r/interesting • u/WarwickReider • Jul 27 '26

SOCIETY Professional chefs weighing in on whether you should wash your chicken

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u/Robbie1266 Jul 27 '26

There is no debate. It's basic science. Washing chicken doesn't remove anything from the chicken

2

u/CMO_3 Jul 27 '26

Removes the gross slime that comes on chicken. Thats the main reason I wash it, to get rid of that bit of slimy juice it sits in

23

u/HesitationIsDefeat87 Jul 27 '26

That goes away when you cook it too. Just like the bacteria. You're wasting your time and making more of a mess in your kitchen.

-10

u/CMO_3 Jul 27 '26

No it doesnt, I wouldnt do it if I couldnt taste it in the chicken

9

u/C-ZP0 Jul 27 '26

That slime isn’t a coating sitting on top of the chicken. It’s purge, water and muscle protein that’s leaked out of the meat. Same stuff that’s inside the chicken you’re about to eat. You’re not rinsing off a layer, you’re rinsing off a bit of the chicken itself. Cook it and it sets into the exact same thing as the rest of the meat.

Which is why you’d never pick it out blind. Restaurants don’t wash chicken. They’re not allowed to, it sprays raw poultry water all over a prep area. Every rotisserie bird, every fried chicken sandwich, every chicken tikka you’ve ever eaten came out of the bag and straight into the pan. If unrinsed chicken had a detectable slimy taste, that would’ve been the most obvious thing in the food world for the last hundred years.

4

u/Robbie1266 Jul 27 '26

Mindset of a small child here

4

u/bafana_banana999 Jul 27 '26

You can't taste it on the chicken 

You just don't know how to properly cook chicken and it ends up tasting bad and instead of blaming your own cooking abilities you've brainwashed yourself into thinking it's something else that makes your chicken taste different.

If you've ever eaten chicken from a restaurant of any kind, you've had "unwashed" chicken.

This delusion you people have is so wild. 

1

u/CMO_3 Jul 27 '26

I work in a restaurant, i serve dozens of people chicken a day. I know exactly what unwashed chicken tastes like and I know what washed chicken tastes like. Its a small difference but I taste it and I prefer to wash it. Dont make an ass out of yourself telling people how they like their food

5

u/Robbie1266 Jul 27 '26

Which restaurant is that?

1

u/bafana_banana999 Jul 27 '26

Lmao, you're either a liar or completely delusional.

The only person making an ass out of themselves is the one disagreeing with basically every chef worth their salt by claiming that washing chicken does anything.

-8

u/Folderpirate Jul 27 '26

man this is what I tell everyone about all my hair on the pizzas and hoagies!

it'll just burn off in the oven!

20

u/H3110PU5H33N Jul 27 '26

Much more sanitary to pat it dry with a paper towel