She poured the marinade that the raw chicken had been in on the cooked chicken and served it

[CrocsNotDocs]

Just that really.

Chatting to my lifelong friend while she was preparing dinner for her kids and that is what she did. She took the cooked wings out of her air fryer and poured the leftover marinade over it and served it to her kids. I was so taken aback and said oh you shouldn’t be doing that- it will have raw chicken germs all over it.

She looked at me like I was absolutely mad and said that’s how her mum always did it and the marinating chicken had been covered in the fridge so it was fine. I weakly said I didn’t think it was fine and she just laughed.

It’s not fine is it? I’s not going mad am I? She’s such a better housekeeper and cook than I am that I’m actually beginning to doubt myself! It’s so crazy- I ate at her house hundreds of times at a kid and I am certain her mum wouldn’t have done this. Is this a sliding doors of knowledge moment where she missed something fundamental? She’s like Martha Stewart and this is all completely mad.

As far as I am aware, her kids have never had a bout of food poisoning.

I've had campylobacter from raw chicken and it was the worst week of my life.

You have to tell her you can't drizzle raw chicken juice!!

As a professional chef, and someone who has a 5* Food Standards Agency rating on my own home kitchen, no - that's absolutely not okay 🤢

Not just no, but fuck no. Show her this thread. I'm a qualified chef. How have they not got sick before now if this is true? And who are the 3% who think you're unreasonable?

Why the faux "silly me" and suggesting friends might laugh at her?

Just find reliable info online and send it to her, saying "I doubted myself after our conversation but checked online and this might interest you"

Or send her a link to this thread

That is absolutely disgusting.

Campylobacter is the lethal bacterium of concern. My husband was ill for a month and lost two stone. He’s thin to start with. Semi cooked chicken in a restaurant. He only ate one bite!

I've seen this too, did it use very fine glitter?

OP, your friend is absolutely grim.

Blimey. On these threads I’m usually the one telling the OP to get a grip and explaining why the microbiological risk is low.

In this case 😱😱😱

It's not fine. She should be boiling the marinade first.

YANBU. But FYI my parents awareness of chicken contamination is way lower than mine. I actually didn't pay much attention to it until I moved to the UK.
We obviously know to separate raw veggies from raw meat when cooking, but wouldn't really think twice about serving cooked meat in a dish that has hold the uncooked meat.

So I wouldn't question her when she says her mum was always doing it that way, it's really not uncommon and I've seen it in cooking books.

Why the faux "silly me" and suggesting friends might laugh at her?
Just find reliable info online and send it to her, saying "I doubted myself after our conversation but checked online and this might interest you"

That. Send one of the links in this thread with that tactful message.
Don't faff about with the 'silly me' ridiculousness.

I’m amazed she’s always done it that way and no-one in her family have ever been sick.
Is it a very acidic marinade?

No, I work in meat production and that is absolutely not OK, in fact it even says so clearly on most marinade recipes I have seen online?
And to put it into perspective, I would have eaten the 9day old COOKED turkey! But I don't fuck about with raw chicken.

The reason they haven't been ill is luck. Raw chicken won't ALWAYS make you ill,
It doesn't all contain salmonella or campylobactor , just sometimes, and the risk is deemed too high by most people to chance it.

OK. Explaining the risk to your friend.

Raw chicken is very likely to be contaminated with bacteria, including bacteria from the chicken’s guts. Although refrigeration slows the growth of the bacteria, it’s still there, and it’s still growing.

When you mix raw chicken with marinade bacteria transfer into the marinade, and it continues to grow slowly in the fridge. Whether it’s covered or not makes no difference at all - the bacteria are from the chicken, not fridge air.

While the marinade is standing at room temperature the bacteria multiply faster, but even if she left the marinade in the fridge this would not be OK.

There are some small mitigating factors - the marinade itself might inhibit growth of the bacteria a bit (e.g. if it’s at a low pH) and the hot chicken might kill off some of the bacteria - but this is NOT a reliable method and she will come unstuck at some point.

This makes my blood run cold! I’ve had campylobacter from cross contamination on utensils whilst cooking chicken, and I was so horrendously ill. You have to be so careful with chicken!

Is she bloody stupid! What a moron!

When I deal with raw chicken now I don’t even put it on a chopping board but use kitchen scissors to cut it into chunks while it’s still in the packaging. Then put scissors straight in dishwasher and wash hands. Feels more contained than waving raw chicken round the kitchen.

Bloody hell, how dangerous.

This is what I do too.

No no no GOD no!!

She needs to keep some untouched marinade aside (in other words keep a portion that has NOT been in contact with raw chicken) to add at the end of cooking, or she needs to cook the chicken and marinade after pouring it over.

This is seriously, seriously dangerous.

What is wrong with people??

@CrocsNotDocs ‘Hi, I’m a bit confused. The other day when you cooked the chicken then poured the marinade over, did you mean you had cooked the marinade before refrigerating? Otherwise, you tipped raw chicken juice over cooked chicken and that’s a massive no-no’

I'm very low end about use by dates etc but this is a definite no. It's gross. I used a recipe (veggified) based on a chicken one that suggests doing just this though so I reckon some people just don't think things though, food poisoning and salmonella awareness has been huge for years!! I just use all the marinade and cook as a sauce

Where are these cookery books/authors that apparently recommend putting cooked foods back into the festering raw meat container??

Or using an uncooked marinade as sauce??

Because they are seriously compromising people's safety. Absolutely idiotic.

Much more likely that people have misunderstood the recipe method...

If you are instructed to heat the remaining marinade before serving, that's a different story.

This is the problem with every Tom, Dick and Harry thinking they're qualified to publish recipes. Numpties.

Her sauce is basically flavoured raw chicken juices !