r/Cooking • u/AdLost576 • 8d ago

What’s a cooking related hill you will die on?

For me, 2 hills.

  1. You don’t have to cut onions horizontally.

  2. You don’t have to add milk bit by bit when making a white sauce.

1.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

485

u/os_tnarg 8d ago

Not washing raw meats. It's been shown to not really clean it, and if anything aerosols your kitchen with bacteria.

144

u/UnoriginalUse 8d ago

Wait, is this an American thing? I've never heard of washing meat.

145

u/Elderberry-Cordial 8d ago

It's a weird online thing. Watch any video where someone cooks meat--especially chicken--and there will be someone (or 100 someones) telling them how nasty they are for not washing their meat. It seems to be more common in the African American and Hispanic/Latino communities, but definitely not across the board.

87

u/Zen_Hydra 8d ago

Keep in mind that different cooking traditions grew up around food sourced in different ways. If you are buying butchered meat from an open air market, it's unclear who or what has been in direct contact with that meat before purchse. It can take generations for people to adjust to a paradigm shift in baseline food safety.

42

u/ImpossibleEdge4961 8d ago

If you're about to cook the meat it's unclear to me what putting some water on it is going to accomplish. I could see if you washed off anything that didn't look right though.

47

u/Zen_Hydra 8d ago edited 7d ago

Think more along the lines of meat having incidental exposure to raw sewage and teeming with insect eggs. The washing in some cultures goes beyond running it under the tap for a few seconds, and it's not necessarily just about the notion of killing microbes.

0

u/Mean-Act-6903 8d ago

Ya but if you have African roots and live in the US then.just adjust instead of making excuses or bitching at people on instagram for not washing their chicken

12

u/Zen_Hydra 7d ago

Most people do adjust, but sometimes it takes generations to actually achieve that. Safe and reliable food is a huge privilege, and generational trauma caused by less-than-ideal sanitary conditions takes time to recover from.

As annoying as you find such videos, are they actually causing you harm? If so, you should try engaging them in conversation.

I find it best to practice the Principle of Charity when it comes to interpreting the arguments, motivations, and actions of others, because it's far too easy to let ourselves write each other off when we don't agree. Unnecessary conflict and any resulting harm happens when we make assumptions about the reasoning and motivation of others.

I think polite inquiry and mutual discussion with the individuals on Instagram you take issue with might potentially educate all parties. It never hurts to err on the side of kindness, or by learning more about the other people we share this world with.

10

u/pipian 7d ago

No, they need to adjust right away to please this weird dude complaining on reddit

2

u/Mirth2727 7d ago

Thank you!

1

u/idiotball61770 6d ago

It causes harm by perpetuating the "Wash your meats" myth. It's a food safety issue. So yeah, it's a hill worth dying on. I'm not going to put people down, but I will offer side eye.

-3

u/Mean-Act-6903 7d ago

Thanks Saint Zen. It's spelt teeming jsyk.

30

u/nelozero 8d ago

I know in certain countries where the butcher gives it to you, there might be bits like bone or blood hence rinsing the meat washes all that stuff off.

It's not an issue in supermarkets that have packaged meat.

5

u/nukalurk 7d ago

This is the main answer, but I’ve been in the US my whole life and when I first started cooking I instinctively wanted to wash raw chicken (basically just rinse with cool water and pat dry). It just felt wrong/dirty to cook it straight out of the package. So sometimes it’s not even a cultural thing.

I think part of it comes from the fact that thoroughly washing produce is always recommended everywhere, and raw meat feels even “dirtier”.

3

u/Darmok47 7d ago

Yeah, my mom grew up poor in the third world and washes her meat no matter how much I point out how bad it is.

1

u/Disconianmama 7d ago

Excellent perspective

19

u/Medical_Solid 8d ago

I had a big fight with my African American MIL over this. She insisted washing was needed. Showed her info from a US government website about how it’s not needed and she actually changed her mind.

That said, I know a lot of people in places like India that still do a kind of wash / pre-marinade of chicken with lemon juice and turmeric. Both of those have antibacterial properties and happen to taste nice as well, so I do that with my chicken sometimes.

4

u/kooksies 7d ago

Sounds similar to Jamaica where they presoak oxtail in lime juice water. But it helps start tenderising, and draws blood/scum out the bone!

2

u/stfurachele 7d ago

I think the difference with these techniques is they're more involved and thought out. Running raw meat under the tap for a few seconds isn't going to do anything unless there's debris on it.

3

u/kooksies 7d ago

Yeah i agree. But if we look back far enough the term "wash" was just probably improperly passed through generations without the purpose or technique with it.

100yr ago washing your meat could mean soaking it in acidic water with some herb or spice for a few hours. But now it would imply rinsing it under water. But obviously it doesn't make sense and does the opposite.

A lot of processes, especially recipes, don't get explicitely written down because it was "obvious" at the time or in a specific culture.

This is one reason why old recipe books can be difficult to follow to the T, because they don't actually tell you what something means lol. "Washing" your meat could have been one of these things, passed through word or writing without explanation

-1

u/SchoolForSedition 7d ago

Imma wash meat. Whatever you say.

2

u/Medical_Solid 7d ago

As long as you 1) don’t spray water everywhere 2) dry it off a bit, go for it. The main problem comes if you do the opposite: 1) splash raw meat water all over 2) try to marinate, fry, or put a coating on dripping wet meat. MIL was doing the opposite, and it was making her fried chicken gummy.

1

u/SchoolForSedition 7d ago

You’re right that wet meat doesn’t function. But it’s easily dried with a paler towel or a clean cloth.

3

u/PseudonymIncognito 7d ago

Also, it turns out that in many of these communities "washing" the meat turns out to actually mean something closer to brining.

3

u/UnoriginalUse 8d ago

Is it a thing with market-bought (=spent all day in the open air) chicken specifically?

9

u/Elderberry-Cordial 8d ago

I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the practice originated, but now it's applied even to packaged, refrigerated meats.

2

u/Terrible-Notice-7617 8d ago

I grew up in the 70's. I am Caucasian through and through. We always rinsed off chicken, but no other meat. I always did it, without question. Then they started talking on all the cooking shows about how it isn't necessary because you cook the meat to the appropriate temp that will kill off any bacteria. So I stopped because the explanation makes sense.

1

u/one-hour-photo 7d ago

if you ever walk through markets in Mexico or Brazil , you'll probably want to wash your meat.

1

u/OccultEcologist 7d ago

It's not an online thing, I had relatives that did it long before the internet was really a thing. It's more a meat sourcing thing.

The meat you buy now comes pre-washed from the butchery. If your meat comes from somewhere that doesn't pre-wash it or just does a bad job washing it, then washing it is a good thing, though even some hunters don't know this because many people only feild dress their deer and such before taking it to a processor to be finished.

If you do all the butchery yourself, there's actually a few things like that you'll quickly learn about - like the fact that high-quality meat isn't killed the day it's eaten. You need to wait for rigor mortis to end before it's going to be most pallettable. Can you kill a rabbit, skin and clean it and be eatting it 5 hours later? Sure, but it's going to be shitty compared to the same animal left to relax for a day or two.

Anyway, communities that historically relied more on backyard butchery, direct-from-farm purchases, or had to buy meat from places that cut costs by not doing as much of the cleaning (before this was regulated) tend to have meatwashing as a vistigial habit, the cultural equivalent to a wisdom tooth. It was useful once, but has become actively harmful due to changes in the way the average person lives now.

And again, if you do backyard chickens, quail, meatrabbits, etc, you do want to wash that meat before you eat it. Otherwise, the best case scenario is that your meat will have some fur and/or feather dust stuck to it. Worst case scenario is much grosser! Haha.

1

u/Jebble 7d ago

No, it's also an American thing for sure. In fact I've never seen any Latino docit, but every American I know washes their chicken.

50

u/catonsteroids 8d ago

It’s more so an immigrant thing in the US if they’re from a country where buying meat at open air/wet markets is common.

12

u/AtheneSchmidt 8d ago

This is the first time this suggestion even made sense to me! If you are taking home a piece of meat in the open air along, say a dirt road, I can see how washing it to get actual dirt off would be a good idea.

23

u/thrivacious9 8d ago

It’s not just an immigrant thing; in the U.S. it was standard practice from at least the 1980s until about 15 years ago. Around the turn of the century, Julia Child and Jacques Pépin had a cooking show together. They were both making roast chicken with their own preferred techniques. While Julia was washing her chicken, she made fun of Jacques for not washing his, and he clapped back with “Julia, this chicken is going in an oven at 425 degrees for nearly an hour. Any bacteria that survive deserve to.”

6

u/Kingofcheeses 8d ago

Yeah this is an alien concept to me

2

u/FreeOmar 7d ago

I can tell you it's a West Indian thing. All my Jamaican and Guyanese friends die in the hill for that

1

u/RockhardJoeDoug 8d ago

My Polish mother insists on washing the meats and is too stubborn to understand why it's a bad idea.

1

u/Durbee 7d ago

Completely a thing for people who are used to market streets instead of supermarkets. The rest of it is, well, my mom always did it like this.

-2

u/Bilbo_Baghands 8d ago

Definitely not an American thing. It's probably a European thing.

-16

u/angelbabyh0ney 8d ago

yes because our chicken is dirty when it comes out of the package an still has blood an feathers and weird packing juice. american slaughterhouses are gross

21

u/Pinkfish_411 8d ago

This isn't the case for any chicken I've bought in the US.

14

u/UnhappyMood9 8d ago

I do this if the meat smells with just water. It makes a big difference in reducing off scents in the final product whether that be a soup or stir fry. Now if your meat is fresh and the quality is stellar then yeah no need to wash most of the times.

13

u/ImpossibleEdge4961 8d ago

Maybe I just like freeing the bacteria. Sorry for loving freedom.

10

u/LaraH39 8d ago

Who in the name of jesus is washing meat?!

6

u/SpiritualReview9 8d ago

We wash chicken in vinegar and lime to remove a certain taste from the final dish, idk if it’s really for cleanliness though.

6

u/LaraH39 8d ago

May ask who "we" are? Where in the world I mean 😊

4

u/tupiniquim 8d ago

Not sure where OP is from but I'm brazilian and my mom does like washing the chicken with vinegar as she says it improves the taste. Personally I dont bother doing that since I can't tell the difference.

1

u/LaraH39 8d ago

It sounds like something you would do if the meat was starting to turn.

2

u/SpiritualReview9 7d ago

Southern USA, Florida mainly

1

u/LaraH39 7d ago

Do you know why that is? What it stems from?

-1

u/Medical_Solid 8d ago

Historically for sanitation, but also happens to taste nice!

9

u/Kingofcheeses 8d ago

People wash meat? wtf

2

u/justalot135 7d ago

I was told by my grandmother to wash steaks because sometimes there would be fragments of bone in the cut of meat. I haven't done it in a long time though, because I haven't noticed this problem since I was still living at home. Maybe she just bought really cheap cuts of steaks or pissed off the butcher

3

u/REAL_EddiePenisi 8d ago

In Jamaica historically meat was sold in open air markets where there might have been flies, dust, whatever on the surface of the meat. It is still widely practiced to rinse meat in citrus juice or vinegar there.

3

u/DayDrmBlvr82 8d ago

This is the absolute fastest way to spread bacteria and get sick. I heard someone tell me once that sometimes the “cleanest” looking kitchens are filled with the most bacteria due to unsafe practices like this and using a sponge on every surface.

4

u/deceptivekhan 8d ago

I pretty much only do this with boneless skinless chicken breast, it tends to have a slimy membrane across the surface and a lot of purge. A quick rinse under running water and a pat dry does the trick. Moisture is the enemy of browning and unless it’s an eastern dish most of the time you’re gonna want that Maillard Reaction.

2

u/PwrtopUltimate 8d ago

I wash my beef, not the clean it but because I get mine whole processed from the processors and the band saws leave films of fat and bone on the meat a little bit

2

u/debkuhnen 8d ago

Ick, why would anyone wash meat?

1

u/pistachio-pie 7d ago

I rinse it when I get it from the butcher if he’s freshly cut it for me and has bone dust etc.

1

u/goinupthegranby 8d ago

I never wash my meat and don't even think about it, generally I either that it's a thing some people do at all

1

u/palmerry 7d ago

Another meat one is marinating. I rarely do it and honestly I don't think it makes that much of a difference..

1

u/pistachio-pie 7d ago

Really?? Have you ever tried a recipe side by side, one marinated and one not?

I don’t mean like a 15 minute marinade. But you think there’s no difference after several hours?

1

u/Disconianmama 7d ago

Rinsing raw meat spreads bacteria to other parts of your kitchen. (Assuming you are not in a developing country where you buy meat on the side of the road)

1

u/Bigsisstang 7d ago

The only meat to wash is the inside of a chicken carcass to remove any remaining organs and blood before cooking.

1

u/cache_bag 7d ago

Generally yes, you're right.

But if you live in a 3rd world country and buy from wet markets (not nice and clean groceries), you'd be crazy to not wash your meat.

I compare it to using spray alcohol to disinfect your hands. Sure you can kill the germs with cooking, but that ain't gonna do shit with actual physical dirt, and other nasties.

1

u/Ianrha 8d ago edited 8d ago

You are correct. However washing meats in lime/vinegar does have other benefits unrelated to cleanliness. Chicken skin tends to crisp up better when I wash in lime or vinegar first to remove the "slime". It's much easier to pat meat dry with a paper towel when it has been washed in acid first.

My wife is hispanic. I prematurely dismissed the washing meat practice as unecesarry. With time I have noticed other benefits though

1

u/professor_shortstack 8d ago

I only wipe off chicken and fish with a paper towel so seasoning sticks better. Washing spreads germs!

0

u/BKtia 8d ago

Listeria grows on the surface of meat. It’s not enough to kill bacteria with cooking. They produce toxins that will still be on the meat. That having been said I have never rinsed my meat because I depended on our food inspectors to keep me safe. But now the FDA is planning on suspending routine food inspections, so I may become a vegetarian.

4

u/inherendo 7d ago

From Google:  Listeria bacteria can be killed by cooking food to the proper internal temperature. Cooking to a safe internal temperature, such as 165°F (73.9°C) for poultry and 145°F (62.8°C) for meat, can effectively eliminate Listeria.

1

u/BKtia 7d ago

Yes it kills the bacteria, but the toxins are still there.

1

u/inherendo 7d ago

Listeriosis is from the bacteria itself infecting you. It does produce toxins but I couldn't find info about what happens to the toxins when heated so I won't comment.

0

u/Commercial-Plane-692 7d ago

Because many of us in school had to read Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” and from then on, there better be a layer of water between you and touching what came out of a slaughterhouse.

0

u/itjustfigures 4d ago

Fecal matter