Food preparation, AIBU?

[LDNmummy]

Ok so following on from my kind of controversial dining table thread ...

Some thing I just thought of and wondered what other people's opinions are including:

Do you wash rice before cooking? I was taught to wash rice at least twice before cooking to get rid of dirt and dust etc. but I have met a few people who don't and just cook it straight from the packet. I even asked them about it and they said that washing was only to get rid of starch as far as they knew and not necessary. I don't judge, each to their own and all that, but I wouldn't eat their food as it is unhygienic IMO. Obviously pre washed rice (if that exists) is a different issue.

Another thing I have noticed is when people cut and prepare onions but leave that ligh brown coloured layer of chewy onion skin behind and add to to the food. It is the layer that looks almost like the white and edible part of the onion, but it has a slight tinge of brown and is chewy and papery like the skin of the onion. Surely you should not add that bit to the onion you cook? Again I don't judge and would eat food with it in as I don't think this is at all the same as not washing rice, just that I end up having to pull it out of my mouth mid chew as it is too papery and chewy to break down and swallow IYSWIM.

I know this is random, I was just sitting here and thought of it after washing some rice and thought I would ask. In all fairness I am a very fussy cook and wash between handling everything so maybe I am being OTT. But the rice thing especially I do find a bit yuck.

Plus I wanted to start a thread not about politics or benefits or NoTW as it is starting to fry my brain.

eurochick thats like saying 'everyone thinks it is ok to jump of a bridge so why don't you just accept it as truth'. Just because everyone says it, does not mean I have no right to an opinion of my own, whether my opinion is right or wrong.

Its scary how aggressive people get when you don't think the same way about something as they do.

I am asking to see what others opinions are regarding it, that doesn't mean I MUST agree or shouldn't have asked at all.

I am open to the idea that others have valid points, just because I haven't explicitly said 'yup you are all right and I will never wash rice again' does not mean I am not.

And I know it is ok to question things from my culture thanks, otherwise I wouldn't work and would be a housewife who treats her husband as lord and master in her home, but I don't.

No need to be patronising.

I was questioning why the other poster thinks that because my culture practices something differently, it should be questioned as if it were in doubt when I agree with it. So because it is different it is automatically wrong?

I don't wash/rinse rice at any stage. Out the packet (well, storage jar to be specific) and into the pot. Then drained and onto a plate.

YABU to even peel onions. Bags of pre-peeled, pre-chopped onions from the freezer section of the supermarket are the best way to go! [hwink]

Whether s

I guess it depends on whether you think hygiene is a matter if scientific fact or of cultural taboo.

If you are worried about bacteria, you are being silly to think that a rinse in cold water before cooking is going to make a difference. If you are worried about something being symbolically "unclean" if a ritual washing doesn't take place, then obviously nobody can convince you to believe otherwise.

Either way, it is very rude (and judgemental) to call your host's cooking unhygienic.

I could have written this OP! I am exactly the same. Only that after rinsing the rice twice, I let it sit in the water for 10 mins then rinse again.

I even rinse my mince. Very delicately though.

I believe it's unhygienic (to the poster above my post) nothing rude about thinking it privately.

The OP said she would refuse to eat the food.

Although I wouldn't care for guests who privately judged me unhygienic because I was brought up by a scientist and wasn't raised to do superstitious washing.

I don't wash rice (I shove it in the rice cooker in the microwave, so we will die of radiation poisoning rather than poor hygeine).

And I remove the last layer of onion skin as well, unless obviously roasting onions or making stock when the whole lot gets left on.

Shecutoff

I lived with or spent a substantial period of time with the people whom I have used as an example in my OP. If they casually offered me food I felt they hadn't been handling well during the cooking process, I would politely decline.

I ate many meals with these people and it wasn't a rule I stuck to no matter what, it just depended. We cooked many meals together and I would just not eat what I wasn't happy to eat.

I never said to them that I felt they were unhygienic because as I have stated already, it is a personal opinion and they were comfortable with how they cooked. I wasn't so I didn't indulge, what is rude about that?

why superstitious or ritual? It is genuinely a case of cleaning rice before cooking it. Obviously I am not the only one who feels this way.

Don't wash your raw meat, you could be risking your health.

In what way do you think rinsing rice in cold water makes it safer to eat?

It's not really a matter of opinion, it's a matter of fact.

If you're going to look down your nose at the way people handle food, then at least have your facts straight.

If you are going entirely on cultural practice and belief, then that is superstition.

I buy small bags of easy cook rice from well known high street supermarkets, usually long grain but occasionally basmati or brown or even wild. Nothing on the packets say it needs to be washed before it is cooked. If I were buying rice in huge quantities (as I know some families do) and storing it in the shed or in the cellar, I think I would rinse it before cooking it - who knows what might have crawled in. Likewise if I bought it loose from a market or overseas supplier I would probably rinse it.

Onions I peel properly and mushrooms I usually give a wipe with kitchen paper, removing any dirt the eye can see - and I trim the stalks.

Rice is actually very dirty. I've seen it being prepared in India and you wouldn't want to eat it unless you have washed it thoroughly - that means washing the rice and changing the water several times. Boak at those of you who think that boiling rice in filthy water is healthy (those of you who don't wash your rice)

I never wash rice and mine is never gloopy. Rice goes gloopy when you either a) cook it for too long or b) stir it or otherwise mess about with it during cooking, which releases the starch. Rinsing is not going to get rid of significant amounts of starch.

"I even rinse my mince. Very delicately though."

This is likely to give you food poisoning one day, through cross-contamination - there is absolutely no need to rinse mince, or any meat.

I don't wash my rice. I figure the boiling would kill any nasties and tbh can't imagine being able to taste the difference....

Noone eats that part of the onion.

Perhaps you need to get out more?

Boiling is a form of sterilisation so whatever bits of crap are in the rice will be sterilised when cooked. You might prefer to rinse it but to say it's unhygienic not too simply isn't true.

not TO even.

I don't pre-wash rice from the small bags in the supermarket, I do pre-wash rice from sacks to get rid of the dust and bits. I do a rinse with hot water after cooking both to remove the starch which comes off during cooking.
I do rinse till clean and then soak lentils and split peas.
I don't eat onion paper.
I do peel mushrooms.
I wash but don't sterilise salad and all vegetables.

My kitchen "designer" didn't understand why I wanted taps I could manage with the back of my hand for when I'd been handling raw meat.

Do you keep your chopping boards separate?

OP, you are very defensive. You keep asking whether its wrong :
"I was questioning why the other poster thinks that because my culture practices something differently, it should be questioned as if it were in doubt when I agree with it. So because it is different it is automatically wrong?"
"Just because everyone says it, does not mean I have no right to an opinion of my own, whether my opinion is right or wrong."

No one's saying is wrong to hold a different opinion,. But it is wrong to hold a different opinion, if the different opinion, is wrong, factually incorrect.

I'm entitled to my opinion, you say. Well yes, of course you are.
But then you go on to say, whether my opinion is right or wrong.
Err, well no. This is where you fall down. Actually.

If your opinion is wrong. Then you need to adjust it.

It would be silly to stand and shout and say: "I think THIS. Even though I'm wrong and it is factually incorrect, I am entitled to think THIS." People would think you were ridiculous. And you would be. Because you would appear silly.

"I think black is white". Someone would say, no black is actually black. "Oh well, I still think black is white and I'm going to stand by that, because I'm entitled to.

Now come on. Admit that this example above, like yours is silly. and factually incorrect.

You said to that you wouldn't eat rice that hadn't been washed. as it was "unhygienic IMO". Do you have any proof that it is unhygenic? Because I think you could be factually incorrect there. And if you insist of standing by something that is factually incorrect, then you discredit yourself and make yourself look ridiulous.

And that is true of most facts. Not just rice washing.

OP, please provide evidence that not rinsing rice is "UNHYGENIC".
Facts please. Pleae provide facts to back up your statement.

Hevian - prepare yourself for a shock. We are not actually in India. See?

As for the person rinsing their mince - words fail me.

i wash rice then soak it for half hour so its fluffy and easier for th little ones to eat, i peel onions properly,i peel mushrooms but dont wash them cos it leaves them slimy like eating slugs

I rinse my rice, it is actually quite dirty sometimes, you see the dirt as you pour away the water. We do however buy basmati rice in 10kg sacks so it is posible the small packets in the supermarket are cleaner. I also never 'boil' my rice and throw away the cooking water, I always cook using the 'absorption' method so whatever goes in the pan stays in the food.

Why does washing rice make it fluffy? Mine is fluffy and I don't rinse it I keep the lid on after it has cooked and leave it for a while........