DH told me to wash chicken breasts and pat them dry before I cook with them. Do you do that? I had never heard of this before!
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What is his reason? I think I read once that its not only not necessary but increases the chance of cross contamination.
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It sounds weird but it's actually more dangerous to wash the raw meat in the sink than to not wash it. I used to wash my chicken and didn't know this until my mom told me! http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/09/business/la-fi-mo-cleaning-chicken-20131009
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@Dandelion: His reason is that you have to wash off the chicken blood? Yes, it does pose a problem of having to wipe down the sink and anywhere the water splashed.
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@Cchoi4: usually its just water on it...no blood. Its not worth the contamination it can cause.
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No. I think people used to do that but it is known now that the raw dangerous germs get spread and splashed all over when you wash chicken in a sink... so it is worse to do that.
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@MrsSCB: this.
The spray of the water spreads more bacteria.
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I generally don't, for the reasons stated above. However, if I'm coating them in flour, breading, etc I do because the coatings don't stick well when the package slime is still on the chicken. It kind of icks me out to do it, but I just try to be as careful as possible not to splash the water around and clean well afterward.
ETA: come to think of it, I could probably just pat them dry with paper towels and skip the rinse...will try that next time and see how it works. It works well with steaks but I never thought about doing it with chicken!
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I never wash chicken. Never is a problem at all.
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I never would.
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I usually do with chicken breasts, but that's because I buy them frozen and defrost them (last minute) with warm water. For pieces with skin, I actually soak it in lemon juice and salt for a few minutes, then rinse it off. A whole chicken for roasting, I bust out some pliers and make sure all the feathers are gone, then pat dry with a paper towel. I never rinse a whole chicken.
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Always
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No, never,unless they're being breaded.
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I used to but stopped after reading about the increased contamination by washing. I just pat dry when necessary.
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No, I don't for breasts but for whole chickens, I might. I did wash the Turkey before and after it was brined.
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This is so interesting - I always wash chicken, but it makes sense that it would be better not to for cross-contamination reasons. Whenever we wash raw chicken/meat/etc in the sink now, I always wash the entire sink down.
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@yin: same
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Nope. I pat dry with paper towels if need be, but never wash it.
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Nope-- I figure cooking them will get rid of any bacteria.
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18 comments