Do you guys wash meat before you cook?

[Azami]

I just saw my mom wash bacon in the sink and it reminded me something from my nutrition class, you're not supposed to wash meat or infect surfaces and cause foodborne illness. Told my mom about it but she dismissed it.

[Azami]

Originally posted by Your_White_Knight:

Look this is simple... wash the surfaces the meat touches... not the meat.

Washing of your hands is always a given when preparing food.

I don't understand the confusion here. :lunar2019laughingpig:

That can also work.

[Rio]

Sometimes I wash meat too if its frozen. To speed up the thawing. Stuff like frozen ham slices, ham steak, etc.

Stuff that a lil bit o water ain't gonna harm much.

[Electric Cupcake]

Totally unnecessary unless there's contaminants that cooking wouldn't kill. Like dropping on the floor like a klutz.

I do rinse off the koshering salt after making gravlax, and obviously soak my lutefisk in fresh water before cooking.

[Electric Cupcake]

The better question is how many people rinse off their rice bran before putting in the cooker?

[Insomniac Jack]

One of my parents is a food scientist (with degrees in microbiology) and tends to rinse meat with water before cooking, but I find it to be overly cautious. I never wash my meat, but always rinse fish.

[Azza ☠]

You shouldn't wash meats, such as bacon or chicken.

Not only is it counterproductive to wash meats, as the cooking progress will be destroying germs anyways. It's more likely to spread any germs around the kitchen during the wash.

That's why professionals will have two different cutting boards, one for raw and the other for cooked meats. Never share the same surface for both raw and cooked. You wash the cutting boards afterwards, not the meat itself.

Washing bacon will just get rid of the surface salt. Bacon is high in salts, which leads to a more crispy cook. It should be as dry as possible. Salt helps dry it.

The only benefit of washing bacon is if it was frozen together with ice, to help defrost it and get rid of that ice, before pat drying with a paper towel and re-salting. Most bacon is vacuum sealed in the package, so you wouldn't have that problem anyways.

[Azami]

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

The better question is how many people rinse off their rice bran before putting in the cooker?

Wait... are you implying that not a lot of people wash their rice before putting it in the cooker? I lliterally clean my rice all the time before I cook. In fact, i thought it was pretty much necessary to do so.

[Alex]

I was like, why would I wash my private part before cooking it, I have a dirty mind :(

[Azami]

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

You shouldn't wash meats, such as bacon or chicken.

Not only is it counterproductive to wash meats, as the cooking progress will be destroying germs anyways. It's more likely to spread any germs around the kitchen during the wash.

That's why professionals will have two different cutting boards, one for raw and the other for cooked meats. Never share the same surface for both raw and cooked. You wash the cutting boards afterwards, not the meat itself.

Washing bacon will just get rid of the surface salt. Bacon is high in salts, which leads to a more crispy cook. It should be as dry as possible. Salt helps dry it.

The only benefit of washing bacon is if it was frozen together with ice, to help defrost it and get rid of that ice, before pat drying with a paper towel and re-salting. Most bacon is vacuum sealed in the package, so you wouldn't have that problem anyways.

The thing is, I'm actually concerned about the next time I cook meat (which I actually don't do) and the last thing I want to worry is try to cause bacteria on surfaces or have it spread to other foods or myself.

[Rio]

I've never had a rick cooker, I just use a pot.

[Azami]

Originally posted by Insomniac Jack:

One of my parents is a food scientist (with degrees in microbiology) and tends to rinse meat with water before cooking, but I find it to be overly cautious. I never wash my meat, but always rinse fish.

I'm actually curious if food scientists know proper food handling/safety practices because I only learned this from nutrition just recently.

[Xero_Daxter]

All the germs would be killed off once you cook it anyways.

[steven1mac]

Did I drop it? Yes, of not no.

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by Jericho:

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

The better question is how many people rinse off their rice bran before putting in the cooker?

Wait... are you implying that not a lot of people wash their rice before putting it in the cooker? I lliterally clean my rice all the time before I cook. In fact, i thought it was pretty much necessary to do so.

I've only recently gotten into the habit. Before, I only did it with sushi rice where the free starch level is important to not be too high or low.

For the regular rice in 10-20 pound bags from Costco, I used to just measure it out and put it right in the instant pot. Honestly, I haven't noticed much difference between prerinsing and not.

[Your_White_Knight]

Originally posted by Xero_Daxter:

All the germs would be killed off once you cook it anyways.

Exactly... that's why we cook it, there's no other real reason to do so...