Why people wash meat (or don't)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 29 лис 2020
- Thanks to Misen for sponsoring this video! Upgrade your kitchen with Misen's amazing cookware and knives. Go to Misen.com/Ragusea to get 20% off your first order!
Raw, anonymized CSV of responses to our meat-washing survey: drive.google.com/file/d/1eygY...
PowerPoint of results compiled by Chris and Michael: drive.google.com/file/d/14hkm...
**ADDITIONAL SOURCES IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE**
"Don't Wash Your Chicken! Germ-Vision Animation," New Mexico State University's Media Productions: • Don't Wash Your Chicke...
Dr. Shauna Henley at the University of Maryland: agnr.umd.edu/about/directory/...
USDA observational study from 2019 showing how poultry washing spreads pathogens around the kitchen: www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/con...
U.S. Food Standards Agency video from 2018 urging people to not wash chicken: • FSA Explains: Campylob...
USDA video from 2015 urging people to not wash chicken: • Why You Should Not Was...
USDA media release from 2013 urging people to "Ask Karen" about Thanksgiving food safety: www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/...
"’Don’t Wash Your Chicken!’ Results of an Interdisciplinary Approach to Reduce Incidence of Infectious Foodborne Diseases," Dr. Henley's 2013 doctoral thesis at Drexel University: idea.library.drexel.edu/islan...
"Characterization of raw egg and poultry handling practices among minority consumers: Identification of unique practices," Shauna C. Henley, Susan E. Stein, Jennifer J. Quinlan, 2015, British Food Journal: www.emerald.com/insight/conte...
Prof. Chris Tsavatewa, Middle Georgia State University: / christopher-tsavatewa-...
Dr. Michael Gibbons, Middle Georgia State University: www.mga.edu/directory/people....
"Meat Spoilage: A Critical Review of a Neglected Alteration Due to Ropy Slime Producing Bacteria," Maria Francesca Iulietto, Paola Sechi, Beniamino Cenci Goga, 2015, Italian Journal of Animal Science: www.researchgate.net/publicat...
"Survival of Salmonella on Raw Poultry Exposed to 10% Lemon Juice and Vinegar Washes," Shauna Henley, 2018: www.researchgate.net/publicat...
Safeconsume, ongoing European Union research project on consumer behaviors that contribute to foodborne illness: safeconsume.eu/
Dr. Monica Truninger, University of Lisbon: www.linkedin.com/in/monica-tr...
Luís Junqueira, University of Lisbon: scholar.google.com/citations?... - Навчання та стиль
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!
Good video Adam, very respectful.
Everybody gangsta till Adam starts to write comments like that again
I'm so glad you made this video! Now I can send my angry commentors straight to you! ;)
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.
"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.
"Why I wash my hands, NOT my meat"
@@AxxLAfriku *You’re
@@Scp-x3bgo uhm no the grammar is already good
@@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. •-•
this sounds so wrong
@@AxxLAfriku u good ?
"Screw it. Nothing I've done has killed us yet."
I kind of hate how accurately that describes me.
Same, I'm always the guy that says "screw it,its gonna be(something) anyway"
That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.
OMG SO QUIRKY😌😌😌😌😌
Exaggerated but so true
I’m your 666th like! What an honour!
The lime/salt brine "wash" makes sense to me, the "whole chicken under the faucet" thing not so much.
People wash meat to remove dirt not germs.
So you just soak and cook without rinsing that concoction off?
@@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.
@@asandax6 by replacing it with contaminants from tap water
@@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.
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
That’s different. I think he’s talking more about nicely wrapped up chicken breasts or whatever from a grocery store.
@@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
🥴
@@chatella_nutella9017They 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.
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.
can’t focus on what you’re saying with the smurf that looks like you
Off topic but I love your content
more like haedicks gottem
where's your content been?
@@michaelkrzyzanowski8799 he’s been watching Adam
@@blibbers8843 off topic but stop being a fanboy
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.
Sounds a lot like the compost wars 😅
+
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"
Hey! California pizza is the best one to feed the raccoons!
@@sonofaquack6987 LOL
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!
I assume descaling fish under running water would serve to wash the scales away.
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!"
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.
@@chudchadanstud 🤨 washing your hands DOES get rid of bacteria. The difference is you use SOAP to wash your hands.
@@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
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.
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
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.
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.
i, live in a third world country where meat is bought outside with flies everywhere, so washing it is definitely a yes.
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.
@@mahmoudnabil2107 good point, but tons of us here just really do it to be literally extra sure
@@liltwerp3418 nice pathogens 😎
@@liltwerp3418 If anything, peace of mind, Like how people blow on food that falls on the floor and eat it
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
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.
yes someone said it!! In my island everyone does this but when I moved to europe everyone seems to think it strange.😅😅
FAXXX
Right. I can't not wash my meat.
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.
@@D-Vinko I've adapted to my life here quite well but I'll still continue to wash my meat 😊
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
Is that a risk worth taking?
@@YoungBasedChefBeezy eh, compared to most things we do probably.
@@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?
Jenny From The Block becomes Typhoid Mary. Hmm...
@@thohangsty'all are just soft
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.
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
@@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.
@@sebaschan-uwu They do sometime drop the meat in US facilities.
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
Internet
At least that means they probably didn't wash the video
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.
@@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)
@@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.
Alot of thing is done by "this is how my parents always done it and their parents to" without much though really.
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.
@@rdizzy1 Modern generations think butter comes from corn and cow gives ketchup
@@Dosadniste2000 No you're lying
@@d-booya5089 Lmao, it's recorded for the world to see in multiple Tv shows
All the way back to the first humans who tried it. If its not broken, don't fix it.
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... 😎
This was really informatory and a great watch. Your videos are the perfect amount of experimentation and teaching the viewer cultural and historical ways of cooking and stuff. Really cool to finally know why people do wash meat. Makes a lot more sense :)
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.
Yeah, this is more applicable to US and Europe. Meat is more standardised there.
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
We wash vegetables in the US all the time, it's just kind of understood so he probably never records it
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.
yeah I filled the form about Indian practices
The word "peasant" is such an entertaining word to say
Ye
Its woody
might have something to do with pleasant
Because it is
I really enjoy "degenerate" for some reason.
I am 100% looking for new skillets! I hope the discount code is still active! Also, I like the idea of letting chicken soak in a bowl of water with some citrus or vinegar, with salt. Thank you for your videos.
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.
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
Well if wet markets are still legal, then we probably haven't learned much from the last 18+ months.
Just don't eat bats and you're good
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.
@@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.
@@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.
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!
No wonder the letters didn't calligraphically merge - it looked weird on screen for a reason!
Even the Arabic characters? How did that even happen?
Adobe products are a pain in the ass when it comes to Arabic
It looked off to me too!
@@FarisPlayer1 Most graphics software can't handle Arabic properly.
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.
This is the worst retelling of that story I've ever seen
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).
You should do a blind taste test between chicken that you washed versus chicken you didn’t wash.
“There is still a chickeny taste in chicken”
Who would guess that chicken tastes “chickeny”. What taste do you expect, “beefy” chicken?
@@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.
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.
Washing rice is just smart practice. 👌
Not washing rice is just asking for gummy rice
@@joshjacobson9846 There’s some dishes that call for that
@@joshjacobson9846 in Serbia we always wash rice
@@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.
Im not even mad when he hits me with such a smooth transition for his sponsor.
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.
Yup he even puts effort into the ads which makes him a perfect ambassador for the brands
what sponsor?
i feel like this is why people would love to sponsor him.
Don't encourage him
We (white couple) discussed this with friends of other races and amongst our group it seems that it culturally was raised into our black friends. And they really didn't have much of a reason other than its how everyone else did it. It was a great conversation and this video will definitely be shared because it is an interesting difference! Lol
why are you racist
No, it's just nasty not to.
@@akindele13n
@@akindele13washing chicken and getting salmonella all over your kitchen is even grosser
@sammysaito529 who gets salmonella all over their kitchen while washing? Someone who isnt doing a good job.
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...
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.
@@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 😂
Here in the Philippines, most people who buy their meats at open air markets wash their meats. And trust me, they have to.
@@kidanhone6048 we washing the meat NOT because of the bacteria
me not wash meat
also me: mmmmm dirt is tasty
@@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
@@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?
@@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.
As a hunter of wild game I was taught to leave the skin on while out in the woods, to keep hair, feathers, and forest floor from getting on the meat. Of course we have to take the entrails out, and to clean out blood clots and bits of undesirable forest dirt we wipe down the cavity with vinegar and paper towels.
We also do this vinegar wipe-down out at a campsite, so yeah, the whole cross-contamination thing is really a non-issue until the game has aged and it's ready for butchering. And then I'm skinning in a controlled environment hanging up off the ground, so theres less likelihood of foreign matter on the meat.
I only wash my deer under running water if it was skinned badly and there's hair and dirt, and even then it's the quarters I'm washing, not cuts of meat ready to cook, and I wash them in a tub under the hose outdoors.
Same, rinse only for debris if needed. If the meat is clean then it’s a non issue. Done this many a times and never been sick, from birds to big game.
Well, that was fascinating. Keep up the good work!
I liked that Adam used the word "hypothesis" instead of more commonly used "theory".
Probably interchangeable in common tongue, but definitely different in science.
Nerd.
🤓🙃😘
Shush now.
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.
We get it,you like to act like a smarty-pants online,he's not writing a paper. Shut up.
@@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)
Intriguing that "washing" included what others would call "brining" or maybe "marinading", which might throw off the results of the survey.
Yeah seeing people call lemon/lime juice, salt, or vinegar a wash was interesting
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.
In my family(very large italian family) we used wash and marinade interchangeably. I agree that stuff like that may change the results.
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...
@@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
That is a great pronunciation of زنخة... bravo.
Very interesting, i live in Lisbon and am Portuguese and i've never heard of people washing chicken, very eye opening
OH, I PARTICIPATED IN THIS POLL
Me too! Science!
Me too!
Me too dude
Me too!
Me too!
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 👍🏾
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.
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!!!
@@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.
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
Cooking meat kills any germs from hands, spit, dirt, etc.
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
And cooking it doesnt remove it?
@@rigo.acosta
Yeah it does lmao 😅
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.
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
I got used to it as most of games wright arabic backwards and unattached
@@zinaalabdaly6848 holly shit that must be hard to read
@@nuclearnadal3116 yes it is hard so i switch to English much easier lol
Translators for the win, I guess this is a common problem because other Arabic speaking people have pointed out the same thing lmao
Almost had a stroke trying to read it lol
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.
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.
@@D-Vinko it feels wrong
@@D-Vinko nah. Blk people have always been right about the things we do. No need to stop. Scientists just need to catch up.
@@infinitedreaming222 catch up on what? What are you doing when you wash it? Nothing really.
@@infinitedreaming222 ... you wouldn't say the same thing to covid deniers.
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.
Yeah the processing isn't necessarily the same everywhere.
Nothing but admiration and respect for this phenomenal video! cheers.
I think in countries with hot climates, we have our words for "zankha", in Indonesian it's "amis".
Ok gan
Podas in my language
balls itches
@@nocares5395 apply Veta
Hi fellow Indonesian, thanks for pointing that up.
I notice he also wrote the arabic text wrong, it should be right to left, 😅
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.
That’s more of a brine. Not a wash.
@@imhereforthegangbang4000 a brine is different
@@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.
@@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.
@@TBlacky sorry but I just don’t see it
That was a great video. We fall into the category where meat is usually butchered at home or bnearby so yeah, it has to be washed (and washed and washed) to get rid of all the feathers and dirt. I personally hate the idea of washing it in kitchen but some people do that too and still manage to stay healthy. (luck and immunity, maybe)
Awesome video, as usual, thanks for this work!
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.
good survival instincts!
What's wrong with washing meat.
I'm an arab and I can tell you he nailed the word "zankha" perfectly
Yep
His pronounciation was alright but he definately wrote the word backwords.
except it is written in the wrong direction with isolated letters
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
Its written backwards though.
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.
I love how honest Adam is about our relationship to him as his audience. It’s oddly refreshing. He doesn’t try to pretend that we’re friends like some UA-camrs do. This is a transactional relationship. Adam provides us with fun to watch educational content in homey down to earth package, and we provide him with our views and clicks which ultimately translates to money in his pocket.
I'm Haitian, and I was always taught to "wash" my meat with acidic substances like soaked in vinegar but scrubbed with a lime as if you are washing the meat not only to traditionally disinfect the meat, but also an optimal way to prepare the seasoning and flavor used afterwards to penetrate the meat more efficiently to maximize the flavor consistency of the meat all the way through, so whatever seasoning is used isn't just present on the meat's skin, but also throughout the meat after taking a bite. I used to call the "meat washing" process flash marination.
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.
Cooked shyte. Bon appetit.
@Mr. Clean You can do that or you can wash it.
Chlorinated chicken is distinctly American driven by the awful conditions they're raised in. That might be what you smell
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.
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....
In El Salvador we call it "chuquía", something like disgusting.
Very very well put together Creator. Spot on facts. Brilliant!
"Nothing I've done has killed any of us yet" is my style of cooking.
Same
My family has been doing it for years just the way we’ve been taught and nothing has happened
That’s what I tell myself whenever I try or make new food. Only ever had five bathroom trips
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.
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.
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.
I can confirm that the word used in the whole of GCC is زفارة
@@LordFreak030 I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t know that term. Maybe because they don’t cook their own food
@@hussainattai4638 yeah possibly but here in Kuwait and Bahrain its pretty common.
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
Wow!! I did not expect to hear you talking about zankha. I’m extremely sensitive to it…also it doesn’t just apply to chicken but eggs too. I’m so sensitive that I can detect “eggy” smells on dishware. I think the quality of Chicken helps the most with eliminating the smell. The organic small whole chicken tends to smell less zinikh after cooking compared to cut up thighs for example even if both are “cleaned”/brined. I don’t think I’ll stop “brining” my chicken. The slimy texture disgusts me too much.
"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.
that's really interesting, and not addressed in the video. Thanks.
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.
It’s not that weird to think of gaminess in poultry in general, for chicken, though, definitely.
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
@@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
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.
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
@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.
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.
Yes, same.
Eh
Never got rid of it for me. Raw chicken smells like raw chicken.
Yaadie
Cooking gets rid of the raw smell . . .
Facts
This reminds me of the fish baking story from my childhood. But to be honest, it is not just something we learned from ancestors. I am middle eastern, and yes, we wash chicken meat to remove Zankha. I came to know that there are some people who do not wash it when I lived with my “white” roommate. She’d always ask me how the chicken I cook tasted better, and I believe that removing Zankha has a lot to do with it.
In Mexican Spanish the word we always used for the raw chicken smell was “chuquia”
Wait, who are the absolute madlads who wash miced/ground meat?
I know some people do, its usually them trying to wash out the "blood"
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
WTF is wrong with people....
how do you even do that?
@@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.
@@MaxMustermann-go8xf inside a colander, I imagine... so weird
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!
I've never heard someone say it wrong. Is it really that often?
@@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.
@@JemRochelle yeah i know the difference lol
@@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.
@@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.
When backpacking in 1988 , I was staying at the youth hostel in Portugal dinner was included .the owner walked past my husband and I with a huge meat cleaver and went to the back yard ,returning with a headless chicken feathers in tact .Dinner that night was roast chicken it was delicious!
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.
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...
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.
Caribbean chicken is often times natural.
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.
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
@@kathydelarosa1286 you THINK but what do you know
@@heyseusschristoe4245 everything is preference so
I like the non-washing option since I'm lazy.
And let's be honest, all you're getting with that is the very surface area (and unless you're some tiktok smoothbrain who likes the taste of chlorox or dishsoap in their food) you're not gonna get the surface sterile just by washing it.
Conveniently heat does kill off bacteria especially well on the outside of your meat ;).
The most I do is maybe pat it dry with papertowels.
Avoiding cross contamination is more important than giving your meat a surface rinse.
But then again I'm living in a country with fairly strong foodregulations, so the meat I'm buying is generally clean,
maybe in other countries there is some actual dirt left from the butchering and/or transport which you want to rinse off.
Who is washing their chicken with dish soap and clorox? Traditionally it's lime, vinegar and/or salt.
Nuh uh. Why the living shit are you washing it with clorox or dawn. You're supposed to remove it with lemon and herbs and shit, not with cleaning agent wtf
Yo i tried soaking chicken in vinegar after watching this and it was bomb!! The flavor really penetrated the chicken and made it less bland. I'm gonna try this with lemon juice and experiment!
Lemon and salt rub is a vibe
"Here's Shauna Henley-"
*Faculty picture of her in a chef's hat holding a chicken*
The best kind of expert.
I knew I could trust her with that picture 😂
But the question is, did she wash that chicken?
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Wash it?? She couldn't even be bothered to pluck it!! ;)
Shout out to Adam for sacrificing the health and safety integrity of his kitchen to get B-roll of himself washing chicken
I wash pork chop to get rid of residual blood in and along the bone. This usually in conjunction with a lukewarm brine of 1-2% salt by weight and splash of white or cider vinegar for half an hour before cooking to ensure the meat is seasoned well, but also to aid in pre-digesting the collagen and muscle fibers. I find that after patting dry with paper towel it's easier to get a good sear on meat that has been prepared in this way
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
I’m middle eastern and I own a restaurant.
I triple wash the chicken before marinating it. It feels, looks and smells better.
God bless you sir 🤣 I’m scared of all these white people taking about washing the meat is bad for you 😩🙈
@@yidsinwhite441 ok.
@@V-O-V #respectfully
@@yidsinwhite441 It's like when they used to tell us that wearing mask won't protect us from Covid lol.
@@anhvu9413 they’re minds are filled with ignorance and hatred 😆 All one can do is sit back and laugh
Definitely in the camp of "screw it, I haven't killed anyone yet!" when it comes to making a large meal
Yes
bruh
😂. My sister has a sign up in her kitchen that says “Many have entered, none have died”
@@HeyitsBri_ I like it
Have to remember to pick up one of those misen blades. They look great, and at that price, I'm willing to give it a go.
Super interesting and informative video! It's really interesting to learn about the who, what, where, how, and why on this topic just because its so different across the globe and even in some cultures.
I don't wash meat, but having worked in the food industry I understand the risks of contaminating workspaces and tools. Washing under a faucet is instinctively a bad idea in my mind. And for me, it's worth the effort to keep things clean and sanitized in the kitchen. Bad habits beget more bad, and I feel like contamination risks a bad day for someone, eventually.
So what you are saying is you don't clean your counter before and after cleaning meat.
@@hainleysimpson1507 So what your saying is you wash meat
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.
@Colin Deal Adam pls. Enough with the alt accounts.
The backwards Arabic really got me
all the letters isolated and not connected too
Yeah, i thought that either he wrote persian by mistake or i just siffered a stroke
SAME
@@mohammedsami6907 Persian is not written isolated tho
I died inside . . . it's just too easy to use google translate.
for chicken, especially the breasts, which I consume a lot, it is better to brine it in salt water. I find, also from what my chinese cooking experience, that it makes the meat more tender if you can have it soak in more water. You do that in dumpling fillings, diced up meat for stir fries etc. and professional chefs actually say that there is a way to massage more water into the meat.
I was taught to wash it just because butchers shops sometimes miss bone dust/flecks from cutting them. Also slime, and any odd loose bit you might want to take off
"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*
yes, oil burns, be scared of germs, because you are covered with them, everything has germs, but just believe in what the media says
@@denvernaicker8250 Where do you live that your media is constantly talking about germs?
@@kendlerkendler2667 yea fr before COVID no one talked abt germs
@@goofygoobert7234 But unless someone sneezed on your chicken you are not very likely to get covid from eating it
@@denvernaicker8250 Are you okay dude?
My dad laughs every time he sees one of your smooth transition into the advertisement portion of the video.
I mean, dont we all
My dad vocally “summons forth the upside down bear” in the kitchen now.
@@reyshah426 as he should
The wash in water and vinegar makes a difference. Some chicken brands are really funky. There's is a difference between cooked unwashed and cooked washed meat.
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
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)
in El Salvador they call the chicken "undesirable poultry smell" CHUQUILLO
Exactly! The smell is horrendous and if not washed you can still smell it when cooked 🤢
Omg yes it’s that weird chicken taste for me if it’s not washed
I will remember "pitiú" bc it kinda rhymes with "pee-eugh!" Which is what Americans say when something stinks! 😆
Sério? Não sabia
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.
Because its proven that washing doesn't work...
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.
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.
@@janetz1001 I’m a nonwasher but yes I would love to see a blind taste test!!!
@@janetz1001 A factory chicken will be washed as part of the slaughtering process.
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.
This is very interesting to me, as some who grew up in New and now lives in Germany washing meat is something I'd never really heard about or thought of, it's actually something I "came up with on my own" so to speak because of not wanting to through away chicken that was getting a bit old and smelled rather bad, I tried cooking it but the smell/taste remained and pervaded and was rather unpleasant to eat - but I found I could wash it off.
I'm certainly not someone blindly does something "because that's the way I/we have always done it", especially if someone gives me good reason not to (that pig-headed mentality is a big problem with world and is something that really irritates me) so I will keep washing chicken that really needs it but no longer under the tap.
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
Does shaking hands really fulfill a need far greater to the risk? Does it really?
@@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.
@@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
@@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.
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).
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.
The video didn’t mention south and south east Asia.
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.
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
@@saradasilva8162 So basically you're telling me you just prefer chicken with a lemon/lime taste then?
You mentioned at one point that there was no effect on washing with vinegar and lime in terms of being able to kill bacteria but in the example you gave the water that the meat was submerged in was cold this is not the case at least in the Caribbean. We explicitly use boiled water and let the meat "shoude' " in the water, that definitely kills the bacteria. Coupled with the lite brine you now have a more flavorful default state to begin actual cooking. I'm of Ayisien descent & I've seen the same process since for other Caribbean islands meat prep. There's no doubt it helps contribute to the flavor profile as well as definitively kills bacteria.
As an African American, its not just cultural but it does impact the flavor and texture of your meat. Also, a lot of these videos and discourse talk about running it under water but generally, we don't do that. Like mentioned in the video, the more common term would be "wet brine" I suppose. For generations, my family and people I know soak the chicken in SALT WATER while removing any guck and feathers and then scrub it down with citrus of some kind (usually lemons and lime but oranges add a nice little something). You let it sit IN THE FRIDGE in the citrus salt water and then you dry it off a bit, flour it and fry it or season it and bake it--what have you.
It should also be noted that its VERY common for all kitchen surfaces in an African American home to be bleached after cooking (and thoroughly, washing the dishes coming up meant deep clean the kitchen lol😂). I love science but I also see that a lot of the discourse acts like its going to kill you to wet brine your meats but in the same breath, those same people do it to their turkeys on thanksgiving 🙄 it's worked for generations with no issue. Like you said, everyone's life is different.
Exactly.
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)
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.
It's cause we got that usda certified 🥶
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.
A "peasant society past" is a bit of a difficult conclusion to draw when you think about countries like Finland, which is in northern Europe and cold most of the time (ie less likely to get meat spoilage smells) but many Finns were rural, agrarian and impoverished very recently - like in the 50s. To use my wife's family as an example, her grandmother stopped going to school at 12. Her grandfather didn't go to school at all. Grandma and Grandpa met in a TB sanatorium. Her mother had TB when she was an infant and spent a year in a TB sanatorium. They went to the shops by reindeer. They also fished and hunted. Seems, uh, pretty impoverished and peasanty to me. And I'm 31, so we're not talking about the 19th century here, more like the 60s. I wonder if they took countries like Finland, Sweden, Estonia etc into account in that survey.
Fascinating. Thank you for sharing.