-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
GAF do you wash your meat?
- Thread starter vivftp
- Start date
- Status
boiled goose
good with gravy
Depends on what it is. And rinse not wash
Steak? No
Seafood? Usually
Pork? Depends
Steak? No
Seafood? Usually
Pork? Depends
Kangaroo?
boiled goose
good with gravy
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Unless you're rubbing your meat around a gravel pit before cooking it there's no point.
Red Liquorice
Member
It seems to be a cultural thing. Maybe a holdover from pre-refridgeration times.
Pankratous
Member
Uh what the fuck, no, I would never even consider it
Stop wasting water
Stop wasting water
A Fish Aficionado
I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
Why do an extra step if it is unnecessary? Trim, cut, season or marinade, and cook. Simple.
i washed a piece of beef before when i was trying this method. that's it.
But would you? I mean, what's the thought process here? That slab of meat is literally facing temperatures that kills any germs.Don't know.. haven't cooked it before.
A Fish Aficionado
I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
Why are you introducing more water when you want to get water out by salting?
SomethingInTheSea
Member
You certainly shouldn't wash chicken as this will just spread germs such as campylobacter all over the kitchen by water splashing.
https://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/campaigns/campylobacter/fsw-2014
https://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/campaigns/campylobacter/fsw-2014
Snowybreak
Member
Wash... Meat.
Man... Why... I mean...
Christ...
I just showed this to my mother and grandmother and they are both completely confused.
What do you hope to achieve with this washing of meat?
You wanna get rid of bacteria? Then cook that fucker. Or, if you're too scared, get a blowtorch and run it across the outside of the piece. It'll kill more bacteria than rinsing it.
Man... Why... I mean...
Christ...
I just showed this to my mother and grandmother and they are both completely confused.
What do you hope to achieve with this washing of meat?
You wanna get rid of bacteria? Then cook that fucker. Or, if you're too scared, get a blowtorch and run it across the outside of the piece. It'll kill more bacteria than rinsing it.
Zoe
Member
The water from rinsing isn't going to get absorbed back into the meat.
In this case, rinsing does serve a purpose because you don't want to eat a crust of salt.
shiftplusone
Member
You would also have 0 issues if you didn't wash it because washing it is fucking stupid
A Fish Aficionado
I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
Turbowaffles
Member
Only if I'm marinating or brining the meat
I already have enough necessary chores to do I don't need to add pointless ones on top of it.
and i would just throw it away at that point
if meat is so dirty you have to wash it, maybe don't eat meat?
I only rinse chicken, but I'm not rinsing it to get rid of the germs or bacteria; I buy chicken breasts in bulk over here in the UK from musclefood and usually get 11-12 breasts in each 2.5kg pack. When you open the pack it smells rank but I think this is because it was packed with some gas (maybe to preserve it?) and sometimes there might be a bit of blood or excess fat that comes off easy when rinsing.
Great paper, quoting for new page
casablanca
Member
I only "wash" whole chiken.
I put it in a bowl of water and à little bit of vineager and salt.
Tastes better for my taste.
I put it in a bowl of water and à little bit of vineager and salt.
Tastes better for my taste.
Mook1e
Member
Lol, I don't know. Old habits die hard, I guess.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
Even after being shown scientific evidence you guys cling to your positions. You're no different than anti-vaxxers or climate change deniers.
Washing meat is not only unnecessary, it's potentially unsafe, especially chicken as you increase risks of campylobacter food poisoning.
Cooking the meat is what gets rid of the bacteria, not washing it. Christ.
WhiskerFrisker
Member
Not washing meat goes totally against my culture. My family thoroughly washes/clean all meats with lime and vinegar. I think it's a Caribbean thing.
entremet
Member
Now you understand Trump lol. Reason, logic, and evidence don't convince ppl.
Yeah there was a pat dry after rinsing the salt off. It didn't remove a whole lot of water either, just recirculated the meat's water with added salt this time. It was a dry brine before I knew what a dry brine was.
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
I was looking at this topic for a while before I noticed the secondary significance....
Andrew Korenchkin
Member
Thanks for this, my mom washes chicken. I should probably tell her not to do so.
I never wash my chicken, personally.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
"Now"? Nah, believe me, I immediately thought of Trump voters too. xD
Depends. If you've marinated it or something like that, there are times where you're going to want to gently rinse off the maranade and pat it dry.
Outside of that scenario, HELL no. In fact, that's something you absolutely don't want to do. You want the surface of your meat to be as dry as possible before you cook it in the vast majority of situations, because if your meat is moist on the outside you steam it at first and prevent it from browning, which creates a lot of flavor.
If your meat is slimy or smells bad, that's because it's starting to go bad. Rinsing it or cooking it WILL NOT HELP. Do not eat it. Throw it out. You are risking getting sick.
Outside of that scenario, HELL no. In fact, that's something you absolutely don't want to do. You want the surface of your meat to be as dry as possible before you cook it in the vast majority of situations, because if your meat is moist on the outside you steam it at first and prevent it from browning, which creates a lot of flavor.
If your meat is slimy or smells bad, that's because it's starting to go bad. Rinsing it or cooking it WILL NOT HELP. Do not eat it. Throw it out. You are risking getting sick.
That's not washing. That's marinating. You're using the acidity of the vinegar and lime to break down some of the proteins of the meat, create flavor, and depending on the dish, even cook it. It's very different. You should read this. http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/07/the-food-lab-ceviche-and-the-science-of-marin.html
Epsilon-delta
Banned
I never knew people actually washed meat.
Hell to the fuck no you shouldn't.
Hell to the fuck no you shouldn't.
RoslindaleOne
Member
The chicken thighs I buy in bulk at Costco are in a pink solution. I wash that off before seasoning/marinating. That's the only time I wash meat.
Eh but that veers into right and left territory. We even had a thread on that about non-scientific things that are accepted on the left more casually. Usually related to healthy living and pseudoscience stuff that markets itself on natural or organic fallacies.
and at this point, cooking it won't save you either.
True. Edited my post.
That last sentence wasn't necessary. I am a huge proponent of the scientific method, but using "scientific evidence" as a blunt weapon to end an argument is certainly not scientific. Science can only thrive when people can have an open, unbiased discussion and doubt is its core prerequisite.
Edit: To be fair, you linked a source with further information after the quoted text, so that certainly can be helpful for the discussion. It's just that I've read an interesting article today that raised some good points on why many people are so skeptical about experts / "trusted sources" / "scientific proof" etc. Let's not pretend that there (unfortunately) are / were lots of cases where scientific results were quoted or published in a biased way by corporations or governments (or even overly ambitious individuals) for their benefit alone. There have also been lots of forged results that were shown to be wrong later on. And of course there also have been tons of honest mistakes in interpreting empiric evidence by honest scientists in the past.
That of course does not invalidate all the great results science has produced over the last hundreds of years, but it means that you have to be careful when citing sources and be willing to discuss their credibility / reliability.
I wouldn't be sure about that, acting smug certainly won't.
I agree, it's a non-partisan era of feelings
RumblingRosco
Member
It definitely seems counter-intuitive, but washing meat just increases the risk that you splash micro-droplets containing potentially harmful bacteria around your kitchen (sink, counter, handles, etc). Unless you visibly see a contaminant on the meat, there's no need to wash it... and if you see a physical contaminant (paper, plastic, metal, feces, etc), you should probably just get a refund anyway.
The basic idea is that properly heating meat will kill any living bacteria that could be harmful. There are some rare exceptions, such as if meat has sat for far too long (especially outside of a fridge or freezer) that bacteria could produce toxins (not bullshit "flushing toxins out of my system using a weird fad diet" but actual legit toxins that can cause diarrhea) which in some cases are heat-resistant. The best advice is to 1) properly store meat in a fridge or freezer, 2) use it before its expiration date, and 3) cook it thoroughly. If you follow all three steps, it's exceedingly rare that you'll get sick from meat even if it did have pathogenic bacteria when you first purchased it. And, finally, don't worry about washing your meat: you're wasting your time, wasting water, and literally increasing your risk of spreading food-borne pathogens around your kitchen.
- Status
Similar threads
- Poll