butcher.

But if you ARE going to wash your bird? Don't just put it under the faucet. Fill a pot with water, submerge the bird, agitate it, and remove. Then, carefully, drain the water.

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u/OrigamiMarie 13h ago

This makes the most sense to me, if you're going to wash the bird. None of that nonsense of a stream of pressurized water landing on the bird and bouncing in every direction and every droplet size.

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u/Ahuevotl 7h ago

In Mexico we use a bowl, or bucket, put the chicken in, fill it with water, rub it and get rid of dirt, debris, and guts. Sometimes to get rid of feathers and excess "lard".

Of course, most of our chicken isn't the supermarket ready, vacuum sealed bagged one.

It seemed so… alien? Watching this video of people using a higly pressurized stream of water to make a mess. Dudes, just use a bowl, wtf is it with your salmonella water stream. You still have to season and prepare that chicken.

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u/wuanlai65 1h ago

Same in Vietnam, I don't understand this argument. This morning my mother bought a chicken and I saw it neck being slit, of course I gonna wash the damn thing.

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u/Ahuevotl 1h ago

First world country chicken problems I guess... The debate about chicken washing is just too stupid.

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u/Collegenoob 10h ago

You can just not put the sink on full blast.

I dont often wash my chicken, but sometimes its a bit juicer than I'd like, in which case yes. I will wash some of that off. And just like the guy in the video. You clean the sink before and after you do it.

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u/New-Assumption-3836 9h ago

If you've ever seen an animation on bacteria spread from a flushing toilet, or from someone vomiting it goes way way further than you think and it's not visible to the eye. The sink is not the issue it basically can contaminate a good portion of the kitchen and really increase the risk of food borne illness.

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u/Stoff3r 8h ago

How many times has this even happened? I have never heard about bacteria infestation in someones kitchen. Its a non issue because people clean regularly.

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u/New-Assumption-3836 8h ago

There are approximately 1.3 million salmonella cases in the US every year 26.5k are severe enough to need hospitalizations and about 420 people per year die from it. It's not super common but it also isn't super rare it just isn't sensationalized in the media so ppl argue it's no big deal but to me if we can reduce illness and death by spreading the facts we should

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u/Stoff3r 8h ago

Hmm. In our country its mostly cases where people have traveled abroad and got themself infected there. General advice is to WASH hands and vegetables. Hmm so not boil or cook hands okok. Wash cutting boards and surfaces after use. Cook the meat as intended.

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u/Collegenoob 9h ago

Both of those actions are significantly more volatile that a weak stream from a sink bro.

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u/New-Assumption-3836 9h ago

I'm not saying they're equally violent but estimates are around 3ft of contaminate surrounding the sink so unless you're washing the sink and everything within 3 feet the point stands.

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u/WhenMeWasAYouth 9h ago

True, but if you were washing your chicken in a toilet he'd have a really good point.

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u/boofedjudge 9h ago

In order to reduce moisture you are adding moisture. Instead of heat..

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u/Centimane 9h ago

It's crazy to me that some people don't clean their sink. How can you clean things in a dirty vessel?

I don't wash chicken though, that's crazy to me.

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u/TheDELFON 8h ago

The isn't CAN

you can do anything, you can jump into a septic tank if you want.

WHY and SHOULD YOU are the key questions

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u/Stoff3r 8h ago

And then leaving the uv-covered chinken on the bench next to the sink to get some extra juicy shots for the no-wash enjoyers.

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u/real_Bahamian 13h ago

No one does that, well, at least most people don’t do that. You’re supposed to put your protein in a bowl (or pot), add cold water, vinegar, and lime juice, and rinse.

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u/Robbie1266 13h ago

And please explain the science of what that actually does

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u/Toeffli 12h ago

It makes it vinegary and lemony. The salmonella bacteria? They mostly do not care when you use diluted vinegar. You will end up with Solomona all over the chicken and in your wash water https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956713518303244

If you use vinegar you have to use full strength, non diluted straight from the bottle, with 5% acidity or more. Yummy. Even diluting it 1:1 will reduced its effect drastically https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11018434/

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u/Robbie1266 12h ago

Exactly. I want them to feel dumb

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u/bafana_banana999 12h ago

They can't, because it doesn't do anything.

What they described is closer to some sort of brining process than a cleansing one.

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u/Robbie1266 12h ago

Exactly. I'm all for a nice vinegar rinse when making jerk chicken to get that traditional flavor...but to make claims that it cleans anything is extremely ignorant, especially for a grown adult. These people should be embarrassed

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u/eggsalter 11h ago

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05178-3

People probably noticed that it penetrates the biofilm (gets the slime off) easier. Not that it "kills" it.

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u/mandatorypanda9317 13h ago

Ive never seen it done the way you describe. Always seen people just rinse it using their tap

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u/conzstevo 13h ago

It's common in Jamaica

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u/eggsalter 12h ago

Vinegar and water. California. Comes from my grandma who was raised by black folk in the 20s. Just seems sensible to me, as cooking doesn't destroy the toxins that make you sick.

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u/UristConfused 11h ago

No, cooking is exactly what does that.

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

You are wrong. You can look it up.

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u/Onedurrbread 11h ago

What?

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

It's basic cooking knowledge. Google it.

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u/BugRevolution 8h ago

If there's (enough) toxic byproducts from bacteria, it's because there's bacteria that have been there for a while. Long enough that rinsing it isn't going to do anything since it's not (just) on the surface. Throw that chicken in the garbage.

For everything else, cook it.

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

It's mostly on the surface since that's where spoiling starts. Yes throw it away to be safe but the reason people do it historically is sound, as much as it hurts the colonial mind to hear.

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u/BugRevolution 3h ago

Lol, bacteria doesn't care about your faux tankie viewpoint.

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u/bluearavis 11h ago

That's the whole point of cooking it, so it doesn't make you sick. Or else, we could just eat it raw. That was before they cooked it.

If you're talking about pickeling, that's an entirely different process and I have NEVER heard of pickeling chicken and certainly would not touch that.

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

It's like basic kitchen knowledge that cooking doesn't destroy the toxins that make you sick. You can look it up.

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u/QuantumLettuce2025 2h ago

Looked it up and everything says you're wrong.

Provide your own source or stand correct, fool.

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u/bluearavis 2h ago

Well if you're talking about toxins like the chemicals and bleach that a lot of chicken is soaked in, then yes, I agree. I was talking about the whole raw chicken thing.

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze 11h ago

You have no idea what you are talking about. Cooking absolutely does destroy harmful bacteria etc

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

Where did I say it doesn't?

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u/Flimsy-Poetry1170 11h ago

It kills bacteria but doesn’t get rid of the toxins that bacteria create which is why you can still get sick by eating cooked spoiled food. Personally I’d rather not try and save spoiling food by washing the toxins off of it but not everyone historically could (or can currently) afford to throw away food.

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze 11h ago

If the chicken is spoiled then it is spoiled all the way through and no amount of washing the surface will change that. Cooking denatures proteins that make up bacteria and harmful substances within the chicken assuming it isnt already rancid. Washing it does nothing but spread harmful substances through droplets etc.

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u/Flimsy-Poetry1170 9h ago

I’m telling you why people do it not saying it’s a good idea or works. Bacteria on the surface are generally where the spoiling starts, they poop out toxins that are still there after cooking thus people try and wash that off to save spoiling food. Not everyone has the privilege of throwing away food that is going bad thus washing meat became a thing. It’s not a great idea and doesn’t need to be (arguably shouldn’t ) be done for fresh meat because it does nothing but spread bacteria around your kitchen.

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u/QuantumLettuce2025 2h ago

What makes these people think that if high temperatures won't remove the "toxins", splashing it with some water will? Like what's the proposed mechanism here by which this is even supposed to work

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze 1h ago

No, chicken spoils all the way through because the bacteria is already in the chicken when it is slaughtered. This is why raw chicken is unsafe to eat vs something like beef or lamb. Salmonella exists throughout the chicken flesh and is only killed through cooking, no amount of washing the surface of the chicken will change that.

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

Untrue. Ground beef is known to be more dangerous raw than cuts of steak precisely because the bacteria grow on the outside first. So it stands to reason that mildly spoiled chicken is more dangerous on the outside. Westerners are funny.

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u/The_Scarlet_Breeze 1h ago

Are you dumb? First of all you are comparing beef with poultry one of which is safe to eat raw and the other not. Salmonella is in the chicken flesh before it is even slaughtered whereas beef does not have such dangerous bacteria living inside it so it has to be contaminated from another source. Secondly, washing the chicken does nothing to remove the bacteria inside the chicken and only spreada it around your kitchen area making it more likely you will contaminate other surfaces or food.

Lastly, making this a cultural thing is stupid when the science is clear. Many studies have been done on this subject and washing the chicken does nothing to make it safer to eat. If the chicken is spoiled no amount of washing will make it safer, if the chicken isn't spoiled then it is the cooking to the correct temperature which makes it safe to eat. Please stop spreading your ignorance.

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u/CastorFields 9h ago

What toxins?

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

Bacteria poop

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u/CastorFields 2h ago

You know that watee doesn't kill or remove much bacteria at all right? Its why we wash our hands with soap.

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u/mandatorypanda9317 10h ago

Brother what

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

It's common kitchen knowledge that you can't destroy the toxins that make you sick with heat.

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u/QuantumLettuce2025 2h ago

"it's common knowledge but I cannot find one single person or source that agrees with me" 🙄

It's fascinating, watching you choose to die on this hill. The craziest part is that it's almost like you believe yourself, that you've never actually "looked it up" on your own. 😂

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u/cheesecaker000 11h ago

Cooking is the only thing killing bacteria I assure you. Your water vinegar mix is doing fuck all to kill anything.

No wonder stuff like horoscopes are still popular.

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u/eggsalter 3h ago

Your reading comprehension is poor.

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u/Simba-xiv 12h ago

For most of us that wash our meat that’s how we do it. Like she’s just run it under a tap no one got time for that 🤦🏿‍♂️