Rinsing Chicken

[Jaide]

What I would like to know is if you rinse your chicken before cooking and is it really necessary to do that, what do you do?

[Felix4067]

I rinse mine, because I primarily buy the individually frozen boneless, skinless breasts or thighs, and the "ice glaze" on them is gross. If it's fresh, I usually rinse it because it always seems to have some kind of slime on it.

I am always careful to keep the splash inside the sink, and do clean the sink afterward, so as to avoid spreading bacteria around my kitchen. ;)

[Brownie]

I don't rinse mine but I usually buy the thigh or breast pieces I never thought of rinsing does it make a difference to the flavor?

[Felix4067]

Doesn't do anything to the flavour that I've noticed. I just don't like the slime.

[Cookiemama]

I've noticed some chefs rinsing chicken on cook shows. I don't see where it would make a difference as the water isn't hot enough to kill any bacteria so as to make it safer and doesn't add (or detract) from the taste. The only time I make it a point to rinse is after a salty brine. I guess it's just a personal preference.

CM

[invictus]

I've never rinsed a piece of chicken in my entire life. I wouldn't think it is necessary.

[Denise]

I usually defrost mine in a bowl of water, so yeah, I swish it around a bit and pat it dry before I cook it. If I do roast a chicken, I wash that and pat it dry. What is really bad is that pork tenderloin in the sealed packages, that is gross. Definitely rinse that!

[elsie]

I usually defrost mine in a bowl of water, so yeah, I swish it around a bit and pat it dry before I cook it. If I do roast a chicken, I wash that and pat it dry. What is really bad is that pork tenderloin in the sealed packages, that is gross. Definitely rinse that!

I do the same thing.....rinse and pat it dry.

[HeatherFeather]

There was recently an article about chicken rinsing etc in one of my food magazines - I think Eating Well. It said basically the same thing - don't automatically rinse chicken thinking it will remove bacteria. The old recommendation was to always rinse poultry - the idea was to rinse away bacteria. Now they know better - the bacteria on poultry isn't the kind that can be just rinsed away, it must be cooked to a high enough temp. Therefore, rinsing raw chicken isn't helping make your chicken bacteria free, and can potentially introduce that bacteria to the area around your sink from splattering.

Rinsing off slime, ice crystals, feathers, etc obviously is still done anyway, since many people don't want that in the finished product. Just be careful to clean up the sink afterwards, and avoid splattering any other foods or clean dishes etc that are near your sink.

I rinse chicken only if it needs it because of ice or whatever stuck to it, otherwise I don't.

I do rinse fruits & veggies, which have pesticides and/or dirt on them as well as microscopic bugs that can be rinsed away in cold water.

[elsie]

I know that in this day and age rinsing chickens or "anything" doesn't really make that much difference, but I'm an older cook and old habits die hard. Super-hot soapy water or diluted bleach water will kill just about any germs in a sink or other places.

Just rinsing fruit and some veggies does not remove the pesticides off of fruit anymore. Farmers would not use pesticides if it was that easy to remove. It would be too expensive. I grew up when you could pick a piece of fruit off a tree or a tomato from the garden and eat it without worrying you would glow in the dark. I think now days, a lot of things are grown for shipping/retail so they want the product to last as long as it can. I think that is unfortunate too because it lacks taste and quaility.