Don't Wash Poultry

What does everyone think of this?

"Washing poultry before cooking it is not recommended. Bacteria in raw meat and poultry juices can be spread to other foods, utensils, and surfaces. We call this cross-contamination. Some consumers think they are removing bacteria and making their meat or poultry safe. However, some of the bacteria are so tightly attached that you could not remove them no matter how many times you washed. But there are other types of bacteria that can be easily washed off and splashed on the surfaces of your kitchen. Failure to clean these contaminated areas can lead to foodborne illness. Cooking (baking, broiling, boiling, and grilling) to the right temperature kills the bacteria, so washing food is not necessary."

Not new, we've been following this for several years now. Pretty much zero chance of outer part of cooked chicken being a disease vector. I mean, the parts that water can touch are same as parts most exposed to heat. But if you wash, you splash. Much larger danger from cross contamination. We generally pat dry with paper towel (or occasionally air dry in fridge) but don't wash.

[David M. Bueker]

I don't remember the last time I washed a piece of chicken (or other meat). Pat dry is the rule for me as well.

I don't remember the last time I washed a piece of chicken (or other meat). Pat dry is the rule for me as well.

Me three.

Mark Lipton

We washed under running water and dry on paper towels. At least this gets rids of some of the baddies.

Either I rinse or do a quick soak in a bowl with salted water. I do it with most meat. I always do either a thaw or quick soak in lemon water for all fish and seafood. I want to get rid of any "outside flavors" from the packaging. When rinsing I use the side of the sink over the garbage disposal. That is my RINSE SIDE and I NEVER soak anything there or place food in that side!

[Jenise]

I rinse if it's going into a stewpot because I will have cleaned the inside of any residual organ material left behind by the processor, and I brine chicken destined for roasting so rinsing's a moot point. But bottom line, it's rinsed one way or another and never used direct from the package.

I rinse and inspect because I sometimes find the feather shards and often I find those little rolls of yellow material that is not fat and not skin that often is found between the wing joint and between the thigh and drumstick. What is that? So, yes, I always rinse and dry chicken before doing anything else, including brining which I do for both roasted and fried chicken.

I'm with Jo Ann here. There's debris on the outside and I'm going to rinse it off.

[Robin Garr]

Okay, when I stopped eating meat "for a week or two, to lose a few pounds" in the summer of 2011 and then realized that I couldn't go back, I swore that I would never be one of THOSE vegetarians, prim and prissy and finger-waggy, scolding everyone who wasn't as pure and holy as me. I'm pretty sure I've been good about this, mostly.

So it's in that spirit, not meant as evangelism, that I offer these two fascinating media reports on the latest-generation effort to replicate chik'n from vegetables: Beyond Meat. And requires no washing. (Seriously, they're worth a read if you're interested in food.)

Alton Brown on the End of Meat as We Know It: Tastes Like Chicken

Fake Meats, Finally, Taste Like Chicken (NY Times)

Okay, when I stopped eating meat "for a week or two, to lose a few pounds"

At the risk of a highjack, I never heard of such a thing. The weight you would lose by doing so would come from muscle, not from fat. No problem with your becoming a veggie, it's just what got you there.

...replicate chik'n from vegetables

I know you're sensitive about this, but for the life of me I don't understand attempting to replicate chicken or other animal flesh from vegetables. Omnivores can just eat the chicken (poultry) and herbivores can eat, well, the vegetables. I don't get the desire to eat something to remind you of the food you consciously seek to avoid. I'm not being judgmental here; just genuinely curious about the appeal of such products to vegetarians. (Maybe this is addressed in the linked articles. I abandoned them after multiple pop-up ads on my i-thing)

[Robin Garr]

...replicate chik'n from vegetables

I know you're sensitive about this, but for the life of me I don't understand attempting to replicate chicken or other animal flesh from vegetables. Omnivores can just eat the chicken (poultry) and herbivores can eat, well, the vegetables. I don't get the desire to eat something to remind you of the food you consciously seek to avoid. I'm not being judgmental here; just genuinely curious about the appeal of such products to vegetarians. (Maybe this is addressed in the linked articles. I abandoned them after multiple pop-up ads on my i-thing)

Jay, I'll try to keep this short, in keeping with my decision not to be a nag or whiner on the subject: If you've eaten meat and like it, but decide to forswear it for reasons other than taste - economic or ethical or environmental or health or some combination - then why not eat foods that fill a comfort-food space resembling the dishes you like but have decided not to eat, and that didn't require killing an animal to make? To me, a life of nothing but bowls of green beans, peas and broccoli would be boring as hell. I could go on, but I think that covers the basics.

... then why not eat foods that fill a comfort-food space resembling the dishes you like but have decided not to eat, and that didn't require killing an animal to make?...

I understand and considered this as a likely and reasonable response after I posted. I should look it up, but what are the added ingredients to the vegetables to give these products the "chicken" flavor and mouth feel making them true to the animal version?

On edit: see ingredients below

Beyond Meat® products are 100% plant protein. Beyond Beef is 100% pea protein and Beyond Chicken is a blend of soy and pea protein. Here’s some information on the primary ingredients for both product lines:
Soy and pea protein isolates: Protein isolates are used in foods like baby formula to provide the highest amount of clean plant protein possible.

Amaranth: Amaranth is an ancient grain originally used by the Mayans and Inca. It is gluten-free.

Vegan flavor: Our proprietary chicken & beef flavoring is plant-based and plain tasty. It contains no added MSG or gluten and is 100% vegan.

Soy and carrot fiber: These fibers are GMO-free.

Expeller-pressed canola oil: This is the cleanest form of canola oil. It’s free of saturated fat and extracted without chemicals.

Dipotassium phosphate: Dipotassium phosphate is a common source of potassium.

Titanium dioxide: Our food-grade titanium dioxide is a naturally-occurring mineral that helps us to really look like chicken. Part of the wonderful “eating” sensory experience is undoubtedly visual and if it didn’t look like meat you might not think it is meat. In our pursuit to get people to keep eating meat — but plant based meat — we think this is a critical part of the mission.

Caramel coloring: Beyond Meat only uses Class I (specifically Class I – E150a) caramel coloring that is ammonium & sulfite free.

Yeast extract: The inclusion of the natural ingredient yeast extract in our meat is a key addition to the flavoring given that it brings a unique profile of 20 amino acids, which provide not only a savory meat taste, but benefits in high protein, low fat, vegetarian, non-allergenic, etc. Glutamic acid is one of the 20 amino acids found naturally in yeast extract and found in abundance in plants, animals, etc., and is a building block for proteins. Note that Glutamic acid is not MSG. MSG is synthetically made up of L-glutamic acid and other impurities and differs significantly from the glutamic acid found in yeast extract. We do not use MSG.

[Robin Garr]

On edit: see ingredients below

Yeah, that's a better answer than I could give, Jay.

It's important to note that the Bdyond Meat guys (who've had a lot of funding from the Google stakeholders) are not in it so much for vegetarian as a long view of world economics that recognizes the oversize environmental footprint of meat farming and is looking for palatable alternatives that people might accept that tread more lightly on the earth.

I should also clarify, speaking as an "ethical/environmental" plant-based preferrer, that my personal interest in meat, seafood and poultry analogues does not demand a clone. Just something tasty and somewhat similar. If it's a little different but still enjoyable, I don't mind at all. If Sophie's Kitchen "shrimp" made from knojaku sweet-potato flour fills a shrimp-size hold in my appetite, or if tofu doesn't taste at all like chicken but fills a similar protein need and works as a substitute, that's all good.

Beyond Meat is intriguing, though, because it has not only the taste but the texture of boneless white meat. It's even more persuasive in a recipe - say, a "chicken" stir-fry - than chopped into "chicken" salad, but it's pretty impressive either way.

I tried the Whole Foods "chik'n" once and it was inedible. Like plastic. Not that salad-bar chicken is usually any great shakes, but it's at least possible to chew it. Hopefully they work out the kinks because there's little point in using animals to make something as flavorless as chicken breast.

As for washing, I believe it was several years ago (ten, maybe?) that the recommendation switched from washing to not. I can see how it's important to wash the chicken when it's butchered, but after packaging the idea never made much sense to me. Especially when some of the nasties, like salmonella, are inside the chicken, so even a washing with bleach wouldn't get everything.

Okay, when I stopped eating meat "for a week or two, to lose a few pounds"

At the risk of a highjack, I never heard of such a thing. The weight you would lose by doing so would come from muscle, not from fat. No problem with your becoming a veggie, it's just what got you there.

Weight loss coming from muscle or fat has nothing to do with whether or not you are eating meat. It's more to do with how you are exercising and if you are building muscle so your body uses stored fat for energy. Meat has a higher caloric and fat content than vegetables, so cutting that out of one's diet (assuming you don't over eat other things to compensate) can often lead to short term weight loss simply because overall caloric intake is reduced.

Back to the original topic of the post, this is a link to an animation that pretty well covers it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXDotD4p9c&feature=youtu.be

But, but, but... Julia washed hers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7dLXEc9tZM (approx. 7:40)