Do you rinse poultry before cooking it ?

Do you rinse your poultry under running water before cooking it ?

My father and mother taught me to do so, but the pro chefs I know all say they don’t as you cook the bird in either the oven or the pan, and that’ll kill all the bacteria anyway, so why rinse it first ?

My father says he rinse it under running water to get rid of the slime and blood that often still is inside the chicken and duck and I can kind of understand this point, but I don’t eat the stuff I use for filling inside the bird, I discard it and only use it to flavour the bird during cooking it.

Also by rinsing the bird under running water in your kitchen sink you actually risk spreading bacteria to your surroundings- the kitchen sink, the kitchen table and your own cloth - so that’s one reason to avoid rinsing the bird before cooking it.

So I personally don’t rinse poultry before cooking it.

What’s your preference ?

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Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

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Same as :point_up_2:

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I always rinse poultry (and all meat for that matter) before cooking.

Not even because of bacteria, but I don’t want any unwanted stuff in my final dish. Blood is not an issue, but I mean stuff like invisible liquids used to preserve the poultry, chickens’ hairs, or little bits of grit for example from a bone.

I always buy whole (French) chickens direct from the wholesaler, so I guess for me it’s more of an issue than when you buy ready made breasts, especially when the innards are still around (yuck to green slime lmao).

Also, when a chicken is nearing its best before date, it may give a smell, which is easily removed by washing in plain vinegar, and then rinsing under water. Another trick: if you want the skin of poultry to become very crispy after roasting you should rub the raw chicken with coarse sea salt, and then rinse the salt off.

The only time I don’t rinse meat is when I buy chopped meat (eg steak tartare) or already flavoured meats/poultry (like shawarma).

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I do…
(I do know about the whole argument about not to rinse chicken, and I get that too).

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An old thread on the same topic.

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Oh my. I forgot about it. Thanks for the link. We even had a little poll back then.

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Things have changed from 7 years ago, huh?

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So basically if you buy a chicken and it looks a bit more landly than normal, you’ll rinse it ?

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I rinse everything.

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I don’t rinse poultry, and never have. OTOH, I’m almost always brining chicken and turkey. So in that sense it gets “washed” or at least rinsed, after a fashion, by the brine.

I do go over the bird with my reading glasses on and pluck out any leftover feathers.

If I’m spatchcocking the bird, which I do often despite grumpy Joe whining (but with good humor) about the process over at Epicurious a few years back[1], I do wipe out the bits of organ (usually liver) and blood stuck in the cavity, and I do this with turkey even if whole because the cavity’s big enough to get my hand in.

[1] “This is because despite how “easy” some reports try to convince you spatchcocking is, it is actually a hassle. It’s a hassle to find a surface big enough for prepping the bird [Ed. - the 16” square cutting board is fine for this]. It’s a hassle to cut out the spine if you don’t have dedicated kitchen shears [Ed. - but I do]. It’s a hassle to clean those shears if you do have them [Ed. - c’mon, the shears are simple to clean]. It’s a hassle to clean your kitchen afterwards, because despite your best efforts, the spatchcocked bird will flop around and brush against your counter and your stand mixer and your knife block [Ed. - c’mon Joe, now you’re just really reaching. No fowl flopping around allowed in my kitchen]—after which you’ll tailspin into a frenzy of cleaning [Ed. - nah, I just put the cutting board in the sink and wash it] because cleaning up after a poultry encounter is the closest most of us will come to becoming Lady MacBeth."

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I wash sometimes. Sometimes it seems to “need” it ( liquids, bone shards, vague odors), sometimes not. Sometimes seems to do with the brand, how it’s packaged ( i.e. air chilled), and whether it’s whole or parts.

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Nope. Will dry/wipe it off with kitchen towels, if needed. I also tend to work with poultry while wearing vinyl gloves.

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Apparently so. I’d find it rather depressing if my opinions hadn’t evolved over time. YMMV :wink:

Having said that, I generally only rinse chicken I didn’t purchase from a local farmer. I guess back then I only had access to supermarket chicken.

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I figure there’s enough germs in my kitchen I don’t need to splash more around. Of course there’s the water issue in Southern California too. I wouldn’t want accused of being insensitive and wasteful.

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If it fell on the floor, I would!

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I seem to remember an old CH thread about this. The liquid was referred to as “bag gunk” and was listed as a reason for rinsing.
I rinse whole birds that are cryovac packed, like oven stuffers and turkeys, but rarely if ever parts since they usually have that little pillow that absorbs the excess liquid.

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Except I don’t wash my hands because I don’t want the germs from my hands to spread everywhere .:blush:

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Better not pat it dry with paper towels. Use a J cloth, or an old pair of pajamas.

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What’s wrong with paper towels? I use them all the time for drying off meat :thinking:

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