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.

Rinsing mince ? You seriously rinse Meat? OH MY GOD. Thats goes against ALL food prep rules. That really is seriously UNHYGENIC. Could make you very unwell.

littleducks me too! I dont understand the 'boil then rinse' thing?

Rinse, bring to the boil till the water level goes down and then simmer till all the water is absorbed.

I admit I haven't read all the posts, so apologies if I am repeating anyone.
It sounds to me like someone has told you to rinse rice in the past (like your mum or someone) and you have assumed it is to get rid of germs, rather than starch and now you have that stuck in your head. It obviously isn't going to get rid of any germs that boiling water won't take care of, but you just believe that's why you have been taught to do it.

All these people sayin no to washing rice, have you ever actually done it and seen how cloudy the water is>?

[long grain or basmati only-easy cook doesnt count]

The cloudiness is just starch.

I have done both and haven't noticed any difference in the end product.

I too have rinsed rice before cooking. Only once though because it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. I thought it was to get rid of the starch, and maybe it is - who knows, but it really is a pointless exercise as the end product is exactly the same rinsed or not.

-Don't wash rice beforehand, but pour a hot kettle of water over it after cooking.
-Definitely discard the brownish outer layer on an onion.
-Mushrooms-I read you should never wash as it causes shrinking/can make them tough, so I wipe over with damp kitchen towel.

And I'm still and at the meat rinser!

Nothing wrong with washing rice if you like it. But you do claim that other people are unhygienic if they don't, and that's when the actual facts become worth investigating; hygiene is something that can be objectively proved. The kind of rice you buy in western supermarkets is typically free of grit and has had the outer husk removed by machine, so the bit that you get to eat has not been in contact with any dirt. Furthermore, you boil it for 15-20 minutes which kills all the germs. In other words, there is nothing unhygienic left. Simply washing it in cold water would do very little to get rid of anything relevant to hygiene.

So by all means, do carry on washing your rice. But don't think it's got to do with hygiene: it doesn't. It does however get rid of starch and alter the flavour. Which is as good a reason as any.

I too said, right at the beginning odf the thread, I have washed rice, in the past, when I lived in Egypt. I do not now.
But as Cory says, to say it is "unhygenic", is the point I am questioning.

The most important thing with rice is what you do with it once it's cooked. Either eat it straightaway or cool immediately if you're making a salad or similar. You can get really bad food poisoning from cooked rice if it's left to sit around(regardless of whether it's been washed in cold water, hot water, Milton or not washed at all).

BorninAfrica, no need to be so nippy - when I say prepared in India I mean brought in from the rice paddies, beaten, separated, dried, put in to sacks for onward distribution (to the UK).

You would wash your rice thoroughly if you witnessed that.

I don't drink the rice water so couldn't give a shit what it looks like tbh.

Hevian 'You would wash your rice thoroughly if you witnessed that.'

Given some of the stuff I have eaten over the years and around the world, I bet I wouldn't.

In any case I buy SunRice which is grown in Oz.

We are all still alive and well despite my slovenly ways with rice (and lots of other things come to think of it...)

Water used to rinse rice is cloudy because of rice dust - created when thousands of grains of rice rub against each other in sorting/transit. Collect enough of it and you have rice flour.

Washing mushrooms makes no difference to their flavour (speaking here as someone who collects field mushrooms, ceps, pfifferlinge, etc) - rained on or not, they taste the same.

Rinsing mince?

Yes to rinsing rice if it says on the packet. The boiling kills any germs so I wouldn't call it unhygenic to not rinse it.
Yes would take off all the brown skin on an onion.
I also peel mushrooms if they are open. I try to just wash closed cup ones, but even then the outer skin often rubs off. @ the thought of putting mud covered mushrooms in my stir fry.

Rinsing mince sounds like a euphemism, though I know it isn't.

I have heard of using vinegar to wash mince but not just water.

Why would rinsing it give you food poisoning?

I assume cos you would be unnecessarily rubbing raw meat all over your hands.

Hey, have not run off, just been busy but will come back to this later.

And slopping the the juices around your sink.

The thing with rinsing rice was to remove arsenic (yes really!) not bacteria.

Arsenic

i use boil in the bag rice..

Do you wash rice before cooking?
nope, usually buy frozen or boil in bag stuff

dont like the skin off onions either

I love MN - 99 messages on rice-rinsing (or not)..

OMG!
Do you think Tilda basmati has arsenic in it?
We eat tons of Tilda basmati!