To ask if you wash your meat?

[over2021]

No, not another penis beaker!

Today two colleagues in another department were talking about their dinner and it came up that they both wash their meat with a mix of lemon, water and salt before cooking it.

AIBU or is that not the norm? Or have I been feeding my friends and family dirty meat my entire adult life?!

I think it was a widespread practice at one time (It was done by my grandma) but all the advice I've heard as an adult is don't do it.

It used to be a thing, my Nan would wash meat, fish and poultry but contamination from splashing when washing was riskier plus hygiene standards and welfare improved so it fell out of use I think.

No as I cook it when I buy it,

No need to wash, and if it's from a supermarket where you think it has been after it was vacuum packed

Dm used to in the 70’s but stopped and I never have. White British fwiw.

No, I don’t. Because it’s not part of my culture.

Some cultures do. Although, as I understand it (please correct me if I’m wrong), it’s less ‘washing’ and more ‘bathing’ the meat. So not holding it under a running tap, sending chicken juice spraying everywhere.

I assume that if people were routinely getting ill from cleaning their chicken (or other meat), they’d stop doing it.

That makes me think they don’t get ill, so what harm is there in the practice?

Nope

Tbh for me it's not even about killing bacteria, because obviously that wouldn't work and it would be killed by cooking.

But if you ever wash meat you'll see how cloudy the water goes & all the little stray bits of fat etc that come off of it and it's grim.

Whenever I prepare meat such as chicken breast or skinless thighs I'll also cut off any fatty bits. Just park and parcel of how i prep the food.

Never

Also this - I've never heard this before. I'm wondering if people actually think the meat is held under the tap?

I literally open the packet of meat, put it in a mixing bowl purely for meat. Put water in it, with lemons. Leave it for a few mins, have a swish round and then pour the water away.

I've never been sick or had any issues with food poisoning etc.

Strangely enough, I always wash lamb chops/cutlets. They always seem to have random bone bits /debris whenever I buy them and no matter where from. Sometimes I wash pork chops too for the same reason.
Lamb joints are not a problem.

My SIL is Thai and washes chicken.

My DM is a retired doctor and says this is a very bad idea.

Salmonella is killed by cooking but potentially splashed (live and kicking) round your draining board, etc if you wash the raw chicken in the kitchen sink.

It's against environmental health advice so I wouldn't.

Never

How?

The only time I've been so ill with food poisoning that I was ill for ten days and had to go to the GP (and did have something fairly nasty) I'd picked it up in Thailand.

But I appreciate that's fairly anecdotal.

Yes I do. Meat in 'juices' are just disgusting to me. It's a culture thing though. We cook with alot of spices and flavour and the starting point is clean meat.

The advice to not wash meat changed because people were holding it under the tap and it was spraying harmful bacteria onto surfaces. I can’t see what harm placing meat into a bowl of clean water would do provided it was done carefully.

No I don't!

This. I don't know what this splashing around that people are talking about. Put a colinder/strainer in another dish and fill with water. Place meat the colinder and lift. Job done. No need to thrash around 'spreading bacteria'.

The mince used to get a good wash in the collander because the top butcher was a sneaky bugger and chucked in loads of fat gristle and red food dye - My Nan.
Also back then there'd be bits of saw dust on the meat.
(Obviously bulking up the weight - also My Nan)

See method above.

Just sounds like a hassle to me, one more thing to have to do. But I do remember my mum trying to rinse a whole chicken under the tap in the 70's.

It's because the splashes don't get cooked to kill bacteria @Whatsmyname100

No because cooking kills of surface bacteria, and washing red meat can actually decrease the quality and flavour. However, it is obviously done in many cultures and I think the lemon juice is used to make the meat more tender so its not just to clean it - there is a purpose to it, just not one that I personally find necessary.

You're still going to need to pour that contaminated water away.

If you go and pour it down the loo perhaps okay, but I'd assume most people will pour that water down the kitchen sink so you still have the potential contamination issue if it splashed onto, say, drinking glasses drying on the draining board.