As a middle aged person who is generally healthy, I’ve never washed chicken. On a side note, we eat chicken weekly. I’ve not experienced diarrhea, or been really sick, or died post chicken eating. I could safely say 1/2 of the days of the year, at least, involve basic butcher parted out chicken, and it is delicious.
Washing a backyard/farm chicken post killing/plucking to remove blood and debris, sure. But what is the logic behind this strange internet trend?
Washed or not, chicken needs to be cooked properly, there’s nothing people do by washing the outside that will kill the salmonella inside the muscle. Hell, cooking will kill it on the surface right away so I don’t know what people think they’re doing by washing the outside!
I could see it in a factory/large kitchen setting, as in:
Wash chicken in separate area to remove surface bacteria
Hand off to another chef, repeat 1
The chef then cooks with the chicken, sanitizing hands between steps, and the purpose of washing the chicken is to reduce the amount of bacteria spread between washings. Production kitchens are busy places, and having more checks can help prevent issues if some are skipped/performed inadequately.
It makes no sense in home or small kitchens though and would likely do more harm than good.
I’ve worked in a large kitchen and my girlfriend has worked in kitchens in the healthcare system and nope, your wouldn’t wash chicken in a kitchen environment, maybe in factories where it makes sense to have space for that, but in a kitchen you would never lose space to build something that is basically a cross contamination room.
Yeah, that’s the kind of “big kitchen” I’m talking about. Like a factory or maybe a stadium where you’re serving thousands of people at the same time, and repeatability matters a lot more than quality.
I think it’s just how boomers were raised. I’m middle-aged and I don’t wash chicken, but my boomer mom is horrified at the thought. She came for a visit and made sure I washed the chicken before I cooked with it. 🙄
The idea would be that due to suspected unsanitary conditions in which mass-produced meat products are collected and transported, additional substances and materials not fit for consumption become attached and go unnoticed.
As a middle aged person who is generally healthy, I’ve never washed chicken. On a side note, we eat chicken weekly. I’ve not experienced diarrhea, or been really sick, or died post chicken eating. I could safely say 1/2 of the days of the year, at least, involve basic butcher parted out chicken, and it is delicious.
Washing a backyard/farm chicken post killing/plucking to remove blood and debris, sure. But what is the logic behind this strange internet trend?
You, like me, probably just cook the chicken properly.
Washed or not, chicken needs to be cooked properly, there’s nothing people do by washing the outside that will kill the salmonella inside the muscle. Hell, cooking will kill it on the surface right away so I don’t know what people think they’re doing by washing the outside!
I could see it in a factory/large kitchen setting, as in:
The chef then cooks with the chicken, sanitizing hands between steps, and the purpose of washing the chicken is to reduce the amount of bacteria spread between washings. Production kitchens are busy places, and having more checks can help prevent issues if some are skipped/performed inadequately.
It makes no sense in home or small kitchens though and would likely do more harm than good.
I’ve worked in a large kitchen and my girlfriend has worked in kitchens in the healthcare system and nope, your wouldn’t wash chicken in a kitchen environment, maybe in factories where it makes sense to have space for that, but in a kitchen you would never lose space to build something that is basically a cross contamination room.
Yeah, that’s the kind of “big kitchen” I’m talking about. Like a factory or maybe a stadium where you’re serving thousands of people at the same time, and repeatability matters a lot more than quality.
I think it’s just how boomers were raised. I’m middle-aged and I don’t wash chicken, but my boomer mom is horrified at the thought. She came for a visit and made sure I washed the chicken before I cooked with it. 🙄
I had told my mom to go sit down and get out of my kitchen for less.
I’ve not met a single “boomer” that does this.
So weird, maybe it’s just the ones I know. I’m probably stereotyping them!
My parents are boomers and don’t do this. Not a big sample, but it’s what I’ve got.
The idea would be that due to suspected unsanitary conditions in which mass-produced meat products are collected and transported, additional substances and materials not fit for consumption become attached and go unnoticed.
Washing would remove the extra stuff supposedly.
So why only chicken then?
Because it’s the topic of this discussion?
Look at the comments and no one mentioned any other type of meat, it’s only chicken that they wash.
Or they only mentioned chicken because no one mentioned anything else and so they stayed on topic.