Why people wash meat (or don't)

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  • Опубліковано 24 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 7 тис.

  • @aragusea
    @aragusea  4 роки тому +3236

    Hey all, I'm seeing a lot of folks commenting, "I've been washing meat my whole life, and it's never made me sick!" A few responses to that:
    1) You would have absolutely no way of knowing if doing this made you sick. Most people who get a minor foodborne illness either don't know they had it, or would have no way of knowing how they got it. People usually assume it was the last thing they ate, but foodborne infections have incubation periods of days or even weeks.
    2) No scientist I've talked to about meat washing characterized it as a major health risk. They're simply telling you it's a risk that isn't worth taking, unless you have some specific, compelling reason to wash the meat, which many of you do. Just try not to splash much water around.
    3) To my knowledge, the only research that's been done on this is observational studies where they watch people cook and then go back and look for bacteria or its surrogates. As far as I can tell, no one has finished any epidemiological research (large-scale studies of actual human populations out there in the real world) that would tell us how much meat-washing elevates your risk of foodborne illness.
    4) Assuming meat-washing does indeed raise your likelihood of foodborne illness by a few percentage points, keep in mind that you would have no way of perceiving that on an individual level. Most people get sick from food at least a few times in their life, and unless you're part of a major outbreak where public health investigators get involved, you'll probably never know what made you sick. Things that just elevate your risk a little bit are usually only perceivable at the population-level, where scientists can use statistical analysis to isolate variables.
    5) Whether you should care about something that might only raise your risk of illness by a little bit is entirely up to you. Personally, I'm not that worried about it. I'm just interested in the cultural dimension here. I still don't know what this "raw" or "fresh" taste is that y'all are trying to wash off!

    • @evank647
      @evank647 4 роки тому +131

      Good video Adam, very respectful.

    • @illia_troshuk7071
      @illia_troshuk7071 4 роки тому +174

      Everybody gangsta till Adam starts to write comments like that again

    • @AtomicShrimp
      @AtomicShrimp 4 роки тому +179

      I'm so glad you made this video! Now I can send my angry commentors straight to you! ;)

    • @tcmr5775
      @tcmr5775 4 роки тому +49

      Thanks for doing this Adam. You are backing up food and cooking with science, which is like my favorite crossover ever. You're following in the footsteps of Alton Brown.

    • @klemmonade
      @klemmonade 4 роки тому +31

      "I've been washing meat my whole life, and it's never made me sick!" Imagine actually writing that. "I've never felt sick in my entire life!" who are these idiots with Alzheimers and how did they get on youtube.

  • @Thuazabi
    @Thuazabi 4 роки тому +3306

    "Screw it. Nothing I've done has killed us yet."
    I kind of hate how accurately that describes me.

    • @warsepticagaming9527
      @warsepticagaming9527 4 роки тому +44

      Same, I'm always the guy that says "screw it,its gonna be(something) anyway"

    • @theman4884
      @theman4884 4 роки тому +28

      That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

    • @RagingInsomniac
      @RagingInsomniac 4 роки тому +8

      OMG SO QUIRKY😌😌😌😌😌

    • @Eclipsing_SUN
      @Eclipsing_SUN 4 роки тому +3

      Exaggerated but so true

    • @lemonke3774
      @lemonke3774 4 роки тому +3

      I’m your 666th like! What an honour!

  • @ezdesign4336
    @ezdesign4336 4 роки тому +5015

    "Why I wash my hands, NOT my meat"

    • @Scp-x3bgo
      @Scp-x3bgo 4 роки тому +41

      @@AxxLAfriku *You’re

    • @mrkrule4373
      @mrkrule4373 4 роки тому +99

      @@Scp-x3bgo uhm no the grammar is already good

    • @markas3015
      @markas3015 4 роки тому +97

      @@Scp-x3bgo by the way. “You’re” is the contraction of “you are”, do not correct somebody if you do not know what the meaning of the said word is. I’m just letting you know. •-•

    • @limhx-6734
      @limhx-6734 4 роки тому +54

      this sounds so wrong

    • @gp3874
      @gp3874 4 роки тому +16

      @@AxxLAfriku u good ?

  • @freemagicfun
    @freemagicfun Рік тому +83

    In the US I did not wash meat. It comes in as clean as it is going to be. But... in the Philippines meat does not come on Styrofoam trays. We buy our meat from the wet market most of the time. It was slaughtered that morning, behind the wet market, butchered on a tree stump, and sold on a non-refrigerated table. The grocery store is hardly any cleaner. We wash it because it has a questionable hygienic past. I know we cannot wash away bacteria, but the 1st washing makes some pretty funky water... and it is a good opportunity to remove the bone shards from their version of butchering... 😎

    • @rushsale5086
      @rushsale5086 Місяць тому +6

      Exactly what I have in mind. It's hard to compare washing and not washing if you have preparation/selling methods

  • @Dogrin
    @Dogrin 4 роки тому +1738

    So I remember seeing an argument about this Somewhere On the Internet, with the washers and the anti-washers going to battle. And then this person comes in like "but what kind of soap do you guys use to wash your meat? X brand?" and you could hear the record scratch moment as everyone thought, "surely, this is a troll." But then someone else came on in support of them. And then another person. This whole group of people admitting they give their raw ass whole chicken the oil spill treatment with Dawn dish detergent or whatever. And then the rage descended from all sides. It was like Chicago deep dish pizza stans and NY style pizza stans coming together to hate on California pizza or smth. Incredible.

    • @annalynn9325
      @annalynn9325 3 роки тому +62

      Sounds a lot like the compost wars 😅

    • @MrCrashDavi
      @MrCrashDavi 3 роки тому

      +

    • @D-Vinko
      @D-Vinko 3 роки тому +294

      I don't think people understand how soap works.
      It literally binds to the fat molecules on chicken, if the chicken has fat on it, that fat has soap in it.
      Those people LIKE the taste of soap, and blame the fact that chicken doesn't normally taste like soap on it being "dirty"

    • @sonofaquack6987
      @sonofaquack6987 3 роки тому +85

      Hey! California pizza is the best one to feed the raccoons!

    • @Dogrin
      @Dogrin 3 роки тому +11

      @@sonofaquack6987 LOL

  • @melsyoutube
    @melsyoutube 4 роки тому +1997

    it's often just a case of being lost in translation. my caribbean neighbors always *BRINE* their meat, but call it "washing".
    as for bacteria, you're correct. no meat washers are washing their meat in order to "remove bacteria", it's literally about removing dirt and other particulates that are often found on meat that isn't mass produced in a highly developed country.

    • @reddestcherry
      @reddestcherry 3 роки тому +134

      yes someone said it!! In my island everyone does this but when I moved to europe everyone seems to think it strange.😅😅

    • @makboyable
      @makboyable 3 роки тому +9

      FAXXX

    • @Lava_splash
      @Lava_splash 3 роки тому +36

      Right. I can't not wash my meat.

    • @D-Vinko
      @D-Vinko 3 роки тому +75

      Doing it when you're in a developed country is unnecessary, and spreads danger which wouldn't be normally present to you here.
      Basically, grow into your new life ffs.

    • @reddestcherry
      @reddestcherry 3 роки тому +134

      @@D-Vinko I've adapted to my life here quite well but I'll still continue to wash my meat 😊

  • @Haedox
    @Haedox 4 роки тому +3898

    can’t focus on what you’re saying with the smurf that looks like you

    • @blibbers8843
      @blibbers8843 4 роки тому +30

      Off topic but I love your content

    • @jimbermelon
      @jimbermelon 4 роки тому +7

      more like haedicks gottem

    • @michaelkrzyzanowski8799
      @michaelkrzyzanowski8799 4 роки тому +1

      where's your content been?

    • @raiden_2886
      @raiden_2886 4 роки тому +13

      @@michaelkrzyzanowski8799 he’s been watching Adam

    • @jpnrndr7983
      @jpnrndr7983 4 роки тому +7

      @@blibbers8843 off topic but stop being a fanboy

  • @patriciozimbron
    @patriciozimbron 3 роки тому +500

    I have enormous respect for Adam, his research and delivery. I was a chef for 10 years and I went to culinary school in France. One of the chefs there taught to always wash your chicken under running water. Similarly, descaling fish is usually done under running water. A lot of chefs teach what they were taught without questioning it. Thank you for your work! It’s fascinating!

    • @ThreadBomb
      @ThreadBomb 2 роки тому +49

      I assume descaling fish under running water would serve to wash the scales away.

    • @gabbonoo
      @gabbonoo 2 роки тому +21

      the concept of doing something under running water seems very late 1950s-now.
      i cant picture a peasant using excessive amounts(wasting) of water to do something they probably would have figured makes no difference to the end product.
      ...unless they have a picture in their minds like: "i must cleanse the miasma!"

    • @chudchadanstud
      @chudchadanstud 2 роки тому +4

      Watch the whole video next time "chef". Washing meat isn't to get rid of bacteria just like washing your hands doesn't get rid of bacteria. It's to get rid of dirt aka features fat grease and grime.

    • @anniedaynoww
      @anniedaynoww 2 роки тому +32

      @@chudchadanstud 🤨 washing your hands DOES get rid of bacteria. The difference is you use SOAP to wash your hands.

    • @anniedaynoww
      @anniedaynoww 2 роки тому +12

      @@chudchadanstud also you can't wash away fat 🤨 and what is this grime you're speaking of? I think you have a lot of misconceptions about meat before you came into this video

  • @davidmelgar1197
    @davidmelgar1197 4 роки тому +1157

    It's genuinely frustrating how this is a well made and respectfully researched video is getting a bunch of comments from people who definitely did not watch the video

    • @JacobRy
      @JacobRy 4 роки тому +122

      Internet

    • @beriukay
      @beriukay 4 роки тому +68

      At least that means they probably didn't wash the video

    • @whatsupdate
      @whatsupdate 4 роки тому +28

      Did you catch the comment where Adam himself is backpedaling and saying it’s not a significant risk and he is mostly only interested in it as a cultural phenomenon? Yea people watched the whole thing and disagreed with its implication justifiably.

    • @davidmelgar1197
      @davidmelgar1197 4 роки тому +156

      @@whatsupdate That's not what I'm referencing, and I fail to see the backpedaling (unless you're referring to another older video, or something from his TikTok), but rather the arguing and disdain being flung between commenters, or repeating something already addressed in the video proper (eg, stating that the marinating is less about pathogens and more removing external and undesired textures/smells, which is literally addressed in the video)

    • @whatsupdate
      @whatsupdate 4 роки тому +13

      @@davidmelgar1197 see point 5 of Adams post 1 hour ago. He doesn’t even view it as a significant risk at present, so we watched a video pretty much about nothing. I totally missed any talk of marinating so I could imagine others did to. All I saw was a bunch of hoopla about washing chicken as if it mattered and now see Adam say in a comment he doesn’t think it does. So if there is angst amongst the watchers maybe some of it is justified. And well...youtube... is gonna UA-cam.

  • @litrallynotmebruh9531
    @litrallynotmebruh9531 4 роки тому +532

    I feel like when you bought meat from a wet market where the meat has been chopped and hanging out in the air for hours you just want to wash it
    Completely different story when you buy from a grocery stores with pre-packaged meat

    • @shawniscoolerthanyou
      @shawniscoolerthanyou 3 роки тому +46

      Well if wet markets are still legal, then we probably haven't learned much from the last 18+ months.

    • @johnapple6646
      @johnapple6646 3 роки тому +4

      Just don't eat bats and you're good

    • @janetz1001
      @janetz1001 3 роки тому +37

      Wet market is literally how majority of people who do not live in the North America, England and Europe get their food. It’s been so demonized and to even say it needs to be illegal is like saying one restaurant that is dirty has caused food poisoning therefore all restaurants must be out laced.

    • @timdeathly
      @timdeathly 3 роки тому +15

      @@janetz1001 Well no. This is like a saying a lab producing harmful diseases in many different species that is in public around humans that touch, smell, and eat the potentially harmful mea should be illegal. You can make good markets in Europe as well. All you needed to do is make sure cross contamination is heavily monitored.

    • @Ryan-sn3uo
      @Ryan-sn3uo 2 роки тому +21

      @@shawniscoolerthanyou I guess if you fell sick from eating one rotten apple, we shall ban apples across the country now too I guess. This is what happens when someone grows up in NA / West EU and have no clue how other people live.

  • @ali.aljishi
    @ali.aljishi 4 роки тому +330

    Arabic is actually written from right to left. But in the video it's spelled left to right. Just thought that might be something you'd find interesting!

    • @jmarvins
      @jmarvins 4 роки тому +48

      No wonder the letters didn't calligraphically merge - it looked weird on screen for a reason!

    • @maxsmith8196
      @maxsmith8196 4 роки тому +4

      Even the Arabic characters? How did that even happen?

    • @FarisPlayer1
      @FarisPlayer1 4 роки тому +50

      Adobe products are a pain in the ass when it comes to Arabic

    • @Raufiee786
      @Raufiee786 4 роки тому +3

      It looked off to me too!

    • @altersami9660
      @altersami9660 4 роки тому +15

      @@FarisPlayer1 Most graphics software can't handle Arabic properly.

  • @cvilla1944
    @cvilla1944 2 роки тому +292

    I do appreciate how your videos take the reasonable standpoint of "Yeah it might be a safety concern but honestly its not a super big deal." So many internet people act like one small misstep in food safety will kill your whole neighborhood

    • @YoungBasedChefBeezy
      @YoungBasedChefBeezy 2 роки тому +14

      Is that a risk worth taking?

    • @rikifromplanetk8305
      @rikifromplanetk8305 Рік тому

      @@YoungBasedChefBeezy eh, compared to most things we do probably.

    • @Mikael-jt1hk
      @Mikael-jt1hk Рік тому

      @@YoungBasedChefBeezy Are you feeding your entire neighborhood? otherwise there is no risk.. Im pretty sure i poisoned myself several times from poor kitchen hygiene. Most people have.. The word poison really does make it sound worse than it is. Its not cyanide. You have the shits for a day or two. Did you never have the shits?

    • @thohangst
      @thohangst Рік тому +3

      Jenny From The Block becomes Typhoid Mary. Hmm...

    • @okakaaaaaa
      @okakaaaaaa Рік тому +2

      ​@@thohangsty'all are just soft

  • @liltwerp3418
    @liltwerp3418 4 роки тому +3147

    i, live in a third world country where meat is bought outside with flies everywhere, so washing it is definitely a yes.

    • @mahmoudnabil2107
      @mahmoudnabil2107 3 роки тому +357

      Well unless you eat your meat raw then yes good point.
      But, obviously you cook your meat. heat kills microbs and bacteria.
      Bacteria dies.
      Your food is bacteria free.
      You are safe.

    • @liltwerp3418
      @liltwerp3418 3 роки тому +495

      @@mahmoudnabil2107 good point, but tons of us here just really do it to be literally extra sure

    • @JosephTheApologetic
      @JosephTheApologetic 3 роки тому +28

      @@liltwerp3418 nice pathogens 😎

    • @ezgolf1764
      @ezgolf1764 3 роки тому +309

      @@liltwerp3418 If anything, peace of mind, Like how people blow on food that falls on the floor and eat it

    • @Ab-cz1ii
      @Ab-cz1ii 3 роки тому +53

      Well that's the point. If you need to wash the meat while living in the richest country in the world there's something wrong

  • @rudy1205-d5s
    @rudy1205-d5s 4 роки тому +426

    I am from the Caribbean and it is unheard of to cook meat without washing it with lemon and salt and also vinegar. By the way, we also wash our rice before cooking.

    • @Marzimus
      @Marzimus 3 роки тому +85

      Washing rice is just smart practice. 👌

    • @joshjacobson9846
      @joshjacobson9846 3 роки тому +74

      Not washing rice is just asking for gummy rice

    • @degeneratewithasideoftidep6795
      @degeneratewithasideoftidep6795 3 роки тому +53

      @@joshjacobson9846 There’s some dishes that call for that

    • @vectorohyeah1163
      @vectorohyeah1163 3 роки тому +9

      @@joshjacobson9846 in Serbia we always wash rice

    • @playtester6635
      @playtester6635 3 роки тому +33

      @@Marzimus Depends how it was packaged. I buy a lot of fortified rice which is prewashed and the extra vitamins are mixed in with the starch dust. And a lot of traditional european recipes are meant to be done with unwashed rice. That extra starch does wonders on a risotto making the sauce that much creamier.

  • @morrigangg
    @morrigangg 3 роки тому +1098

    The lime/salt brine "wash" makes sense to me, the "whole chicken under the faucet" thing not so much.

    • @asandax6
      @asandax6 2 роки тому +59

      People wash meat to remove dirt not germs.

    • @cooallen1570
      @cooallen1570 2 роки тому +11

      So you just soak and cook without rinsing that concoction off?

    • @popenieafantome9527
      @popenieafantome9527 2 роки тому +102

      @@cooallen1570 brine serves as a way to season the meat too. That is its primary use. If dirt and whatnot remains in the brine solution after you remove meat, that is more of a secondary function. So i don’t think many would rinse it off.

    • @ZodsSnappedNeck
      @ZodsSnappedNeck 2 роки тому +7

      @@asandax6 by replacing it with contaminants from tap water

    • @asandax6
      @asandax6 2 роки тому +35

      @@ZodsSnappedNeck I already drink the contaminants from tap water so better them than some that I'm not used to which will make me sick.

  • @MaureenTurner-uw7uv
    @MaureenTurner-uw7uv 3 місяці тому +2

    16:41 Scottish women here. Learned to wash my chicken from my Caribbean friends. I now prefer to wash it in salty water to remove the liquid that pools in the packaging and smells disgusting. Pat dry and oil it before roasting or frying. After watching this video, I will always use a bowl. Thank you!

  • @zluq3297
    @zluq3297 4 роки тому +465

    Im not even mad when he hits me with such a smooth transition for his sponsor.

    • @Tithis
      @Tithis 4 роки тому +2

      Personally I think there are better options for a 10" stainless pan than Misen.
      The Tribute line of tri-ply pans from Vollrath can be found for the same price online. Their pans have a thicker aluminum core than the Misen pans and made in the USA vs China. Granted as they are aimed at the commercial market they aren't going to win beauty contests.

    • @hiimbonsai
      @hiimbonsai 4 роки тому +1

      Yup he even puts effort into the ads which makes him a perfect ambassador for the brands

    • @rileysanderson3824
      @rileysanderson3824 4 роки тому +3

      what sponsor?

    • @zluq3297
      @zluq3297 4 роки тому +2

      i feel like this is why people would love to sponsor him.

    • @sameash3153
      @sameash3153 4 роки тому +1

      Don't encourage him

  • @ShinRaSabai
    @ShinRaSabai 4 роки тому +413

    I liked that Adam used the word "hypothesis" instead of more commonly used "theory".
    Probably interchangeable in common tongue, but definitely different in science.

    • @themaggattack
      @themaggattack 3 роки тому +7

      Nerd.
      🤓🙃😘

    • @cahillgreg
      @cahillgreg 3 роки тому +5

      Shush now.

    • @joshelguapo5563
      @joshelguapo5563 3 роки тому +12

      Eh it depends. Science educators make a big deal about words, especially when it comes to evolution but terminology has been so inconsistent over the years that we just kinda use whatever. Nowadays, at least in physics, a theoretical paper is one where you're working out the mathematics and maybe running simulation where an experimental paper is one where you're performing experiment.

    • @neatneet1757
      @neatneet1757 2 роки тому

      We get it,you like to act like a smarty-pants online,he's not writing a paper. Shut up.

    • @jasonreed7522
      @jasonreed7522 2 роки тому +17

      @@joshelguapo5563 that a different usage of theory. (Theory vs practice/experimental)
      OP is talking about the progression from Hypothesis (un/minimaly tested), to theory (has survived some scrutiny butcould still be disproven), to law (after thousands to millions of tests gravity still hasn't behaved different from the math, its a law that is considered unbreakable. In reality you can disprove a law of physics but its highly unlikely and takes a lot of scrutiny to be sure its the law and not you thats wrong)
      As for how much it matters, the big difference is the first step between an unfounded hypothesis and a tested one that is being refined into an actual theory that can make valid predictions. A hypothesis with no testing is just a guess, and one with minimal testing could still be easily disproven. (Basically no evidence to support = WAG or Wild Ass Guess)

  • @jasonsharmamusic2925
    @jasonsharmamusic2925 4 роки тому +911

    Nevermind meat, I've never seen Adam washing vegetables. In India, we wash everything before cooking. Even packaged daal because we cannot trust the food handlers and also India has a lot of dust.

    • @truegamer_007
      @truegamer_007 4 роки тому +180

      Yeah, this is more applicable to US and Europe. Meat is more standardised there.

    • @isabellacarlo
      @isabellacarlo 4 роки тому +126

      in the us, it's suggested that you wash supermarket vegetables, but i have a feeling not many people actually wash off their plastic-wrapped cherry tomatoes

    • @legochickenguy4938
      @legochickenguy4938 4 роки тому +269

      We wash vegetables in the US all the time, it's just kind of understood so he probably never records it

    • @fairyonice9504
      @fairyonice9504 4 роки тому +33

      Yup. My parents are immigrants from Sri Lanka, and they wash all veggies. And they wash them, like, 100 times before they are deemed safe for human consumption.

    • @moidhassan5552
      @moidhassan5552 4 роки тому +4

      yeah I filled the form about Indian practices

  • @plyric
    @plyric 3 місяці тому +1

    This is my first video of watching you. I'm American, but my parents were from Trinidad & Tobago. So, all of my cooking I learned from my mother. Washing the meat is typical Caribbean where we take whatever we had on hand, either lemons or limes, cut the citrus in half and then rub down every bit of the meat possible. Then, allow the meat to soak in the citric acids for a few minutes while you chop the vegetables and tend to the rice. Then go back to the chicken, drain the "dirty" juice and prepare the meat for cooking. I do not wash any of my meat with plain water. Also, for flavor, when I put the meat in a pot, I'll squeeze another lemon into the pot, regardless of the spices I've chosen for that particular meal. I only skip this final step if I'm not cooking Caribbean or Indian dishes.

  • @dj1NM3
    @dj1NM3 4 роки тому +599

    Intriguing that "washing" included what others would call "brining" or maybe "marinading", which might throw off the results of the survey.

    • @x97sfinest
      @x97sfinest 4 роки тому +83

      Yeah seeing people call lemon/lime juice, salt, or vinegar a wash was interesting

    • @superharryboy
      @superharryboy 4 роки тому +35

      I'd say you can conclude that part of the population thinks they are washing the meat when they are actually marinating. I know what marinating is by watching this videos, otherwise I wouldn't know. Many people do stuff they don't know what it actually is. It may technically not count as "just washing" but it does count on this survey because that's what the survey is about: why people wash meat.

    • @nicholasneyhart396
      @nicholasneyhart396 4 роки тому +28

      In my family(very large italian family) we used wash and marinade interchangeably. I agree that stuff like that may change the results.

    • @essence7423
      @essence7423 3 роки тому +3

      But typically you dont marinade and then wash off the marinade or do you? You marinaade and go straight to cooking. Whereas after cleaning you also rinse off or wash...

    • @superharryboy
      @superharryboy 3 роки тому +15

      @@essence7423 you may rinse the outer layer, but after marinade, it is impregnated inside the meat, which you can't wash off after the marinade is done. Now if you did all that in a few minutes, then the marinade never made anything

  • @imbi9580
    @imbi9580 3 роки тому +285

    I worked at a wet market before and where I’m from, the chicken was delivered to us in a bag of plastic and it’s always got tears on it and it will always be on the ground before we process it. Also a lot of chicken in my region’s wet stores are not cleaned very well (some shit still in the gut, the gut is still inside, etc) so it falls in the customer’s hands to wash it and clean it before cooking. That said, this is the end of my ted talk thank you for coming

    • @ivyrose779
      @ivyrose779 3 роки тому +50

      That’s different. I think he’s talking more about nicely wrapped up chicken breasts or whatever from a grocery store.

    • @chatella_nutella9017
      @chatella_nutella9017 Рік тому +28

      ​@@ivyrose779 in my country all meat is like that, whether you get it from markets, grocery stores, or even hypermarkets. Meat is general left out in the open and insects like flies are free to land on them, as it's just generally unsanitary (people talking, etc). Meat that comes prepackaged is generally expensive and not catered for the average consumer

    • @ladyliss
      @ladyliss Рік тому +1

      🥴

    • @Sirbossman
      @Sirbossman 11 місяців тому +1

      @@chatella_nutella9017​​⁠​⁠They way I look at it is. washing your meat is like just a “peace of mind” action therefore it’s understandable. Believe of not even when food arrives as you claimed, it’s still completely safe to eat if cooked properly and hadn’t began decomposing aka being rotten. The majority of harmful bacteria will die well before the temperature most people like their meats at. But like I said I dont knock people for washing their meat even if it’s not necessarily. Hell probably do the same if I were in that situation. I say this because i do a lot of “peace of mind” things on the daily that aren’t necessary.

    • @bluegum6438
      @bluegum6438 9 місяців тому +2

      I'm from Australia, with very clean and regulated meat, and I was taught to clean any meat that has slime with paper towel before working with it. With chicken I usually brine it first because I absolutely agree with the zankha thing - chicken that hasn't been soaked in e.g. vinegar, ginger and cooking sake, has a distinct off-taste, no matter how fresh it is, that is removed by brining.

  • @MadKingIII
    @MadKingIII 4 роки тому +590

    The word "peasant" is such an entertaining word to say

  • @phildman132
    @phildman132 3 роки тому +21

    I wonder if the method of processing of meat across countries affects this as well. When I moved from the UK to Sweden I immediately noticed a difference in the chicken that I bought from the supermarket. Pre packed chicken in the UK doesn't really smell at all unless it is old, however chicken in Sweden usually has that weird slightly off smell about it. Although when cooked, both of them tasted absolutely fine. I wondered if there is some difference in the way the meat is processed, maybe it is washed before packaging in the UK but not in Sweden or other places, which might give rise to that smell that people complain about.

    • @tw8464
      @tw8464 Рік тому +1

      Yeah the processing isn't necessarily the same everywhere.

  • @jason_x_90
    @jason_x_90 3 роки тому +633

    Personally, the whole rawness thing with lime and vinegar does get rid of a raw smell. Thats what I was always taught to do and it works, to me, anyway.
    I'm from the Caribbean, Jamaica for reference.

    • @Lava_splash
      @Lava_splash 3 роки тому +19

      Yes, same.

    • @therealdgh13
      @therealdgh13 3 роки тому +30

      Eh
      Never got rid of it for me. Raw chicken smells like raw chicken.

    • @kyng_matt
      @kyng_matt 3 роки тому +2

      Yaadie

    • @TRPGpilot
      @TRPGpilot 3 роки тому +99

      Cooking gets rid of the raw smell . . .

    • @Cocoa.Tresbelle
      @Cocoa.Tresbelle 3 роки тому

      Facts

  • @khalid_ba
    @khalid_ba 4 роки тому +263

    The Levantine Arabic word Zankha زنخة translates to "stench" or "rancidity".
    In Egyptian Arabic it would be "zafara" زفارة or "zanakha" زناخة (dialect variant from the Levantine one). Zafara also applies to the smell of raw fish (specially if you are in a coastal city), specially in a warm country.
    All of that applies to any off putting smell in any food too.

    • @skadaddleskadoodle833
      @skadaddleskadoodle833 3 роки тому +26

      in Tunisian dialect it's زفر /زفرة Zefr/Zefra (depending on if it's masculine or feminine) and it's mostly due to the smell of raw chicken or even the smell of raw eggs especially when you don't wash your dishes well enough after using raw chicken/fish/eggs.

    • @LordFreak030
      @LordFreak030 3 роки тому +5

      I can confirm that the word used in the whole of GCC is زفارة

    • @hussainattai4638
      @hussainattai4638 3 роки тому +5

      @@LordFreak030 I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t know that term. Maybe because they don’t cook their own food

    • @LordFreak030
      @LordFreak030 3 роки тому +5

      @@hussainattai4638 yeah possibly but here in Kuwait and Bahrain its pretty common.

    • @diyaasaeed7959
      @diyaasaeed7959 3 роки тому +15

      It’s impossible to explain it to someone who doesn’t know the smell, I had friends who wash their dishes not so good and man all their dishes is zafr and it’s so disgusting. It’s crazy how people literally can’t smell the smell of zafr

  • @LockheedMartinEnjoyer
    @LockheedMartinEnjoyer 4 роки тому +405

    Alot of thing is done by "this is how my parents always done it and their parents to" without much though really.

    • @rdizzy1
      @rdizzy1 4 роки тому +59

      Which is the absolute dumbest reason to do things. Modern generations should toss these things out like yesterdays garbage, no need to continue to believe in myths and wives tales from your parents and grandparents with all this immediate knowledge at your fingertips 24/7.

    • @Dosadniste2000
      @Dosadniste2000 4 роки тому +17

      @@rdizzy1 Modern generations think butter comes from corn and cow gives ketchup

    • @d-booya5089
      @d-booya5089 4 роки тому +45

      @@Dosadniste2000 No you're lying

    • @Dosadniste2000
      @Dosadniste2000 4 роки тому +1

      @@d-booya5089 Lmao, it's recorded for the world to see in multiple Tv shows

    • @emilior934
      @emilior934 4 роки тому +11

      All the way back to the first humans who tried it. If its not broken, don't fix it.

  • @alecklassen2737
    @alecklassen2737 2 роки тому +3

    SE Asian cooks will often wash their chickens by scrubbing them with a salted lime. It’s mostly to condition the skin for poaching, so the skin comes out bouncier.

  • @professionalritard5453
    @professionalritard5453 4 роки тому +160

    I think in countries with hot climates, we have our words for "zankha", in Indonesian it's "amis".

    • @riftwalker4411
      @riftwalker4411 4 роки тому +1

      Ok gan

    • @muktharubarify1
      @muktharubarify1 3 роки тому +2

      Podas in my language

    • @nocares5395
      @nocares5395 3 роки тому +1

      balls itches

    • @muktharubarify1
      @muktharubarify1 3 роки тому

      @@nocares5395 apply Veta

    • @armanke13
      @armanke13 3 роки тому +1

      Hi fellow Indonesian, thanks for pointing that up.
      I notice he also wrote the arabic text wrong, it should be right to left, 😅

  • @isabellacarlo
    @isabellacarlo 4 роки тому +628

    OH, I PARTICIPATED IN THIS POLL

  • @FragmentJack
    @FragmentJack 4 роки тому +57

    I grew up in a Black/Caribbean household - so I’m use to washing meat whenever I get it. I just try my best to avoid cross-contamination and make sure the area the meat is in is cleaned up.

    • @twdjt6245
      @twdjt6245 4 роки тому +10

      Sammme. Grew up with Haitian parents, and although 99% of the food I make isn’t Haitian food, I do it just because I grew up watching my mom do it. Hasn’t killed me or anyone else in my family yet. So fuck what “they” say lol

    • @DigitalIslandboy
      @DigitalIslandboy 4 роки тому

      @Thomas Grey Caribbean people are accustomed to getting-up and cleaning their house every day as part of chores. Bleach or Ammonia or things like soft scrub or comet for the sink. Boiling water. Throw out sponges on regular basis but those also get soaked in bleach.

    • @reneestevens7337
      @reneestevens7337 2 місяці тому

      only white people dont wash meat

  • @jamiehinton2349
    @jamiehinton2349 4 роки тому +68

    I'm a black 44 year old woman living in the southern US. I do clean my meat. I've watched my mom, dad, sister, and other family members wash meat. It's a hard habit to break.

    • @D-Vinko
      @D-Vinko 3 роки тому +9

      It really isn't.
      Put the meat in the pan before you even season it, then slowly work on seasoning it before the pan if you really need to actually ween yourself off of cleaning chicken. completely neglecting the cleaning step is all you have to do.

    • @aaliyahhhh1455
      @aaliyahhhh1455 3 роки тому +9

      @@D-Vinko it feels wrong

    • @infinitedreaming222
      @infinitedreaming222 3 роки тому +9

      @@D-Vinko nah. Blk people have always been right about the things we do. No need to stop. Scientists just need to catch up.

    • @l.d.m9560
      @l.d.m9560 3 роки тому +19

      @@infinitedreaming222 catch up on what? What are you doing when you wash it? Nothing really.

    • @finderrio
      @finderrio 3 роки тому +3

      @@infinitedreaming222 ... you wouldn't say the same thing to covid deniers.

  • @mattamiller2002
    @mattamiller2002 4 роки тому +60

    I've just learned to accept that sometimes chicken has a bit of a smell right from the package even though it's fine. Now I have a word for it.

    • @Dosadniste2000
      @Dosadniste2000 4 роки тому +5

      Cooked shyte. Bon appetit.

    • @Dosadniste2000
      @Dosadniste2000 4 роки тому +1

      @Mr. Clean You can do that or you can wash it.

    • @Succubusisis
      @Succubusisis 4 роки тому +3

      Chlorinated chicken is distinctly American driven by the awful conditions they're raised in. That might be what you smell

  • @afishkiss1836
    @afishkiss1836 3 роки тому +31

    I worked in a kitchen in the USA that taught me to wash out the chickens before putting them on the spits for the rotisserie. It made sense because they came stuffed full of gross bits and covered in small feathers. That said, that is all we used that sink for...

  • @RBHMMX
    @RBHMMX 2 роки тому +16

    There once was a lady who always cut down the leg of lamb before cooking in a owen pot. When asked why, she didn't know exactly, just because her mom always did it. When she asked her mom, she found out that her mom had a very small owen pot and hence had to cut it but the daughter had a big pot and never cut the leg after that.

    • @purplebeast8536
      @purplebeast8536 Рік тому +4

      This is the worst retelling of that story I've ever seen

  • @jennrodriguezdaluz
    @jennrodriguezdaluz 4 роки тому +75

    i remember my mom washing chicken, and never doing it myself when i was older. admittedly, it was mostly from laziness and the urge to stop touching raw meat with my bare hands as fast as possible.

  • @alerx87
    @alerx87 4 роки тому +41

    I grew up in Canada and moved to the Caribbean in my late 20s. I never felt the need to wash chicken in Canada. If the chicken smelled bad it was clearly because I left it too long in the fridge. In the Caribbean I would often come across ‘fresh’ chicken from the store or market that had a smell, not enough to think it spoiled, but enough to think washing it might be enough to freshen it up. And washing that top layer off usually does make it smell better. I chalked it up to poor handling in the supply chain allowing for the chicken to spend more time in just-barely-safe temperatures. I originally thought it was a cultural thing, but for whatever reason 'washing' the chicken does something here that is not really required in Canada.

    • @hainleysimpson1507
      @hainleysimpson1507 2 роки тому +1

      Caribbean chicken is often times natural.

    • @harshitabhuyan8892
      @harshitabhuyan8892 2 роки тому +6

      In places like the Caribbean or India, we eat local chicken a lot more than hormone pumped farm broiler chicken. The local ones have a bird like smell, it isn't because it was left out in room temperature too long, I have gone to chicken stores that keep live chicken and chop it up in front of you when you choose one (places like that are very common here) they clean and pack it for you and even that has the bird stink, within 5 minutes i get home, wash and freeze the chicken.
      You guys are so used to eating chicken that comes from broiler farms that has been processed heavily before reaching the super markets that you have no idea what actual fresh and local chicken smells like.

    • @kathydelarosa1286
      @kathydelarosa1286 2 роки тому +1

      I’d have to disagree tho. I’m from the US and I think it’s important to wash all types of meats. You don’t know how that chicken was cut up and placed there. Too many ppl touch meats it’s nasty . I don’t think it matters where you are from , you should clean everything you put into your body

    • @heyseusschristoe4245
      @heyseusschristoe4245 2 роки тому +1

      @@kathydelarosa1286 you THINK but what do you know

    • @kathydelarosa1286
      @kathydelarosa1286 2 роки тому

      @@heyseusschristoe4245 everything is preference so

  • @courtneyannvd
    @courtneyannvd 4 роки тому +256

    As a Jamaican I was taught to wash my meat and to this day I wash my chicken with vinegar/lemon and lime juice (when I have it). Even if it doesn't do much it gives me peace of mind lol, It'll be hard to get me to stop! Great video 👍🏾

    • @thatonegirlelaine
      @thatonegirlelaine 4 роки тому +26

      I'm not Jamaican, my family is from Louisiana and I am a vegetarian, but when I cook chicken I was it is the same--lemon/vinegar and I can't not do it.

    • @maymay5600
      @maymay5600 4 роки тому +23

      right on!!!! jamaican families do it regardless because you don't whose hand was on? or who spat on it? or who dropped it and light brushed it off!!!

    • @PenitusVox
      @PenitusVox 4 роки тому +3

      @@SweaterM3at Californian - I think we always wash it but it's done with running water in the sink. We also marinate frequently, with lime/lemon or vinegar with spices but that's just to impart flavor to it, not for any kind of hygiene reasons.

    • @bman31
      @bman31 4 роки тому +12

      it's a waste. it doesn't kill anything. it just ruins the flavor. i have asked many professional chefs and they all say this is absurd

    • @JamieDallas
      @JamieDallas 4 роки тому +14

      Cooking meat kills any germs from hands, spit, dirt, etc.

  • @viliussmproductions
    @viliussmproductions 2 роки тому +4

    There's really no tradition of washing poultry where I live, but I just did that because I didn't like the sliminess of it. Apparently that causes more trouble than it deals with, so thanks for this video

    • @rigo.acosta
      @rigo.acosta 2 роки тому +1

      And cooking it doesnt remove it?

    • @omao4938
      @omao4938 Рік тому +1

      ​@@rigo.acosta
      Yeah it does lmao 😅

  • @kwacou4279
    @kwacou4279 4 роки тому +68

    I'm Jamaican , I wash the raw smell away. Mixture of vinegar, salt and lemon /lime or bitter orange and water. Soak for a few minutes. Then must pass the sniff test or back into the wash it goes.

    • @imhereforthegangbang4000
      @imhereforthegangbang4000 3 роки тому +11

      That’s more of a brine. Not a wash.

    • @TBlacky
      @TBlacky 3 роки тому +3

      @@imhereforthegangbang4000 a brine is different

    • @imhereforthegangbang4000
      @imhereforthegangbang4000 3 роки тому +6

      @@TBlacky wdym a wash would be rinsing it in a damn sink. Putting it with vinegar limes and salt is a brine or a marinade or whatever you want to call it. If it was a “wash” you would be rinsing it in water not putting it in acidic stuff and other flavors.

    • @imhereforthegangbang4000
      @imhereforthegangbang4000 3 роки тому

      @@TBlacky the definition of wash is
      “clean with water and, typically, soap or detergent.” Where the hell is the soap huh? WHERE IS THE WATER. ALL I SEE IS VINEGAR SALT AND F*CKING limes.

    • @imhereforthegangbang4000
      @imhereforthegangbang4000 3 роки тому

      @@TBlacky sorry but I just don’t see it

  • @gsagabaen
    @gsagabaen 4 роки тому +439

    Here in the Philippines, most people who buy their meats at open air markets wash their meats. And trust me, they have to.

    • @gnouhp004
      @gnouhp004 4 роки тому +173

      @@kidanhone6048 we washing the meat NOT because of the bacteria

    • @reymichaelsungazornosa4040
      @reymichaelsungazornosa4040 4 роки тому +56

      me not wash meat
      also me: mmmmm dirt is tasty

    • @jasonzheng5839
      @jasonzheng5839 4 роки тому +126

      @@kidanhone6048 you don't wash your hands to only get rid of bacteria. You also wash your hands cause sometimes your hands are just nasty

    • @rdizzy1
      @rdizzy1 4 роки тому +5

      @@gnouhp004 What does open air markets have to do with things other than bacteria? Do the people selling these meats kill the dirty animal on the cutting board they use to chop up the meat pieces and/or not wash their hands or use gloves? Where is all this debris and dirt getting onto the meat cuts?

    • @gnouhp004
      @gnouhp004 4 роки тому +108

      @@rdizzy1 You irony answered your own question. YES they DO kill on the chopping board like fish and chicken. From your question I see you clearly haven't visit an open market on a developing country yet.

  • @lordofgangstas
    @lordofgangstas 3 роки тому +231

    Shoutout to the Arabic for zankha being literally written backwards and the letters not being attached lol, threw me for a bit of a loop

    • @zinaalabdaly6848
      @zinaalabdaly6848 3 роки тому +21

      I got used to it as most of games wright arabic backwards and unattached

    • @nuclearnadal3116
      @nuclearnadal3116 3 роки тому +29

      @@zinaalabdaly6848 holly shit that must be hard to read

    • @zinaalabdaly6848
      @zinaalabdaly6848 3 роки тому +10

      @@nuclearnadal3116 yes it is hard so i switch to English much easier lol

    • @D-Vinko
      @D-Vinko 3 роки тому +4

      Translators for the win, I guess this is a common problem because other Arabic speaking people have pointed out the same thing lmao

    • @thedragon356
      @thedragon356 3 роки тому +10

      Almost had a stroke trying to read it lol

  • @mohitbhole6781
    @mohitbhole6781 2 роки тому +45

    There is still a chickeny taste in chicken that I take out from the fridge here in the US. I am from India, come from a vegetarian family, and never knew about the salt/citrus/vinegar washing technique. I WILL now try it and probably do it. I know chicken does have a spoily smell (even in the fridge), but the chicken smell is definitely a different smell that exists inside the meat too (and not just the outside).

    • @alexblaze8878
      @alexblaze8878 11 місяців тому +1

      You should do a blind taste test between chicken that you washed versus chicken you didn’t wash.

    • @alexblaze8878
      @alexblaze8878 11 місяців тому +6

      “There is still a chickeny taste in chicken”
      Who would guess that chicken tastes “chickeny”. What taste do you expect, “beefy” chicken?

    • @bluegum6438
      @bluegum6438 9 місяців тому +1

      @@alexblaze8878 I know exactly what he means. There's a "musty", earthy sort of funk that is subtle but unpleasant in chicken that hasn't been brined. He's calling it chickeny because it's very distinct. Imagine like eating compost with artificial chicken flavour dust sprinkled on it, that's what I can relate it to.

  • @samiissa7668
    @samiissa7668 4 роки тому +293

    I'm an arab and I can tell you he nailed the word "zankha" perfectly

    • @Froge4291
      @Froge4291 4 роки тому

      Yep

    • @nayeemhi
      @nayeemhi 4 роки тому +82

      His pronounciation was alright but he definately wrote the word backwords.

    • @linusyootasteisking
      @linusyootasteisking 4 роки тому +26

      except it is written in the wrong direction with isolated letters

    • @RaghadAmr
      @RaghadAmr 4 роки тому +28

      I came to the comments to write the same thing
      Not surprised he wrote it backwards tho because typing in arabic needs to change the settings even if you have the letters

    • @ARandomBoat
      @ARandomBoat 4 роки тому +2

      Its written backwards though.

  • @ArkayeCh
    @ArkayeCh 4 роки тому +290

    "Here's Shauna Henley-"
    *Faculty picture of her in a chef's hat holding a chicken*
    The best kind of expert.

    • @HeyitsBri_
      @HeyitsBri_ 4 роки тому +9

      I knew I could trust her with that picture 😂

    • @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721
      @vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 4 роки тому +3

      But the question is, did she wash that chicken?

    • @BigJayKaner
      @BigJayKaner 4 роки тому

      ​@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Wash it?? She couldn't even be bothered to pluck it!! ;)

  • @RGabrielR
    @RGabrielR 3 роки тому +144

    That chicken smell is called "pitiú" (said like peachy-u) in northern Brazil and people wash fish and chicken with limes to remove it (they use lime in eggs too to remove the same smell)

    • @helfulvids
      @helfulvids 3 роки тому +15

      in El Salvador they call the chicken "undesirable poultry smell" CHUQUILLO

    • @shawnadoll1017
      @shawnadoll1017 3 роки тому +31

      Exactly! The smell is horrendous and if not washed you can still smell it when cooked 🤢

    • @sarahtatum1587
      @sarahtatum1587 3 роки тому +5

      Omg yes it’s that weird chicken taste for me if it’s not washed

    • @themaggattack
      @themaggattack 3 роки тому +3

      I will remember "pitiú" bc it kinda rhymes with "pee-eugh!" Which is what Americans say when something stinks! 😆

    • @hcaticha_
      @hcaticha_ 3 роки тому +1

      Sério? Não sabia

  • @omarchk
    @omarchk 2 роки тому +54

    Very accurate! I grew up in a culture where we marinate chicken in lemon to get rid of the animals scent/taste we call "zfouria" (Maghrebi word)
    When I did my own test it actually changes nothing in the taste considering that we're generous on spices/seasoning when we cook the meat but it makes a difference when you just boil the meat and/or steam it
    Most of it is just a heritage that was passed over...

    • @avapilsen
      @avapilsen 10 місяців тому +1

      I'm a middle eastern Arab, and we marinate using lemon juice, vinegar, and flour. Lots of recipes call for boiling meat and steaming it, so you will definitely taste the weird taste you are talking about. I've been to plenty of restaurants in the US where I feel the weird taste because it isn't marinated correctly. Said people in the US label it as "flavor," but I find it disgusting because it isn't what I'm used to. Chicken is delicious but needs to be cooked properly for it to taste good, and marinating it is the very first step, especially if you plan on boiling/steaming.

    • @omarchk
      @omarchk 10 місяців тому

      ​@@avapilsen there is also a dimension of preferences... I've been invited few times to eat with friends and they just boil the chicken... I personally don't like that taste (zfouria) but as you said it's called flavour
      Overall in my culture plain food is just boring or disgusting for some as we're used to spice the shit out of food 😂

    • @interhaker
      @interhaker Місяць тому

      ​@@avapilsen
      Do they really eat chicken with its zafara in america?
      Lmao they've grown accustomed to the taste and won't listen

  • @ElijsDima
    @ElijsDima 4 роки тому +170

    Wait, who are the absolute madlads who wash miced/ground meat?

    • @saintfrac5360
      @saintfrac5360 4 роки тому +12

      I know some people do, its usually them trying to wash out the "blood"

    • @josiahlutchman4913
      @josiahlutchman4913 4 роки тому +29

      I've seen it washed with lime or flour. My mom curses me out when I don't wash it. I wish I could explain to you why my parents thinks washing is necessary. I personally hate it because washing mince makes it, as you'd imagine difficult to brown

    • @MaxMustermann-go8xf
      @MaxMustermann-go8xf 4 роки тому +30

      WTF is wrong with people....
      how do you even do that?

    • @morganblackpowder1724
      @morganblackpowder1724 4 роки тому +4

      @@josiahlutchman4913 would your mother find it acceptable if you washed the meat and then minced it yourself? Or would you have to wash it after? Legitimately asking, as I'm wondering if this would work. Seems easier to wash the meat whole, then just make your own ground beef or whatever.

    • @lingux_yt
      @lingux_yt 4 роки тому

      @@MaxMustermann-go8xf inside a colander, I imagine... so weird

  • @andrewmurphy5403
    @andrewmurphy5403 4 роки тому +155

    Shout out to Adam for sacrificing the health and safety integrity of his kitchen to get B-roll of himself washing chicken

  • @nathanbrittin7301
    @nathanbrittin7301 4 роки тому +19

    I'm really loving the academic research style of your videos. Very refreshing to see thorough research and in-depth analysis while keep it relatable.

    • @Dosadniste2000
      @Dosadniste2000 4 роки тому

      So you think peasants who raise their organic chicken don't have access to chicken?LMAO

  • @jfm14
    @jfm14 2 роки тому +33

    I have distinct childhood memories of seeing chicken and turkey carcasses sitting in the sink. My mom no longer does that, but it's what she was taught. Her maternal grandma Oliva grew up in a peasant family in what's now part of northern Italy. My maternal grandma Mary, Oliva's daughter, studied Home Economics in college. I checked Mary's textbook, the 1942 edition of Fannie Farmer's _The Boston Cooking School Cook Book,_ to get an idea of what she was taught:
    _Wash bird by allowing cold water to run through it, but do not allow bird to soak in cold water. Wipe inside and outside, looking carefully to see that everything has been withdrawn. If there is a disagreeable odor, suggesting that fowl may have been kept too long, clean at once, wash inside and out with soda water, sprinkle inside with charcoal, and place some under wings._
    So, there you have it. The cultural practice my grandma inherited was reinforced in school. It must have been consider best practice at the time.
    Anyway, I had no idea what a touchy subject this is until I stumbled on a Facebook discussion a few months ago. HOO BOY, did it get ugly quickly. I hope we can all learn to be gentler with each other and not jump to conclusions so quickly about why people do the things they do. Adam, thank you for covering this topic in a fact-driven, but open-minded, inquisitive, and compassionate way.

  • @dfw_motorrad1329
    @dfw_motorrad1329 4 роки тому +234

    "Nothing I've done has killed any of us yet" is my style of cooking.

    • @josephalvarez9920
      @josephalvarez9920 4 роки тому

      Same

    • @edy2982
      @edy2982 4 роки тому +2

      My family has been doing it for years just the way we’ve been taught and nothing has happened

    • @pergys6991
      @pergys6991 4 роки тому

      That’s what I tell myself whenever I try or make new food. Only ever had five bathroom trips

    • @frempy4426
      @frempy4426 3 роки тому +1

      One pitfall of that approach is where food comes from. That changes over time. Factory-farmed meat has different risks than pasture-raised meat, for example.

  • @0kamaria
    @0kamaria 3 роки тому +13

    Live in the Caribbean, always wash any type of meat with either limes, vinegar or flour to remove the fresh scent. Its part of the cleaning (removing fat and guts) process in preparation for seasoning (green seasoning etc.)

    • @andrewwebb917
      @andrewwebb917 3 місяці тому

      How does washing with flour work?

  • @JemRochelle
    @JemRochelle 4 роки тому +144

    Shout out to Adam saying "hypothesizing" instead of "theorizing"! So many people use those terms wrong so I'm pleased to hear you say it correctly!

    • @GabrielsLogic
      @GabrielsLogic 4 роки тому

      I've never heard someone say it wrong. Is it really that often?

    • @JemRochelle
      @JemRochelle 4 роки тому +33

      @@GabrielsLogic I'm probably blowing a very minor problem out of proportion, but personally I hear a lot of people say "I have a theory", when they really mean they have a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an initial idea about something, and a theory is a hypothesis that has been tested and shown to be supported by evidence.

    • @GabrielsLogic
      @GabrielsLogic 4 роки тому

      @@JemRochelle yeah i know the difference lol

    • @bonkle_boi
      @bonkle_boi 4 роки тому +17

      @@JemRochelle Sort of. While *scientifically*, you are correct, the usage of “theory” in common everyday language is readily interchangeable with “hypothesis”. Merriam-webster even has one of its definitions as “a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation” and another one as “an unproved assumption : CONJECTURE”
      It can be annoying for me as well, but we must remember that the rules of language are ultimately decided by what is most commonly spoken, and not by rules set in place by a minority. “Literally” means “word for word” or something that actually happened, or is 100% true. But if I said “I literally died laughing” did I actually die? Of course not! But that’s just how the word is used now, for an extra punch.

    • @saintfrac5360
      @saintfrac5360 4 роки тому +2

      @@JemRochelle Seem reason why the people who say the "Big Bang theory" or the "theory of evolution" is "just a theory" are so wrong. It annoys me to no end.

  • @villa_andromeda
    @villa_andromeda 2 роки тому +8

    my family is from southern Mexico, and my mother calls that raw smell as “yoquía.” But I’ve always understood it as the smell that is /leftover/ from not properly washing something that had raw chicken or raw eggs. I had no idea there were similar words for it in other cultures. The pre-refrigeration + hot climate idea makes sense.

    • @musti12312
      @musti12312 Рік тому +2

      I think that really is the ammonia smell from chicken. Freshly slaughtered chicken had a stronger taste. But somehow even freezing and defrosting removes a lot of it, not sure why....

    • @Valentina.Montano
      @Valentina.Montano Рік тому +2

      In El Salvador we call it "chuquía", something like disgusting.

  • @anthonycaminiti8734
    @anthonycaminiti8734 4 роки тому +101

    My dad laughs every time he sees one of your smooth transition into the advertisement portion of the video.

    • @mumtrz
      @mumtrz 4 роки тому +2

      I mean, dont we all

    • @reyshah426
      @reyshah426 4 роки тому +2

      My dad vocally “summons forth the upside down bear” in the kitchen now.

    • @anthonycaminiti8734
      @anthonycaminiti8734 4 роки тому

      @@reyshah426 as he should

  • @anniejellah1913
    @anniejellah1913 3 роки тому +12

    In Korean "meat smell" is 노린내(norinnae) and afaik it has nothing to do with spoilage, but rather the type of meat. Pork, beef, goat, lamb and wild game (particularly carnivore or omnivore meat like bear meat) smell the strongest. Alcohol and garlic are often used to rid the smell.

  • @marloweirvine6740
    @marloweirvine6740 3 роки тому +139

    This was an eye opener for me. I learned to cook starting in my early teens from the Time-Life "Foods of the World" series (publishing began in 1968 though I found it much later and own all 27 volumes). Every single chicken recipe begins with "Wash the chicken under cold running water." I somehow missed that the recipes published after that habit was ingrained do not say that. Wow, Thank you.

    • @sebaschan-uwu
      @sebaschan-uwu Рік тому +2

      It is completely pointless unless there is visible debris on the meat. Which there won't be if you live in the US. The only time you'll need to wash it is if you buy it from some back alley meat market from a third world country

    • @amai2307
      @amai2307 Рік тому

      @@sebaschan-uwu you should google how they are processing chicken before selling it to you.
      Long story short near the end chicken soaks in bath along with guts and shit, and after that they soak it in strong chemicals.
      And law says - there can be shit on chicken they sell, but only if you cant see this shit with raw eyes.
      So washing it or not is not about bacterias, but about shit and chemicals.

    • @canuck21
      @canuck21 Рік тому +4

      @@sebaschan-uwu They do sometime drop the meat in US facilities.

    • @TyrianHaze
      @TyrianHaze 5 місяців тому

      @@canuck21 Fascinating how much trust they put in random people packaging their food in factories. "Here in the US, you can just blindly trust that they didn't drop your chicken or wipe their ass without washing their hands and handled your chicken."

  • @michaelthayer5351
    @michaelthayer5351 Рік тому +4

    My wife, who is Russian, also washes meat especially whole chickens. Mainly to remove remaining feathers or that organy goop you sometimes find on the cavity sides in poultry. So it's likely not just a cultural memory but also a response to the less thorough meat processing that you have in the former Warsaw Pact among other parts of the world.

  • @ToddHowardWithAGun
    @ToddHowardWithAGun 4 роки тому +142

    I feel like this is Adam's niche. Answering dumb cross-cultural questions you always kind of wanted to know, but not enough to actually go around asking people about it.

    • @ToddHowardWithAGun
      @ToddHowardWithAGun 4 роки тому +10

      @Colin Deal Adam pls. Enough with the alt accounts.

  • @bishopduperret9158
    @bishopduperret9158 4 роки тому +61

    I grew up in Hawaii with A LOT of difference races and nationalities and the most common reason they washed their chicken was to get rid of slime and fat.
    One idea: Why not find a safe wash to chicken? Seems like a good educational topic.

    • @slootsy0001
      @slootsy0001 3 роки тому +11

      Because its proven that washing doesn't work...

    • @dominic3926
      @dominic3926 3 роки тому +27

      you don’t need to wash chicken to get rid of fat or slime. you can trim the fat, and it’s recommended to just pat it dry if there is slime. but I get it if you grew up washing chicken and it’s always been a habit for you go ahead, I’m sure washing chicken isn’t going to kill anybody lol.

    • @janetz1001
      @janetz1001 3 роки тому +4

      Typical north American factory farmed chicken without washing smells of chicken excrement. like, can not be cooked out. Patting it dry to help browning just does not help what a lot of us out there when we do not need to brown the food in question. browning is such a Euro-centric way cooking which really is not the only way to prepare proteins, there is a big culinary world out there. I would love to see a taste comparison of washed vs un washed meat made into a same dish.

    • @ivyrose779
      @ivyrose779 3 роки тому +2

      @@janetz1001 I’m a nonwasher but yes I would love to see a blind taste test!!!

    • @ThreadBomb
      @ThreadBomb 2 роки тому +11

      @@janetz1001 A factory chicken will be washed as part of the slaughtering process.

  • @edjuaro2
    @edjuaro2 4 роки тому +12

    As a Salvadoran I found it funny that my country's name showed up when you said "Caribbean" (don't know if that was intentional, but in case you've forgotten, El Salvador is the only Central American country without coast in the Atlantic/Caribbean)

  • @larsswig912
    @larsswig912 3 роки тому +4

    5:25 the arabic text is written backwards. arabic is supposed to be written from right to left, and most of the letters join to each other. here they're separated and written from left to right.
    it happens often in videos by non Arabic speakers, so I'm not blaming you.

  • @dangitnicky
    @dangitnicky 3 роки тому +73

    We actually have a close English equivalent to the word zankha. *Rankness*. When we talk about washing the rankness off the meat we are talking about removing the slime, smell and weird taste that arises from how meat and fish products are stored in traditional food markets. This also includes washing/removing the gamey taste that can occur in meats like goat and duck. In my parent's home country they didn't have normal refrigeration like how you would see in a grocery store. It's an eventuality that some of that would occur with the meat. Also, freshly butchered poultry has this slimy membrane substance that is left over and often enough isn't cleaned all the way. Western customers don't experience this problem because that is taken care of in a chicken processing plant way before the chicken hits the grocery's fridge.
    In fact the chicken my parents had access to in their childhoods tastes COMPLETELY different to what the chicken we eat here in Canada. The purge that seeps out from the meat actually tastes quite foul (no pun intended) so that's why some are adverse to it. The purge in western meats seemingly do not have this problem.

    • @jitterrypokery1526
      @jitterrypokery1526 Рік тому +3

      It's cause we got that usda certified 🥶

    • @davidoh14
      @davidoh14 Рік тому

      Two years since you posted this, but it's really fascinating. English speaking immigrants likely brought it to Canada.
      In Ireland, around Dublin, we would use "rank" in the same way. Outside of Dublin, so further from historical British influences and technological modernisation, it's far less common.

  • @btd0ja
    @btd0ja 4 роки тому +211

    The backwards Arabic really got me

    • @skinnylegend-7330
      @skinnylegend-7330 4 роки тому +46

      all the letters isolated and not connected too

    • @mohammedsami6907
      @mohammedsami6907 4 роки тому +17

      Yeah, i thought that either he wrote persian by mistake or i just siffered a stroke

    • @thinkublu
      @thinkublu 4 роки тому +2

      SAME

    • @frosty_brandon
      @frosty_brandon 4 роки тому +10

      @@mohammedsami6907 Persian is not written isolated tho

    • @StefanNeher
      @StefanNeher 4 роки тому +7

      I died inside . . . it's just too easy to use google translate.

  • @boazattar1587
    @boazattar1587 4 роки тому +6

    Amazing educational content, smooth transition into sponsoring, explaining simply so everyone will understand and the word zenkha at the end. This video has everything! Thank you adam for such great videos, I learned so much from you and hope to learn a lot more

  • @jernejq1651
    @jernejq1651 2 роки тому +3

    In those conversations people always seem to forget that you get food POISONING, not infection - mostly. That means, the toxins produced by bacteria do most harm, not the bacteria itself. If those toxins are thermolabile, they get destructed when cooking - otherwise they don't.
    I myself wash the meat if it was on room temperature longer that I wished for or smells bad (but I'm sure it's generally good). This generally happens when you unthaw it and make a timing mistake.
    If meat hasn't undergone a controlled process from the very start (eg. game) it's always better to wash it.
    And for industrially packed meat I wash it to remove some packaging additives (like beetroot sauce from beef).
    You shouldn't imagine your meet was treated in lab environment, there are always some compromises made - so it's probably safer to wash it.

    • @TyrianHaze
      @TyrianHaze 5 місяців тому +1

      Excellent point. It's another case of "they figured something out long ago, but the 'experts' did some experiments in a lab and now say otherwise." The "experts" don't always run experiments while taking into account every conceivable variable that someone in the past might have figured out randomly from thousands/millions of people figuring things out on their own.

    • @andrewwebb917
      @andrewwebb917 3 місяці тому

      The issue is, if it gets into your sink and you later wash a lettuce, you can splash it into your lettuce and eat it raw.

    • @TyrianHaze
      @TyrianHaze 3 місяці тому

      @@andrewwebb917 Here's a thought: don't wash anything under the faucet, and instead fill a container into which you can place the items you wish to wash. The sink is one of the dirties places in your household even without having meat germs all over it.

  • @marvinsroommate1003
    @marvinsroommate1003 3 роки тому +96

    Im from The Netherlands, and washing meat it something we wouldn't even think of here. Though, I have lived on Saint-Martin, Dutch Caribbean, and I used to go to a cooking class with my mom. Us and the teacher (who was a dutch friend of ours) were the only white people in there. When our teacher (the white guy) gave a lesson about hygiene, he thought it was a fun idea to ask my mom and I if we washed our meat. And let me tell you, the whole class of 30+ people were disgusted by our 'not-washing method'. Then he asked how I liked my steak, and I said: "medium rare" (like any other normal person (joke)). And again, the whole class looked at me like I was some kind of monster. It was hilarious to me, and moments like that really show you how normal things are in some places, that in other places you wouldn't even think of it.

    • @ThexDynastxQueen
      @ThexDynastxQueen 3 роки тому +13

      As a daughter of a Caribbean man and Black American woman yeah that sounds about right lol. I was taught to wash chicken with vinegar and or lime juice and my mom had an aversion to pink beef xD

    • @carrington2949
      @carrington2949 10 місяців тому +4

      Yeah, I think this why neither my mom, an AA woman from the south, nor my dad, would permit me to eat at “just anyone’s” house.

    • @bluegum6438
      @bluegum6438 9 місяців тому +20

      Being able to trust that you can throw a cut of meat in the pan and cook it rare and not die is an enormous luxury, that most cultures are not familiar with. They react with disgust because in their cultural memory, doing that is very risky.

    • @EvropeanEmpireEU
      @EvropeanEmpireEU 4 місяці тому +4

      @@bluegum6438YOU COOK IT. The bacteria dies anyway. A little bit of water doesn’t remove bacteria.

  • @sherifkaissi4109
    @sherifkaissi4109 4 роки тому +135

    I’m middle eastern and I own a restaurant.
    I triple wash the chicken before marinating it. It feels, looks and smells better.

    • @yidsinwhite441
      @yidsinwhite441 4 роки тому +52

      God bless you sir 🤣 I’m scared of all these white people taking about washing the meat is bad for you 😩🙈

    • @V-O-V
      @V-O-V 3 роки тому +7

      @@yidsinwhite441 ok.

    • @yidsinwhite441
      @yidsinwhite441 3 роки тому +7

      @@V-O-V #respectfully

    • @anhvu9413
      @anhvu9413 3 роки тому +14

      @@yidsinwhite441 It's like when they used to tell us that wearing mask won't protect us from Covid lol.

    • @yidsinwhite441
      @yidsinwhite441 3 роки тому +7

      @@anhvu9413 they’re minds are filled with ignorance and hatred 😆 All one can do is sit back and laugh

  • @BazicShotz
    @BazicShotz 4 роки тому +19

    I'm from Portugal and my mom used to live in a more rural place before she had kids. The concept of washing chicken (or any other meat) is completely alien to me. I'll have to ask her if that's something she saw her parents or her grandparents do when she was younger.

  • @pawnslinger1
    @pawnslinger1 2 роки тому +8

    Our family calls it "brining" and we think it improves the flavor and consistency of the poultry. We use a salty solution with other herbs/spices and usually put the brine bucket in the fridge for up t0 24 hours. We use what I call a "homer" bucket (a food safe 5 gal) from Home Depot. So we do not do the brining for sanitary reasons, but for taste preference.

    • @rymic72
      @rymic72 11 місяців тому

      Brining is a completely different thing than what is being discussed here.

    • @pawnslinger1
      @pawnslinger1 11 місяців тому +1

      @@rymic72 Respectfully disagree. The video shows pictures of people doing EXACTLY what we do. Perhaps we don't brine?! We wash, I guess... with salty water and lemon/lime too... just like the video showed an example of. Or it could be the video included that clip by mistake, but I don't think so. Different folks, different opinions.

  • @BlockIce84
    @BlockIce84 3 роки тому +11

    I like your approach to sentive material like this one. Is thoughtful, and respectful of other people actions, but also bring knowledge. Funny thing about meats, American meat takes longer to smell than other places meat, including Europe.

  • @jessicawilson8240
    @jessicawilson8240 3 роки тому +41

    I live in Australia and had absolutely no idea that washing meat was even a thing people did before I started seeing people talk about it on Facebook, to me the idea of it is pretty gross tbh.
    A friend of mine said though that she knows someone who washes…. Mince (ground beef). Sticks it in a colander and washes it under running water 😳

    • @kathydelarosa1286
      @kathydelarosa1286 2 роки тому +2

      That’s crazy. I was taught to wash all types of protein. I don’t wash ground beef/turkey tho since that’s completely different

    • @almondlatte8256
      @almondlatte8256 2 роки тому +17

      Omg rinsing the mince?! What’s next, putting the bacon through a delicates cycle in the washing machine 😂😂

    • @someone8323
      @someone8323 Рік тому +7

      Am an Indian. I wash minced meat in the same manner. And I will keep doing it because I know if I don’t, the food tastes disgusting. If you try cleaning it once, you’ll never go back.

    • @Anonymous-uw4sr
      @Anonymous-uw4sr Рік тому +2

      ​@@almondlatte8256 🤣

    • @shaunmckenzie5509
      @shaunmckenzie5509 Рік тому +3

      Meat is safe in Australia. I've never washed meat here nor have I known anyone else that does, And I'm still alive 40 years later.
      It would be more necessary in 3rd world country

  • @stephenemerson9890
    @stephenemerson9890 3 роки тому +58

    I grew up washing meat, ( and slaughtering it too.). Thinking back, it was cultural, and came from immigrant heritage. One Grandmother spoke german, and she was born in the USA. But her parents were German immigrants. Processing meat out side and on larger animals in the barn or immediate area where they were raised was standard SOP. There were always observable reasons to wash meat.
    I stopped when I did my own experiment with news paper. I spread it out either side of the sink and washed as usual. There were obvious splash marks several feet from where I carefully washed that chicken. If there were any germs around, I was spreading them.
    I have not washed meat for several years, and do not notice any taste difference. I still wash an occasional rabbit in a ditch, but I usually brine them later.

    • @hainleysimpson1507
      @hainleysimpson1507 2 роки тому +3

      So you're saying you don't wipe your counters after washing?

    • @blumoo9938
      @blumoo9938 2 роки тому +14

      @@hainleysimpson1507 wiping doesn't get rid of the bacteria still on the counter

    • @snailart14
      @snailart14 2 роки тому +8

      @@hainleysimpson1507 meats and tiny particles of that meat water get EVERYWHERE. Probably possibly on your ceiling. This is also why you should make sure your toilet bowl is closed when you flush because the flush actually can spray dirty water around your bathroom. Same concept.

    • @whysoserious1534
      @whysoserious1534 2 роки тому +1

      @@snailart14 "meats and tiny particles of that meat water get everywhere"
      The same as when you're cutting it, right?

    • @pendlera2959
      @pendlera2959 2 роки тому +9

      @@whysoserious1534 Not unless you're using a chainsaw.

  • @glowner7878
    @glowner7878 2 роки тому +4

    I usually wash pre packaged chicken because its sorta slimy and has been sitting in its own juices for a while, its more pleasant to work with it afterwards

    • @TyrianHaze
      @TyrianHaze 5 місяців тому

      Another case of an expert running an experiment while focusing on a single variable(bacteria/viruses) and ignoring all other variables, and then telling people to do things differently even though they might be washing their meat for reasons other than those covered in the experiment.

  • @micahpalmer3537
    @micahpalmer3537 4 роки тому +130

    Definitely in the camp of "screw it, I haven't killed anyone yet!" when it comes to making a large meal

    • @lukesalazar9283
      @lukesalazar9283 4 роки тому +2

      Yes

    • @SpecShadow
      @SpecShadow 4 роки тому

      bruh

    • @HeyitsBri_
      @HeyitsBri_ 4 роки тому +2

      😂. My sister has a sign up in her kitchen that says “Many have entered, none have died”

    • @lukesalazar9283
      @lukesalazar9283 4 роки тому +1

      @@HeyitsBri_ I like it

  • @friendly_alkali
    @friendly_alkali 4 роки тому +64

    I'm kinda surprised you didn't mention something that comes up a lot on Chinese Cooking Demystified (which sounds similar to the zankha idea you mentioned): they often soak or blanch meat in order to get rid of "shan wei" which they translate as sort of "gaminess" but like, on a spectrum where pork and mutton are on opposite ends. They do also use marinades too though, not just soaking. They talk about it directly about halfway through their Shaoxing Wine video (ua-cam.com/video/5UyKUI5U67k/v-deo.html), though it comes up in a lot of other dishes they make. Interestingly the shan in shanwei is just gaminess, there's also a "fishyness" (xingwei) and a "poultry-ness" (saowei).

    • @yuzan3607
      @yuzan3607 4 роки тому +2

      in my dialect (I'm an Arab), we use "seleh" for "poultry-ness" and it's not only for chicken but also (even more so) for raw eggs, is it the same in Chinese?
      we also have "hess" for old meat.

    • @shadowguard3578
      @shadowguard3578 4 роки тому

      The video didn’t mention south and south east Asia.

    • @wynnchen
      @wynnchen 4 роки тому

      Good point. My wife is very sensitive to the "shan wei" of meat. Honestly I myself have never noticed a difference, but she will ALWAYS know if I haven't marinated a meat with Shaoxing Wine or some equivalent.

    • @saradasilva8162
      @saradasilva8162 4 роки тому +1

      I’m Brazilian and Portuguese and I can taste chicken if it wasn’t washed and cleaned with lemon. I’ll still eat it but I prefer the flavor of it when it’s cleaned with lemons or vinegar. Personal preference

    • @Tsusday
      @Tsusday 4 роки тому +1

      @@saradasilva8162 So basically you're telling me you just prefer chicken with a lemon/lime taste then?

  • @lemonthevegetable509
    @lemonthevegetable509 4 роки тому +159

    Do not let this video's topic distract you from the Smurf shirt Adam is wearing.

    • @sashatoao8421
      @sashatoao8421 4 роки тому +1

      Yeah bro I can't let it slide.

    • @richardcarson3596
      @richardcarson3596 4 роки тому

      the fuck is a smurf nerd

    • @GabrielsLogic
      @GabrielsLogic 4 роки тому

      @@richardcarson3596 you don't know the Smurfs?

    • @toughbutsweet1
      @toughbutsweet1 4 роки тому +1

      He is totally Brainy without being an annoying, know-it-all.

    • @suivzmoi
      @suivzmoi 4 роки тому

      long videos with lot's of talking need to have visual distractions to recapture attention before viewers start to wander off or as youtube analytics calls it---"engagement". either with blinking light props in the background/corner, eye-catching posters, or in this case, t-shirt. now that you know this, try and identify content creators doing this on purpose in their videos--the better ones always do--whenever they can't avoid talking for long stretches at a time.

  • @sammymishal5629
    @sammymishal5629 2 роки тому +28

    "Zanakha" ("زناخة") is the noun of "Zenkha" ("زنخة"), and the closest word to it in English is "Gaminess / Gamy". I know it's wierd to associate gaminess with poultry but it depends on the breed and the way it was raised and farmed. There are more than 1600 breeds of chicken ( the actual number is estimated to be around ~9000 , but only around 1600 are officially recognized worldwide and only ~90 are considered pure breeds). each breed has different fat composition and hence different aromas and taste, and even different proteins. The "Zanakha" is especially aparent in free-range and corn-fed chickens. I'm Palestinian/Egyptian, in Palestine we had different breeds you can choose from and they generally all have very pleasent taste and smell, so you didn't have to wash them (Some recipes required very citrussy and vinegary brines). But here in Egypt they have way less breeds and they all have intense "Zanakha", it almost feels dirty compared to the chickens we had in Palestine (especially chickens imported from Israel, they felt surgically clean), so we kinda feel like we have to brine the chicken for every recipe here in Egypt (Egyptians who are raised on these chickens; don't seem to mind it very much).
    One important note, Almost Every chicken we eat here in the MENA region is etremely fresh since we slaughter them on demand, you can go to any poultry shop you select the chickens you want and the butcher slaughters them infront of you. Fractory farmed Whole chickens are rare in our stores fridged since people don't bother with it when they can have it fresh off the cutting board.
    Also, Butcher shops here aren't monitored and there are no strict healt codes here, so it's better to wash them anyway, not because chickens need washing but because of the way that butchers handle the process. BTW, The same applies for steak (not the washing), we are generally afraid to eat meat anyway but well-done because we don't trust the butchers, so the only way we get to enjoy meat is slow roasts, since they cook the meat through and through but the meat would be tear-apart in your hand istead of tough in case of steaks.
    I forgot to mention one point also, alot of people end up with salmonella because they're not careful with the way they was their chicken. you're supposed to slowly dunck the chicken in the brine to avoid any splash, you also need to wash you hands thoroughly because Salmonella is very stubborn.

    • @stefanobonaiuti8243
      @stefanobonaiuti8243 Рік тому

      that's really interesting, and not addressed in the video. Thanks.

    • @PoeticSonic
      @PoeticSonic Рік тому +1

      that's mostly an egypt problem not a MENA problem, with that being said as close as it may be, gaminess is not "zankha" as goats and sheep are supposed to be "gamy" and they do genuinly have a different taste than beef, yet that gaminess isn't seen as "zankha".
      zankha is the same reason why people add thyme, lemons and bay leaves into chicken and fish, it's not a bacteria/health problem, it's a smell, taste and even look problem.
      after you finish eating eggs, the smell left on the plate is "zankha" that smell has nothing to do with gaminess or bacteria.

    • @johnnymcjohnson1373
      @johnnymcjohnson1373 Рік тому

      It’s not that weird to think of gaminess in poultry in general, for chicken, though, definitely.

    • @Yanzdorloph
      @Yanzdorloph Рік тому

      we call it "Zfer" smell in Morocco, chicken is always drowned in lemon juice or shit tons of salt and water before using it, and plates used with eggs or raw chciken need to be cleaned many times to get rid of the smell

    • @PoeticSonic
      @PoeticSonic Рік тому

      @@Yanzdorloph that's the adjective, it's zafara but when something has zafara we call that thing zefr, for example the plate that you just ate eggs on is zefr

  • @Biru_to
    @Biru_to 4 роки тому +42

    Very interesting there's such a strong focus on poultry overall. My wife washes/soaks pork "because of the smell". I never wash any kind of meat. Very interesting video!

    • @GH-oi2jf
      @GH-oi2jf 3 роки тому +2

      Poultry can be contaminated with Campylobacter. Pork cannot. That’s a big difference.

    • @patnelson2283
      @patnelson2283 3 роки тому +1

      I rinse pork chops and pork steaks to get rid of the bone dust. I don't rinse anything else.

  • @JBWShane
    @JBWShane 4 роки тому +6

    Before putting a soup or stew on the heat, I submerge certain cuts in a bowl or pot of cold water to remove bone chips from band saw or cleaver operations. Bone chips aren't always properly scraped off, and it's tricky with smoked cuts.

  • @DaichiDee
    @DaichiDee 4 роки тому +11

    you actually got the Zankha pronunciation on point! although the text was from left to right instead of right to left and the letters are not connected lmao
    I'd describe Zankha as the raw gamey smell that you'd get from meat or chicken that is smelly or was not processed well.
    If you eat enough halal meat you can tell if the meat has zankha or not, I believe by letting the blood of the animal run out of the carcass (not like non-halal meat where they use other methods of butchering) creates a lighter taste of meat that does not have smelly raw taste in it

  • @dewilew2137
    @dewilew2137 2 роки тому +20

    My parents are from the Caribbean, and when they taught me how to cook, they taught me that I should wash my chicken. When I grew older and learned that it is unnecessary, and possibly even dangerous, I stopped. Tradition is great, but a tradition that increases risk of food-borne illness is just ignorant. When you know better, you do better. That “raw” smell/taste is literally all in people’s heads. I know this because everyone who swears that they can tell the difference has no problem eating restaurant chicken, and restaurants definitely don’t wash their meat, for risk of health code violation. I don’t see any of those people complaining that their Popeyes chicken or chic-fil-a tastes “raw”.

    • @whysoserious1534
      @whysoserious1534 2 роки тому

      How many of your family members suffered from food borne illnesses?

    • @MB2.0
      @MB2.0 2 роки тому +2

      As a Caribbean, same. The ignorance is astounding

    • @jdkodak487
      @jdkodak487 2 місяці тому

      @@MB2.0how is that ignorance? It’s just a cultural difference. You showing your ignorance. So people who don’t believe in Jesus are ignorant?

  • @alyssaburton6765
    @alyssaburton6765 4 роки тому +23

    I always thought washing your meat meant rinsing the meat off with vinegar, much like Caribbean and arabic people mentioned in the video.

  • @m2on8
    @m2on8 4 роки тому +8

    I'm form the middle east and i can confirm that almost all people here wash meat in general not just chicken and everyone i know washes as well, I'm the only one who doesn't wash meat and i tried convening my family and they thought i was joking so thank you for making this video i will be defiantly sharing it.
    oh btw you pronounced zankha very well

  • @dionysisstathopoulos3116
    @dionysisstathopoulos3116 4 роки тому +103

    Last time I was so early, vinegar leg was on the left

  • @topilinkala1594
    @topilinkala1594 2 місяці тому

    I'm 63-years old guy from Finland and I've always used paper towels to wipe fish, poltry, andother meats if necessasy. My mother used paper towels for that. Fresly caught fish on the oter hand has always been after clening rinsed in the lake or sea and the left to dry.

  • @frakasha24
    @frakasha24 4 роки тому +59

    As a Jamaican our culture is definitely to prep the meat and a big part of that is 'washing' it (we don't have a name for that) to get rid of any possible debris like sinue or blood or dirt.
    We typically use salt, vinegar or lime juice (sometimes a combination of these).
    Just washing the meat under running water would defeat the purpose of thoroughly removing any (perceived) debris.

    • @deeeep507
      @deeeep507 2 роки тому

      How does salt, vinegar, or lime juice remove any of what you said?

  • @cod4148
    @cod4148 4 роки тому +20

    In Chinese Cooking Demystified's Shaoxing Wine video he mentions that marinading meat in alcohol is used to remove odor in Asia. I wonder if that counts as cleaning and if it is actually worth doing.

    • @Harmonikdiskorde
      @Harmonikdiskorde 4 роки тому

      I (gen 1.5 Chinese person) do think that meat without Shaoxing has an odor, but I think of it as a marinade when I add it. There's another practice of blanching meat (that I don't do) because I'm lazy :p

  • @grantgomez1990
    @grantgomez1990 4 роки тому +64

    I was scratching my head for a sec trying to read "Zankha" before I realized it wasn't written right-to-left like it should!

    • @tokiomitohsaka7770
      @tokiomitohsaka7770 4 роки тому +6

      Interesting, I had no idea Arabic is written from right to left. I bet left handed people love this language.

    • @azen96
      @azen96 3 роки тому +3

      @@tokiomitohsaka7770 yup. Most left handed people that learn arabic letter likes it here.

    • @goldenhawkvii5601
      @goldenhawkvii5601 3 роки тому +1

      in syria/ lebanon/ most parts of the middle east we say “nazkha”

    • @zinaalabdaly6848
      @zinaalabdaly6848 3 роки тому +1

      @@goldenhawkvii5601 in iraq we say zankha like in the video

    • @Kelly_C
      @Kelly_C 3 роки тому

      @@goldenhawkvii5601 woah, that's so cool, is it spelled differently?

  • @SteamCheese1
    @SteamCheese1 3 роки тому +2

    I usually use the Japanese way to clean meat when I cook Asian meals, especially poultry. Soak in some cheap Sake with some salt for a few minutes and then pat it dry with paper towels. You can add garlic and/or Ginger to be even safer and actually make a basic marinade.

  • @unknownseizure
    @unknownseizure 4 роки тому +267

    "you generally shouldn't not wash meat before you cook it"
    *Breaking news, thousands of people have avoided oil burns due to an unknown reason*

    • @denvernaicker8250
      @denvernaicker8250 4 роки тому +3

      yes, oil burns, be scared of germs, because you are covered with them, everything has germs, but just believe in what the media says

    • @kendlerkendler2667
      @kendlerkendler2667 4 роки тому +54

      @@denvernaicker8250 Where do you live that your media is constantly talking about germs?

    • @goofygoobert7234
      @goofygoobert7234 4 роки тому +10

      @@kendlerkendler2667 yea fr before COVID no one talked abt germs

    • @kendlerkendler2667
      @kendlerkendler2667 4 роки тому +3

      ​@@goofygoobert7234 But unless someone sneezed on your chicken you are not very likely to get covid from eating it

    • @Slimcognito2012
      @Slimcognito2012 4 роки тому +4

      @@denvernaicker8250 Are you okay dude?

  • @TheFFFreakazoid
    @TheFFFreakazoid 4 роки тому +52

    i am amazed how people seem to be unable to hold two different thoughts in their head at the same time. just because people wash their meat because of cultural reasons, doesn't mean that the fact that washing meat is bad isn't also true. nothing "culturaly insensitive" about it.
    shaking hands is a bad idea in terms of disease prevention, but it fulfills a need in western cultures that is far greater than the possible harm caused.
    why is that so hard to grasp

    • @AliceYobby
      @AliceYobby 2 роки тому

      Does shaking hands really fulfill a need far greater to the risk? Does it really?

    • @pendlera2959
      @pendlera2959 2 роки тому +1

      @@AliceYobby Considering we touch doorknobs, light switches, money, and many other surfaces that other people's hands touch, I doubt handshakes make a significant difference in germ spread. The main increase in risk is how *recently* someone might have sneezed into their hand or scratched their eyes/nose vs the length of time since someone touched the other surface.

    • @pepeokatze
      @pepeokatze 2 роки тому

      @@AliceYobby it is a cultural thing and it significe politeness(or something) its basically to show that you are a friendly person. The risk here is that you might offend the other person, for some people thats alot more risky than the increase risk of getting contaminated with disease from a hand shake

    • @lemons1559
      @lemons1559 Рік тому

      ​@@AliceYobby the risk of getting sick from physical contact with another human? I think it's entirely worth it to have the flu every now and then if the alternative is to never touch another human.

  • @whatever8282828
    @whatever8282828 3 роки тому +38

    I love this even-handed exploration of an interesting issue with many causes! I do like the idea of suggesting that if the meat isn't actually bad, but is a little slimy, it is much better to use a paper towel on it. I almost guessed that you were going to suggest that some cultures' ways of "washing" meat, especially poultry, was almost semi-brining it.

  • @arzr_er
    @arzr_er 3 роки тому +3

    In Mexico it's common (at least in my region) to sell chicken and announce it as "Pollo lavado" (Washed chicken), though "Lavado" (washed) actually means "Butchered"
    This is because people wash chicken when they butcher it, and it's such a common thing I never questioned it

  • @AmberKingmusic
    @AmberKingmusic 4 роки тому +6

    I had never known about washing meat until I had some friends over for dinner and because they grew up in other states and areas, one person was shocked that another didn't was the chicken. For context, I grew up in Southern California my dad was raised there too and my mother spent time both in France and the Midwest USA growing up. My only exposure to washing poultry is that my mother would defrost frozen chicken in the sink in water, however, we would never scrub or intentionally wash the meat.

  • @Aviftw
    @Aviftw 3 роки тому +18

    Representing the Caribbean here, it is unfathomable how I would cook without washing whatever solid ingredient I'd use LOL.

    • @andrealabonair3519
      @andrealabonair3519 3 роки тому +8

      I'm Jewish, it's considered sacrilege if you don't wash your chicken. My grandmother's chicken soup recipe she created herself the first ingredient: one whole chicken, washed and dried.
      In all honesty, just wash your chicken. It's disgusting if you don't. There's all this gunk you have to get off.

    • @playtester6635
      @playtester6635 3 роки тому

      @@andrealabonair3519 It's a traditional method of koshering meat.

    • @andrealabonair3519
      @andrealabonair3519 3 роки тому

      @@playtester6635 I'm Jewish. I know about that. I grew up helping and watching my grandmother cook.

    • @rebeccaboyer9924
      @rebeccaboyer9924 3 роки тому +4

      @@andrealabonair3519 I’m also jewish and I never wash chicken or any meat. But also I ain’t ever seen chicken or any meat with slime or gunk on it. We buy fresh meat and freeze it so it doesn’t go bad. Thaw it and eat that day or the next. Never had any problems. They never have a smell. I would never eat chicken that has a bad smell. Idk maybe because I’m American and our meat comes ready to eat and cleaned from the butcher or sealed from the grocery store.

    • @bonbonbonbons
      @bonbonbonbons 11 місяців тому

      ​@@rebeccaboyer9924the last sentence, not every butcher is equal lol

  • @vixen1143
    @vixen1143 3 роки тому +11

    I've never cleaned meat.
    My mum used to clean chicken, I remember asking her why, she didn't really know just because someone told her to. She hated doing it, I remember her wearing rubber gloves or getting her sister to come round to remove the jiblets and clean the chicken.
    In my teens she had given up cleaning chicken. I feel like this happened around the time they stoped selling chicken with the jiblets.

    • @ignemuton5500
      @ignemuton5500 3 роки тому +2

      reminds me strongly of "why cut ends off ham", this and the whole rice washing fiasco, practices that may have had logical reasons in the past but over time suddenly had no reason.

    • @toomanymarys7355
      @toomanymarys7355 2 роки тому

      They still sell the giblets with it in the US but most people throw them away lol

  • @jeditalez
    @jeditalez 2 роки тому +1

    I was always taught to wash meat in a bowel vingar, leomon, or salt water by my mom....I never questioned why till now
    My mom is from the Carribean; St. Thomas

  • @sjaaksjok
    @sjaaksjok 4 роки тому +5

    I’m Half Dutch, and half Surinamese from my mother’s side of the family. I live in the Netherlands, but I’ve always been taught to wash raw meat with vinegar. The smell you described in Arabic, we call ‘Lala’.

    • @zr3eugle
      @zr3eugle 4 роки тому

      we = netherlands or surinam ?

    • @sjaaksjok
      @sjaaksjok 4 роки тому +2

      @@zr3eugle Surinamese (heritage) people