To rinse or not to rinse, that is the question!

dirtsailor2003 · Jan 13, 2015

I used to rinse poultry, but for the last couple years I quit. Here's a couple of good articles regarding the topic. The second article is in answer to to the first. I'll link this in the food safety section too.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...ic-your-questions-on-not-washing-raw-chickens

b-one · Jan 13, 2015

I don't rinse just to lazy! Good article the splatter reminds me of Dexter[emoji]128298[/emoji]

themule69 · Jan 13, 2015

I don't rinse mine. If you ever look around the sink after you rinse you will see that it is damp. the damp is bird juice.

Happy smoken.

David

dirtsailor2003 · Jan 13, 2015

Added a poll just for fun!

jarjarchef · Jan 13, 2015

I never have at home. Work really depends on what my boss says. I don't have my Team wash it, but some old school Chefs insist on it.

fpmich · Jan 14, 2015

I'm curious as to who started the chicken rinsing myth.

FDA?

Or the now famous Serve Safe More recent), which in my belief, was created to push small Mom & Pop places out of business.

And who ho started Serve Safe? You may think congress.

But it was the big chains, who lined congress pockets, with contributions, that got it passed. Then kept adding to it until it became too costly for small one owners to tolerate.

Is there some truth mixed in to food safe guidelines. Yes.

But there is a bunch of flapdoodle in it too. Flapdoodle really is a word. LOL

Let me ask this. Where is most of the food poisonings coming from?

Chains & large food processors!

Only a small percentage is from home cooked food, or small restaurant's. And yes, if good safety (common sense), isn't practiced, it can happen anywhere.

But I'll trust my crappy pet dandered kitchen to any restaurant chain. And for heaven sake, I also use well water without chlorine!

WHEW!

OK. Who pushed my button? LOL

Sorry for the rant, but I guess it had to come out.

I'm all for safety, but am against nonsense over the top safety, enforced on us these days.

I think common sense is sufficient.

Do they still teach common sense at home, or in schools anymore, without consulting the government rules?

______________

So as you've guessed by now.... I don't rinse my chicken anymore. <sheepish grin>

I used to, when it became news many years ago, but not anymore.  It tastes better without it.

And for real chicken taste,

buy from a farmer who lets his chicken run around the yard to eat bugs, worms, weeds, grass, sand. gravel, and such.

Ewww... Gross! Right?

That chicken may need a little more time in the pan, or pot, but flavor will be 1000 times better than Tyson's, or any store bought!

SRY... I thought my rant was done. LOL A little bit more leaked out it seems.

tropics · Jan 14, 2015

I had a guy that I worked with tell me his Grand Father use to put bleach in the water, and wash the bird.

daveomak · Jan 14, 2015

tropics said:
I had a guy that I worked with tell me his Grand Father use to put bleach in the water, and wash the bird.

There are some chicken processors that do that today.... It kills surface bacteria, on the processing line, before more stuff can get contaminated... My friends own Draper Valley Farms.... they use(d) it.... when a national survey was done testing for salmonella and other pathogens on store bought chicken.... their chickens came out at the top of the list being one of the most "pathogen" free....
When Bride demoed food at Costco, they had to wash/rinse all fruits in chlorine bleach... before it went out on their demo tables...

atomicsmoke · Jan 14, 2015

tropics said:
I had a guy that I worked with tell me his Grand Father use to put bleach in the water, and wash the bird.

Yum

tropics · Jan 14, 2015

Bleach is very easy to get rid of, Hot Water dissipates it, I use to breed fish and had to bleach tanks, and get them back on the racks . Bleach rinse with hot water refill add fish.

atomicsmoke · Jan 14, 2015

tropics said:
Bleach is very easy to get rid of, Hot Water dissipates it, I use to breed fish and had to bleach tanks, and get them back on the racks . Bleach rinse with hot water refill add fish.

It's OK for sterilizing equipment (I use it) but when you wash meat with it I imagine there would be some "burning" wont it ?

tropics · Jan 14, 2015

atomicsmoke said:
It's OK for sterilizing equipment (I use it) but when you wash meat with it I imagine there would be some "burning" wont it ?

Definitely on my list of not to do bleach the bird.

BandCollector · Jan 14, 2015

I am not one to wrestle with my chickens when I am washing them in preparation.

This is how Quinlan answers this question in the article:

What if I run the faucet water very slowly when rinsing my chicken, and I always disinfect my countertops and kitchen sink thoroughly with bleach afterward? I should be fine, no?

"Food safety researchers haven't really defined a "safe water speed" for rinsing raw poultry. Any time you introduce water or a rinse, you are disturbing the bacteria on the raw poultry and making it likelier that those buggies will fly off your meat and onto some other kitchen surface — or onto you. "I can't make you not take the risk, " Quinlan says, "but you need to know what you are dealing with."

But then she goes on to say:

"If you rinse your chicken out of safety concerns, just stop, she says, because you are making it less safe. If you are doing it to enhance flavor, that's fine, but use proper precautions".

So which is it? Don't do it at all or use proper precautions?

The debate continues...I will continue to rinse my chickens before I "pin them down" for the count!

Cluck, Cluck, John

daveomak · Jan 14, 2015

atomicsmoke said:
It's OK for sterilizing equipment (I use it) but when you wash meat with it I imagine there would be some "burning" wont it ?

tropics said:
Definitely on my list of not to do

Chlorine evaporates within about 24 hours from drinking water...... the amount used is approx. 50 Ppm.... Insignificant in the scheme of things.....
Think about the nitrite you use in curing... same deal.... the benefits outweigh the negatives, which are few, by miles....
We bleach our kitchen counters with mild chlorine bleach to kill pathogens... or use vinegar, as acid kills pathogens... or hydrogen peroxide... reducing pathogens in our daily food/processing places/storage facilities is a no brainer....
Back in the '50's, there were many home remedies to combat pathogens...
Mothers all over the world took notice of what made their children ill.... the message was passed on from generation to generation... That's where science started....

noboundaries · Jan 14, 2015

I used to rinse all the poultry I cooked because that's what my mother did. I read an article two or more years ago about rinsed poultry contaminating a kitchen so I stopped. For some reason I still have to rinse pork. It's totally a mental thing with me. As soon as I finish rinsing though I reach for the Clorox cleaner and clean the area thoroughly.

venture · Jan 15, 2015

I don't rinse.

When I was a kid, a looong time ago, people raised their own chicken or bought them live to slaughter.

There was a Swedish woman who always washed her birds in soapy water after plucking. Of course a good rinse after.

Good luck and good smoking.

gravey · Jan 15, 2015

I don't rinse my poultry, but I do dab it off with paper towels that go directly into the trash. My rubs stick better this way, and I've always hated the idea of chicken 'juice' splattering all over my counters/countertops/floor. I have a very large stainless steel bowl that most of the prep happens in, and that gets washed as soon as possible after prep.

foamheart · Jan 16, 2015

I wash everything, well except my hands when smoking, they smell so good!

I have no fear of clorox. Every time we get a boil water order, out comes the clorox. Long long ago when camping we always too a "diddy bag" and dunked all the dishes in boiling water with some clorox in it. I still use clorox through out my home.

The reason I always wash my chickens is because I have been known to grow a few. People thing pigs are dirty, bah! There is nothing nastier than a chicken.

I wear T-shirts all the time around the house and my little god daughter thinks it funny 'cause they all have little bleach burnt holes all over the front. OK, yes, right at about my belly line. LOL

Nasty chickens, I like all the chicken parts best that most folks turn their noses up at, I also hate well done/dry cooked chicken, its only takes a min or two to clean and rinse a chicken inside and out, so why not?

It make me happy, and thats what matters.

diggingdogfarm · Jan 16, 2015

Most chickens aren't completely cleaned.
I remove any pin and "hair" feathers along with the kidneys...I never cook a chicken with the kidneys still in place.
Then I RINSE...and I don't give a rat's rump what anybody thinks of it.

=Martin=

gary s · Jan 16, 2015

Rinsing Birds - I do the reason is they need to be cleaned and trimmed up. Years ago when we first moved to East Texas "Bo Pilgrim" of Pilgrims Pride Chickens had a TV commercial he would say "WE don't sell no fat yellow chickens" Times change, now there is a lot of fat and extra skin that needs to be removed. and I do it in the sink and afterwords wash my bird then brine.

Bleach - I am a bleach and alcohol fanatic. I keep a spray bottle of bleach water and alcohol handy at all times. As soon as I finish with the birds everything, the sink, counter, faucet etc.

gets sprayed down. A little bleach down the drains. And I too have the shirts to prove it. Keep the Alcohol by the sink quick spray on the hands, fly swatter whatever, I do like clean. We have always washed everything.

Gary

To rinse or not to rinse, that is the question!

Do you rinse your poultry before cooking it.

Yes

No

Epic Pitmaster

Legendary Pitmaster

Epic Pitmaster

Epic Pitmaster

Master of the Pit

Smoking Fanatic

Epic Pitmaster

SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

Master of the Pit

Epic Pitmaster

Master of the Pit

Epic Pitmaster

Master of the Pit

SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster

Epic Pitmaster

Smoking Guru

Smoke Blower

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Master of the Pit

Gone but not forgotten. RIP

Similar threads

Hot Threads