To ask if you clean your meat?

[Cleopatois]

I use lemon and water or white vinegar and water to clean all my meat.

A colleague said she didn't just through it from pack to pan :O

Her reasoning was 'its free range so that means it clean'.

Another colleague said it is a culture thing. What do you do?

taking. I'm not talking about cultural preferences just merely commenting about people who squirm about blood on meat - regardless of their culture.

Wrong, wrong, wrong to rinse meat. Unhygienic and well, wrong.

I've just read the whole thread (took me fucking hours) and have one question which I am curious to know the answer to:

What does raw smell like?

Never in my life have I ever heard anyone utter the words 'that smells raw', how the hell can something smell raw?

I can report that most Czechs & Slovaks living in the UK also wash their meat (did a little survey on a FB page which brings together Czech & Slovak mums living in the UK)! :o).

Good lord, I can't get that riled about it!

All the Caribbean people I know (myself included) wash their meat.
Also the English people that have joined the Caribbean community wash their meat.
Looking at this, I've probably eaten some meat that hasn't been washed..
& I'm still alive

Also salt and pepper doesn't cut it as seasoning.

The fact remains that if you've eaten meat in a restaurant, it almost certainly wasn't washed.

When you talk about gristle, isn't that attached? So the washing is more than a soak and rinse, if you see what I mean? Kind of a meat manicure?

I'm genuinely asking, by the way, I get all my meat from the supermarket so it's all in packets.

I scrub mine with Cillit Bang.

You scrub your Chicken with Cillit Bang fair .

Better safe than sorry, fair.

I don't wash meat because I don't want water mixed with raw meat juices splashing round my sink.

Maybe the OP's butcher is Billy William the Third?

This thread is very funty.

My Jamaican exH always used to go on about my roast chicken being "raw" because I hadn't washed it in vinegar first.

This is the same man who would leave any chicken he cooked on the stove top for days until I threw it out - fridges were not good for food apparently. He also gave me food poisoning by peeling some potatoes and leaving them in cold water for about 4 days before cooking them - I was ill already at the time so didn't notice he'd done it until after eating.

Now he's an ex so I can enjoy my raw chicken in peace.

I've never even heard about this. Wouldn't vinegar ruin the taste of the meat?

It is a cultural thing...my Caribbean friend always washes meat and thinks its odd not to.

I don't think there is any point..the heat during cooking will kill more germs/bacteria than a rinse with water/vinegar will.

This is definitely a cultural thing, Im a bit surprised at some who seem unable to accept cultural differences and are instead making them out to be 'wrong' and sneering/laughing at them.

Every Jamaican/caribbean person I have ever known washes meat in this way. They don't seem to have an issue with food poisoning either.

I do it. Also seasoning too [overnight, not just for 15 mins before you cook it], NOT salt and pepper, which you hear TV chefs class as seasoning.

People can scoff all they like, but Jamaican cooked meat tastes better/more flavoursome than traditionally cooked english food IMO and many of the big chefs try to emulate that style of cooking, often unsuccessfully though, I expect because they dont follow the full prep and just play about a bit with seasonings.

Someone said about what the meat tastes like if you have to load with seasoning, it isn't just about taste, proper marinading doesn't just flavour. It also tenderises the meat.

All my Jamaican in-laws and friends wash their meat, it's their prerogative. I personally don't.

A few years ago they must have done some sort of public campaign about this issue. A man (African, it's relevant!) knocked on my door. He had leaflets in his hand and asked me some hygiene questions, one was "do I wash my chicken?" I lied and said yes because I thought he would judge me if I didn't

He then gave me a lecture about the dangers of washing chicken and that I would end up spreading far more germs around my kitchen before handing me a leaflet!

no, it spreads bacteria around the kitchen

The only significant sneering I've seen in this thread are against those who don't wash meat.

My lovely Jamaican friends makes awesome food but it is so 'seasoned' it doesn't taste like meat at all, it could be lamb, goat or beef and I'd struggle to tell the difference.

Decent meat doesn't need seasoning to make it nice. Nor does it need to be washed.

I rinse chicken but thats my personal preference, it makes more sense to not wash it but i cant not, so no sneering here

It was never really sorted, but it seems that when the meat washers are talking about things tasting/smelling "raw" that they don't actually mean "raw", as in not cooked. I think it's the "meaty" smell that's the problem. Hence why, as we're discussing Caribbean food, it gets heavily seasoned. Which will obviously change the taste.

Happy to be corrected!

I think it's a waste if meat isn't seasoned properly and it defo tastes better when left to marinade overnight you can really taste the difference in flavour how long it's been left to marinade