Am I wrong to wash chicken?

[Luvoneson]

So sorry, this must be one of the most boring threads ever written. I always wash chicken, whether it be breasts or whole bird. My husband when cooking refuses to wash chicken as he says you dont need to. This makes me hysterical. I think it should be washed.

[pecanpie]

I wash my chicken too but have anti bacterial spray to hand which I spray all over the sink and rinse off as soon as the chicken is in a cooking dish....which is probably a bit over the top...Having read this thread I'll probably stop washing.

[Riponite]

Or in my bit of Yorkshire, tha's to eat a peck o'dirt before ye die...

[Stinkermink]

Ernest if you're cooking your chicken at 450 deg, washing your chicken is the least of your worries!! Unless it's a really old cook book!

[KAEKAE]

Mince isn't that hard to wash...just put it in a colendar and rinse then dry well with kitchen towel. I wouldn't recommend washing it until it turns grey though.

[whomovedmychocolate]

littleducks - oh the under threes are pretty much coated in poo - they may well wash their hands but before they do they smear everything. You may think your children are clean but look and sniff closely, you will find toddlers are 90% goo of various types

Seriously it's not actually a bad thing, a certain amount of grot keeps your immune system ticking over.

[KAEKAE]

I used to always wash chicken and mince! Plus any other types of meat I was about to cook!! I don't like the idea of it perhaps being dropped on a butchers floor, yes the heat will kill any germs, but what about bits of dirt and hairs? It won't get rid of that will it?!

[littleducks]

whomovemychocolate i have kids but im pretty certain im not eating shit, how on earth would i be?

[mamamila]

i'm a chicken washer-er too

i like the idea of washing away surface bacteria

whomovedmychocolate you really made me laugh, i'm going to start using that shovel of shit expression, love it!

[TitsalinaBumsquash]

NOOOOOO Don't wash you Chicken!!!!!!!

Thats the best way to spread illness and germs, you cook a Chicken at a reasonable temp and its cooked untill all meat is white not pink, any germ will die during cooking. That is why you should also use a seperatec chopping board for Chicken and wash your hands thoroughly, you shouldn't use the same knife to chop raw Chicken and other food in the same sitting and always clean with an anti bacterial cleaner where Chicken has been placed.

[FairMidden]

Does everyone buy UK chicken though? And are you sure there's nothing else to be caught from raw poultry?

Chicken is still a very likely contender for food poisoning unless thoroughly cooked.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Since all chickens in the UK are immunised against salmonella - is this such an issue these days yes there may be smears of poo, but hey, we have children we're probably ingesting regular lumps anyway

I don't even wash veggies. I reckon all the chemicals and bits of crap on them are probably actually quite balancing in the great scheme of things.

Granny used to say 'you have to eat a shovel full o shit before you die'. Meaning that the bits in the cauli etc were not to be commented on.

She's dead of course!

[candyfluff]

i dont wash chicken

[Goober]

YES!!!

With Lynx, or Imperial Leather!

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

A fleck of faeces facilitates flavour

[Cosmosis]

washing mince would be a very long drawn out process methinks

[uberalice]

"a fleck of faeces". I like that, littleducks. Sounds almost like poetry.

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

You need to wash fish cavity if you have gutted them youself...

[cheerychapstick]

does it depend where you get it? I guess if you've plucked your own you might want to... Otherwise, heating it at 200 degrees or so must kill all the little nasty bits, surely.

Tho wasn't there some advice to wash poultry when that whole Bernard Matthews thing happened?

[littleducks]

yep wash meat here, occassioally is a fleck of faeces on a whole chicken i buy from butchers so it isnt all packaged up in cling film

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

That second recipe sounds distinctly american...

Maybe they have dirty chiken over there

[ErnestTheBavarian]

1st recpe google for roast chicken "preparation

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better."

and again

Quick Pesto Roasted Chicken
User Rating Be the first to write a review
By Diana Rattray, About.com
See More About:roasted chickenwhole chicken recipesbaked chicken

Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 broiler or roasting chicken, about 4 to 5 pounds
1/4 cup prepared pesto
fresh basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried leaf basil and cut up lemon and/or orange, for cavity, optional
salt and pepper
Preparation:

Heat oven to 425°.
Wash chicken and pat dry. With your fingers, separate the skin from the meat around the breast and legs. Push small amounts of pesto under the skin.........

they all say it.

maybe they're in league with Bounty Plenty or detox surface cleaner or something

[LovelyTinOfSpam]

ernest I am a born instruction-follower as well.

But I've never heard this one before.

I don't understand why you would do it? In case the chicken is dirty? Wouldn't they have washed them at teh slaughterhouse if it was necessary?

Maybe I will never know...

[ErnestTheBavarian]

all my instructions say wash well and pat try with kitchen roll. so I do.

Don't normally wash mince...