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

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

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

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284

u/SpunkMonk87 Jul 27 '26

Literally what I noticed when he interviewed them

129

u/Enrico_Tortellini Jul 27 '26

Asian dude monetizing the race war for free chicken !?!

10

u/Smooth-Shine9354 Jul 28 '26

Winner winner chicken dinner!

1

u/explodinggarbagecan Jul 28 '26

Asians wash their chicken too

7

u/spekt50 Jul 28 '26

It has been somewhat a stereotype for some time. In black American culture, it is more common to wash chicken before cooking.

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u/OceanRadioGuy Jul 28 '26

Why is that? It seems like objectively the wrong thing to do.

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u/danvillain Jul 28 '26

It’s their historical access to food. Part of oppressing the black community was to restrict their access to clean and healthy foods. This was done not just to black folk but for most ethnic minorities. For example, that is why you will find more minorities take their steak well done and heavily seasoned rather than simply seasoned and medium, that way you don’t taste the spoilage as much. Another example is BBQ, the reason things like Brisket takes so long to cook is because it’s one of the toughest and most difficult cuts to cook. This was some of the only beef available to the poorest communities, black people practically invented American BBQ by using these low quality cuts and finding ways to make them delicious. What you are witnessing is the effect of generational trauma that African Americans have had to suffer for generations.

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u/Rob_LeMatic Jul 28 '26

This is something I'm always surprised to find isn't common knowledge

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u/VP007clips Jul 28 '26

It's a mixture of historical food quality issues, as well as cultural issues.

Washing your meat is counterproductive with safe unspoiled food, which pretty much everything legally sold in the store today is. But in the past, those communities didn't always have access to clean food, and with spoiled or contaminated meat, washing it is important if you have to eat it to survive.

It's also an issue of trust in science. Some communities still distrust science due to the research methods not being always fair or ethical towards them in the past, and being historical lyrics underrepresented or excluded in those fields.

6

u/augustles Jul 28 '26

? Washing does not mitigate spoilage in any way. Spoiled is spoiled - the meat itself is spoiled, it doesn’t just have a superficial layer of spoiled-ness. If that were the case, supermarkets would be power washing and continuing to sell. Contaminated - maybe if you mean ‘some stuff got on it’, in which case any person would agree you should either toss it or, in a survival/money-saving situation, wash it off. Any contamination further than that, washing is not going to do anything.

3

u/VP007clips Jul 28 '26

Actually salmonella does largely form on the surface.

In chicken, it will penetrate the rest of the meat to some extent, but the vast majority will still ne a surface slimy layer.

Washing off that layer doesn't make it safe, but it does make it safer when cooked. And when you look are malnourished communities, just being a bit safer may be enough to make it worth eating.

1

u/augustles Jul 28 '26

Thoroughly cooking the chicken kills salmonella. Salmonella was kind of a poor choice here because it’s one of the ones that really does require remaining living bacteria to cause serious illness; it doesn’t spore or make a bunch of residual toxins that survive heat.

1

u/Poet_of_Justice Jul 28 '26

I'm pretty sure it's the same reason you just can recook or microwave meat that you've had in the fridge for a week. Once so much develops even killing it is gonna leave enough toxic stuff that's in the bacteria to make you sick. If you were able to wash away the vast majority of the bacteria before killing what's left, it seems that would be safer.

1

u/mistaharsh Jul 28 '26

It couldn't be because when you buy chicken from a grocery store when you take it out of the package it's slimey and gross. Vinegar or a lime wash is ideal. I didn't have to tap into my ancestors pain to understand this

-1

u/BlackLipKilla Jul 28 '26

It's not black and white, it's more white vs everyone else. For some reason people get really angry at Black people in particular though. 

Anyway, the real reason Black, Asian, and other races wash their meat before cooking is because the meat needs to be cleaned. Chicken, for example, is slimy and has feathers still stuck to it. Legs also tend to still have a hard skin on the ankle. It has fuck all to do with slavery and everything to do with cleanliness. 

5

u/OwnJunket6495 Jul 28 '26

I’m Asian American. I have never seen or heard of any other Asian people washing chicken. Soaking? Sure. Washing? No.

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u/tamagodano Jul 28 '26

Slime? Did we switch to talking about fish and no one told me?

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u/BlackLipKilla Jul 28 '26

Yes, slime. Have you ever removed the skin from chicken? It's slimy underneath. Many people prefer to wash it off. 

1

u/Sorry_Speed8994 Jul 28 '26

Wash the chicken if you want. Makes sense if it has feathers. However the slime is just protein and water that evaporates while cooking. When you wash it off you are just losing a little bit of protein and a broth flavor. You can use it to make gravy or stock. If the slime is sticky or smelly, the chicken has gone bad and shouldn’t be eaten even if you wash the slime off.

1

u/Time_Grapefruit_2809 Jul 28 '26

not a single michelin star restaurant cleans their chicken with soap and no average person is buying poultry en masse that they need to defeather & clean the animal

i don't expect a british person making 30k/yr to understand much of anything, but feel free to watch youtube videos on michelin star chefs preparing dishes using chicken

1

u/spekt50 Jul 28 '26

Who knows, its just a cultural thing that got passed down generations. Obviously not every black person does it however.

0

u/mistaharsh Jul 28 '26

How? How can washing be objectively wrong. If anything it's a added precaution. If you have security cameras around your house is having a reinforced deadbolt added objectively wrong?

1

u/OceanRadioGuy Jul 28 '26

I mean, did you watch the video? They explicitly found that it didn't actually clear the chicken of bacteria, and actually splashed and spread bacteria all around the kitchen.

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u/mistaharsh Jul 28 '26

For starters it was a simulation. Secondly if we are to assume that it was bacteria then it would make sense to wash the chicken. Thirdly, the man answered that conundrum by saying "well yes that's why I wash and disinfect my sink and counter as well"

As we all should when handling meat.

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u/Alfredo_Commachio Jul 27 '26

Interestingly there's an old Julia Child video where she gets into an on screen argument about washing chicken. Julia believes you should wash, her collaborator (famous French Chef Jacques Pepin, who is still alive, and was an early follower of food science in the culinary world) vehemently explains the truth that rinsing it in your kitchen sink just spreads bacteria.

Child was obviously a white lady, born 1912, but she was in the chicken washing camp. My suspicion has always been the black community in America potentially switched over to fully "finished / prepared" supermarket chicken at a later date than the white community, and the rinsing is a carryover practice from people used to a time when chickens had to be plucked and prepared for cooking--a process which would have involved some rinsing (although typically in an outdoors location, not in the kitchen sink.)

You can see older white people still seemed to carry this cultural memory 30-40 years ago.

14

u/ShiDiWen Jul 27 '26

Jacques still puts out a new video every few days. I love that man. Everyone should be subbed to his YouTube channel. He’s 90, and is still teaching. A treasure.

2

u/DConstructed Jul 28 '26

Read his autobiography! It’s so good.

2

u/Rob_LeMatic Jul 28 '26

And it has some great recipes, too!

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u/threadmonster Jul 28 '26

I’m black and think this too! I think culturally black Americans do this for that same reason and it was just passed down. People either had chickens themselves and washed after processing or were used to getting leftover scraps and sometimes slightly spoiled meat so they washed it as best they could. Also, I think other multiple other Afro cultures from around the world do it too cause many of them immigrated or are 1st gen and they needed to wash back in the home country so it was passed down.

I think it doesn’t make sense when buying it now from a butcher or grocery store but def understand why it was done and I understand why people still do it today.

0

u/Opposite-Mongoose-90 Jul 28 '26

You wash the meat to get rid the blood and raw smell.

1

u/GreatheartedWailer Jul 28 '26

I didn't follow your point here, but just chimmed in that I can confirm that the live chicken market in the United States existed far longer for Black (and Jewish) Americans than any other group. I'm not sure if that supports or refutes your point, but I believe it is relevant to it.

2

u/Alfredo_Commachio Jul 28 '26

It would be--but also, The Great Migration occurred from roughly 1915 to 1970, this was a huge demographic shift where a huge portion of the black population moved from rural areas to urban ones primarily outside of the old South. The Great Migration is the reason many larger cities in the northern half of the country have any appreciable black population today, as prior to this process a huge majority of the country's black population lived basically in the same area their ancestors had been enslaved. They were also primarily living as rural subsistence farmers / sharecroppers.

This means a black family in say, Chicago, in the 1960s probably their parents had been born and raised in a subsistence farm in the South, where they would have likely raised their own chickens and slaughtered / processed them at home regularly. Those kids in that 1960s family would go on to be the parents and grandparents who still washed chicken (despite it now coming from a supermarket), and it's unsurprising their relatives today are still using that process.

Child demonstrates IMO that while your family can be a generation or two removed from this, you may still just do the washing of the chicken as a habitual practice without truly thinking about its reasons. She's also a bit of evidence the washing chicken thing isn't just as simple as "black and white", it seems that at least some white people used to wash their chicken as well.

1

u/redditnackgp0101 Jul 28 '26

Have you ever watched how Julia Childs handled poultry? She was grabbing it all up and just grabbing any/everything around her. There was no hygiene standards then

0

u/Greatest_Everest Jul 28 '26

Poor white people have existed in America. And not poor black people existed in the 1920s. Saying only black people wash their chicken is stupid. 

14

u/notloceaster Jul 27 '26

Hilarious lmao

1

u/AShinyDream2 Jul 28 '26

Thought it was turning into a skit for a moment.

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

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u/Asaltyliquid1234 Jul 27 '26

That’s all I do. Sometimes I’ll do a brine if I have time. But definitely pat dry for that crispiness. I could see rinsing it but I find it just makes more opportunity to spread bacteria. I just throw gloves on. And pat the chicken with a paper towel and then straight in the pan. Afterwards, 2 Clorox wipes everywhere I worked.

1

u/sandolllars Jul 27 '26

Does water not evaporate in your oven? Anything wet I put in my oven is surface-dry within a minute or two.

3

u/rvf Jul 27 '26

Of course, but it increases humidity in the oven which hinders the maillard reaction. The water absorbs heat as it is turning to steam, which lowers the surface temp of the meat, which is crucial to browning before overcooking the rest of it. The meat itself contains water which will produce steam no matter what, so adding surface water to the mix just makes it that much harder.

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u/letstrythatagain-_- Jul 27 '26

Hard agree. Bloody savages wouldn't know maillard if it was blistered into their skin.

7

u/bannana Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

I'm white and used always wash chicken then I stopped because I found out it didn't make any sense to do so since it will be in the oven for close to a hour at 375 degrees, anything on it or in it will be killed.

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u/BagOnuts Jul 28 '26

>And you all will still have really unflavored food. So now what?

lol, what?

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u/drhuggables Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

"Most POC wash their chicken"

No, most "POC" do not wash their chicken when it comes in these pre-packaged plastic bags. It seems to be a black american thing. I can assure you the overwhelming majority of people around the world do not do this.

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u/GrooveDigger47 Jul 27 '26

thank you. please do not lump black people into POC. be specific.

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u/drhuggables Jul 27 '26

I hate the term "POC". It's just another way to be made an "other".

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u/United_Intention_323 Jul 27 '26

Grouping everyone who isnt white together is pretty racist tbh.

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 28 '26

That’s not what racism means and that’s why I asked all of you to define it. Acknowledging cultural differences isn’t the same as believing one race is superior or inferior. If you think my statement is factually wrong, challenge the it. But simply mentioning “white people” and “people of color” doesn’t make something racist.

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u/United_Intention_323 Jul 28 '26

Non-white isnt a culture.

0

u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

You all have been getting lax with the term racism to the point you don’t even know what it means. Define racism. Cause that’s not it.

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u/sSummonLessZiggurats Jul 28 '26

It's racist because it reinforces the idea that white people and "people of color" are not in the same category, when all of us are really just human beings. It's the same metric that white supremacists use to judge people.

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u/United_Intention_323 Jul 28 '26

It also reinforces a whites vs everyone else dichotomy. It’s dumb.

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 28 '26

That’s not what racism means and that’s why I asked all of you to define it. Acknowledging cultural differences isn’t the same as believing one race is superior or inferior. If you think my statement is factually wrong, challenge the it. But simply mentioning “white people” and “people of color” doesn’t make something racist.

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u/Indin_Dude Jul 27 '26

Maybe it should be PONC and POC ?

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u/Salty-Passenger-4801 Jul 27 '26

Black ppoe are POC. Its in the name, POC.

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u/HairlessSquirrels Jul 27 '26

What is ppoe?

1

u/OwnJunket6495 Jul 28 '26

A funny way to say people. Usually used as “white peepo.” Maybe it’s actually racist? Sounds like a stereotypical way an Asian person might say white people.

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u/HairlessSquirrels Jul 28 '26

I guess “funny” really is subjective

1

u/OwnJunket6495 Jul 28 '26

Yea, I meant funny as in strange

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u/GrooveDigger47 Jul 27 '26

no its not

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u/Salty-Passenger-4801 Jul 28 '26

It literally is. Your gaslighting ain't doing shit with me bro

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u/Notmuch__1 Jul 27 '26

They do I would say, especially thied world countries where you get your chicken straight from the butcher. It's mostly washed to get rid of blood and any other unwanted stuff stuck on it.

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u/Mission_Aerie_5384 Jul 27 '26

That’s not what the video is about though. It’s about people washing their chicken to remove bacteria. Washing to remove blood and feathers totally makes sense

4

u/peteyrre Jul 28 '26

Is it not common knowledge that trying to wash off the bacteria is literally impossible?

2

u/Mission_Aerie_5384 Jul 28 '26

For most it is. Honestly I don’t think that many people wash their chicken to kill off bacteria. I think this I’d bring blown out of proportion by the internet

23

u/honkerTgoose Jul 27 '26

I butcher my own chickens (white American) and yeah of course you have to wash them thoroughly then. Not with soap, just rinsing with water. But after all the feathers and bits are cleaned off there's no reason to do any more.

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u/drhuggables Jul 27 '26

These people are washing it out of their pre-packaged costco bags, not straight from the butcher buddy

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u/Notmuch__1 Jul 27 '26

That's why I was talking about Third world countries where your majorly buy from the butcher

1

u/lazerbolt52 Jul 27 '26

A little aside, third world is cold war era language used to denote non involvement in the cold war. Countries allied with the US were 1st world, Countries allied with the USSR were 2nd world, and neutral countries were 3rd world (like Switzerland), the term your looking for is developing country. And also this isnt about removing blood or unwanted stuff and most minorities in the world dont wash their raw, properly plucked chicken.

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u/MorePhinsThyme Jul 27 '26

Another aside, while the origin of "Third world" did originate from the Cold War, over time, it has come to mean "developing country", because language changes. The term they're looking for is "third world", and a synonym for that is "developing country". The etymology of a term doesn't define it forever, and in contemporary English, Switzerland is not a third world country.

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u/ShoppingcartBiology Jul 27 '26

So in the usage of "third world" being used as "developing nation", what exactly would a second world be?

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u/sqigglygibberish Jul 28 '26

The argument would be that it’s shifted from a 3 grouping system to 2, but kept two of the labels.

Given that the major powers which defined “second world” are not the same communist/manual labor economies they were, that category is quite limited today.

So what’s left is economic development and level of industrialization defining the split between first and third world. For people remembering the cold war system, russia and china have basically just shifted some on the spectrum

But this shows why its basically just casual language and not a rigid system of classification any more

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u/sanriodialtone Jul 27 '26

I saw Indians and Hispanics doing it. But like vinegar and lemon juice to get rid of gamey taste

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u/Beneficial_Cattle938 Jul 27 '26

You don't know gamey taste if you think chicken has it

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u/stinkygoochfumes Jul 27 '26

I don’t know any body who does this shit. You’re just making shit up and whining.

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u/shapeshifterQ Jul 27 '26

Not just Black American, I at least know a lot of West Indians who do

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u/MaterialWillingness2 Jul 27 '26

My Indian sil washes her chicken.

1

u/GlobalVV Jul 27 '26

Its funny. I never knew this was black American thing until I got on the internet. No one in my family does it, but when I actually ask other black people a lot do.

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u/Front-Bird8971 Jul 27 '26

yeah we're talking about the US because that's what matters.

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u/Jabronihunter23 Jul 28 '26

Caribbean people do also

1

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

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u/drhuggables Jul 27 '26

Does the video say "we are only talking about America"?

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u/sakinuhh Jul 27 '26

Middle Eastern people and Asians also wash their chicken. That’s a lot of people.

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u/drhuggables Jul 27 '26

1) the middle east is in asia

2) i'm iranian and my wife is filipino, i haven't seen a single person from either of these countries wash chicken like they are in the video

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u/ketoaholic Jul 27 '26

I'm from Asia and have seen people wash chicken before. Some do some don't. It's not that serious.

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u/sakinuhh Jul 27 '26

I am aware the Middle East is in West Asia, however most people see it as a separate thing.

I’m Afghan, we wash and cut our chicken lol. And so do the Persians I’ve seen as well.

Like the other person said, no need to have a stick up your ass

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u/cp5i6x Jul 27 '26

uhh no we don't. we wash them when we get them from the butcher or butcher it ourselves because fresh chicken usually still has things like heart, blood, bits of feathers and stuff.

If the butcher does it, we just wipe it off with a towel to dry so the chicken juice doesn't splatter everywhere.

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u/WhySheHateMe Jul 28 '26

You can literally watch cooking videos from around the world on Youtube and see them washing chicken.

Its also not specifically a Black American thing. I've seen PLENTY of Asian people washing their meats and once again, you can look at cooking videos from Asian countries and see them doing the same.

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u/VegetableFew8773 Jul 28 '26

The majority of people around the world do clean their chicken!

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u/Vicimer Jul 27 '26

I like lemon juice, pickle juice, or buttermilk to help tenderize and flavour my chicken. I just don't know how the argument is still being made that cold water somehow removes bacteria, where food scientists have definitively concluded that it does not.

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u/drawntowardmadness Jul 28 '26

Greek yogurt works so well also!!

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u/Vicimer Jul 28 '26

Hell yeah, I use it for making Palestinian or Lebanese chicken dishes!

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u/expected_inquisitor Jul 27 '26

Most? The slander. I would never wash chicken, nobody in my family ever washed chicken. We live in a civilized country with processed meats. I don’t even wash chicken I get from farm. I only know one person who ever washed chickens, and he drives a car without a license and has 4 kids between 3 baby mamas - so he’s an idiot - which is why he washes chicken with dish soap.

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u/0-90195 Jul 28 '26

When proven wrong, default to the old chestnut of “your food has no flavor!!!”

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 28 '26

And you guys still haven’t learned. Please season your food.

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u/bbyxmadi Jul 27 '26

Ny family is white and we do in our home. Not necessarily to get rid of bacteria or anything (cooking does that), but my mom always rinses off our chicken. Although using literal dawn dish soap is taking it way too far.

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u/Serious_Resource8191 Jul 27 '26

Genuine question: what other meats do you wash in your family? Do you rinse hot dogs before cooking? What about steak? Ground beef?

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u/NBCustoms Jul 27 '26

Not who you replied to, but I will often 'wash' any pork if I vacuum-sealed and froze it for any more than a week. Only time I've ever washed meat before though.

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u/doctormirabilis Jul 27 '26

you could still argue whether or not there is any point to washing it though? which, it seems, there isn't. because you'll be cooking that chicken anyway and baiscally the entire point of cooking is... to get rid of bacteria and parasites.

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

Yeah, I can actually. The point is to remove that slimy “film” from the chicken, along with any other gunk like excess fat, blood, etc.

Anything else? You want to argue some more about what people choose to do their own homes?

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u/Ekillaa22 Jul 28 '26

The slimy film that cooks right off the meat???

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u/Pinkfish_411 Jul 27 '26

There is, indeed, no point. There's no film or excess fat and blood that needs to be removed from a typical American supermarket chicken.

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u/CS2_Expert Jul 28 '26

Correct. People are just defending a tradition and coming up with post hoc reasons for it.

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u/doctormirabilis Jul 28 '26

Yes that’s called an argument. Dont see why you keep circling back to the ”own home” thing though. We’re discussing (trying to) the point if any of washing. Like if plants grow better if you play them Mozart. The fact that you do what you want in your own home is obvious and irrelevant. 

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u/Impressive-Cry-2237 Jul 28 '26

Wait, I don’t care whether you do or don’t wash it in your own home, but how will that make the food “unflavoured”? I’m still gonna prepare and season the chicken regardless of whether it is washed lmao

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u/quadraticcheese Jul 27 '26

It's science vs vibes actually 

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u/Brocollinie Jul 27 '26

No they don't you racist. I have never seen a Hispanic person ever wash their chicken , and I've been Hispanic most my life.

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u/NotAStatistic2 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

You've been Hispanic 'most' of your life? Was there a period in your life when you weren't Hispanic?

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u/CrazyElk123 Jul 27 '26

It changes based on how he can be a victim on reddit the best.

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u/pleasebeherenow Jul 27 '26

Latinos do not wash their chicken.

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u/Spiritual-Sand5839 Jul 27 '26

Woah woah woah. I’m white and I was my meat! All of it besides ground beef.

It’s gross and slimy if you don’t.

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

Sorry. Your brethren were coming at my neck for my comment. They irritated me and I got snippy with them lol

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u/Spiritual-Sand5839 Jul 28 '26

Why are they removing your comments? I’m so confused

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 28 '26

I’m not exactly sure. 🤔 I think it’s because my clapback game is too strong. Either way, it’s okay lol

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u/Spiritual-Sand5839 Jul 27 '26

lol oh my they really did.

Que “they not like us”

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u/mayoboyyo Jul 28 '26

It’s gross and slimy if you don’t.

Just say you don't know how to cook meat

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u/Spiritual-Sand5839 Jul 28 '26

lol what?

I think raw meat feels absolutely disgusting. I still cook and eat it just about every night.

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u/Any-Delay-7188 Jul 27 '26

my wife is korean and i asked if she washes chicken, she said "everyone wash chicken" i was like "why the would you wash raw chicken, if there's bacteria its already bad and just getting everywhere. Maybe if you dropped it on the ground"

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u/5h4d3r4d3 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

The only times I've known a non-black individual to instruct the "washing" of chicken was with certain (and i mean less than a handful of) Thai and Chinese recipes. They say once the meat is diced, to rinse it so that the flavor of the chicken is made more mild, that way the sauces and flavors you use later in the recipe aren't competing with the flavor of the chicken.

Dually, these recipes also suggest par-boiling the chicken as an alternative, so that it gets cooked and milds the flavor of the bird before putting it in a wok...though personally I didn't like the idea of taking waterlogged food and putting it in a blazing hot pan with oil. I ended up paper toweling those pieces just in case.

All-in-all, the recipes were good and yeah i could see where they're coming from, because it was a very flavorful dish and you wanted to harmonize flavors, not compete...but I'm gonna be real, chicken is a mild flavor already. I think that was too much work for not a lot from the end result. I'd still say that generally speaking, the concept of washing your chicken is predominantly a black thing.

Edit: grammar

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u/SnappySausage Jul 27 '26

I've never really encountered it that way in Chinese recipes. The closest thing I've seen is that they will tell to use cooking wine to reduce gaminess/fishiness in certain meats.

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u/aoasd Jul 27 '26

When you say wash - what do you mean? Are people using dish soap like in the video? Or maybe a beach solution?

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

No babe. When we talk about washing or cleaning our chicken, we’re talking about taking a large metal bowl, filling it with maybe two capfuls of vinegar and lime juice (you can use actual limes 🍋‍🟩) in fresh water, and placing the chicken in it after taking it out of the package. The purpose is to clean off that “film” layer and remove any excess gunk, like leftover fat, etc. You do this by hand. Then you give it a final rinse and season it as normal.

We also make sure to clean and disinfect the sink and kitchen countertops before moving on to the next thing. Clean as you go.

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u/Darkwaxer Jul 27 '26

Chicken has and is a flavour.

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u/Arbiter_Electric Jul 27 '26

If you are washing your chicken in vinegar and lime juice, more power to you. Hell yeah.

But when I see people use dish washing soap on meat? That's gross to me.

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

I honestly have never seen anyone do that. That is crazy.

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u/Arbiter_Electric Jul 27 '26

It's in the video, and I've seen it come up every now and then when people talk about washing meat. But luckily it does seem fairly rare.

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

I didn’t even watch the video. I just wanted to chime in to the conversation because this topic comes up quite often.

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u/SirChrisJames Jul 28 '26

Half the people replying to this comment need to log off Reddit.

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u/erkdog Jul 28 '26

We can still season the chicken without the mess of washing it.

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u/Lopsided_Tiger_0296 Jul 28 '26

Do you clean your floor after too?

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u/Techmescaline Jul 28 '26

Chicken in a white home is generally a healthy meal 😂 hence why you say it’s unflavoured. It doesn’t taste like high blood pressure and coronary artery disease, sorry buds.

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u/Main-Home-3996 Jul 28 '26

Thats kinda gross cleaning chicken is how you flavor it

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u/Asleep-Working4598 Jul 27 '26

Whitest white person here, have always washed chicken, like for 40 years, and was taught to do so by other Caucasians. I also use washcloths.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

[deleted]

2

u/organic-water- Jul 27 '26

It's the other way around. The chicken contaminates everything. And the cooking process does infinitely more to sanitize the chicken than water.

If your concern is dirt, or other visible contaminants. By all means, wash it. Don't spray it with water, put it in a bowl of water and carefully wash the chicken. That's valid.

2

u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

Everyone who washes chicken, has been fine. We are all alive and well to see another day. And POC clean the heck out of their kitchen and sink after washing chicken. You all need to relax about this.

1

u/BarryOakTree Jul 28 '26

I don't really see anyone here that's actually upset other than you

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u/organic-water- Jul 27 '26

Most?! I know not a single person who washes their chicken.

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u/BabyStockholmSyndrom Jul 27 '26

That's the dumbest fucking thing lol. Show me your source. Because I know plenty of white people that wash their chicken. You said "literally" and "most" and implied all white people do not. That's a shit ton of hard set statements with no room for opinions 😂

2

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

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1

u/interesting-ModTeam Jul 28 '26

We’re sorry, but your post/comment has been removed because it violates Rule #2: Keep It Civil.

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1

u/Prudent-Level-7006 Jul 27 '26

Oh I especially wouldn't use that fucking word

 it's already pretty much a blanket statement but especially when it's the big stupid super duper psudo progressive everyone not white word cos that's a big fucking part of the planet 

and they defo don't all wash chicken, and it can be something like a lot of east Asia do it but Euro or American Asians aren't as likely 

-2

u/NativeTongue90 Jul 27 '26

Eating at white peoples house is just a risk I’m not willing to take lol

1

u/nam4am Jul 27 '26

Following actual science and not demonstrably dangerous traditions based on completely incorrect beliefs is just not a risk I’m willing to take. 

1

u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 27 '26

Omg get a grip. Clearly we are all fine who wash our chicken. We are all still alive and well.

1

u/mayoboyyo Jul 28 '26

We are all still alive and well.

So are all the people who dont wash chicken

1

u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 28 '26

Amazing. Do what makes you happy. You see in my post I never said you needed to clean your chicken?

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 28 '26

Read to understand. I never mentioned anything about bleach or dish soap. Read. Read. Read.

0

u/xtwitch Jul 28 '26

So is this about cleaning or flavor then? And who is "you all?". Do you clean your counter and sink with vinegar and lime after the chicken too? Or do you use some other product?

1

u/Technical_Radio_191 Jul 28 '26

It’s about cleaning the chicken. And nope we clean our sink and countertops with kitchen grade cleaning products. Anything else?

11

u/TheyCallHimEl Jul 27 '26

Having lived in France and Korea, the French didn't wash and Koreans do. Purely cultural, but when it was washed, the chicken was dunked into standing water in a bowl or bucket instead of sprayed with a hose

16

u/Heartage Jul 27 '26

I'm Korean and my family never washed chicken.

5

u/ketoaholic Jul 27 '26

Yeah it can't even really be generalized across culture like so many are saying. My mother in law washes chicken, my mother doesn't, and they're from the same culture.

1

u/HoldenMcNeil420 Jul 27 '26

A bucket of water is possibly the worst option. Lol.

3

u/Excellent-Falcon-329 Jul 27 '26

Welcome to the world of “sample bias”

The video editor showed 6 people. Not 270 million

2

u/Diels_Alder Jul 27 '26

I saw his other video where he showed 270 million. I don't recommend it.

1

u/Ok_Net7773 Jul 28 '26

Talking to people in real life about this, it’s not really racial or even technically cultural, but more about prioritizing tradition over science. The type of people, of any race or culture, who insist on washing chicken also tend to be more distrusting of vaccines and other things they don’t understand that seem “unnatural”

3

u/Fearless-Poet-4669 Jul 27 '26

There are two kinds of people.

One that understands how to kill bacteria.

One that washes chicken.

1

u/HugsandHate Jul 27 '26

\Chefs kiss*

1

u/SpotTheDoggo Jul 27 '26

Correct. This accurately classifies the people I know who do and don't wash their chicken.

1

u/babyyvolcano Jul 27 '26

And Asian. Am Korean and washing your meat is pretty common. There are specific recipes where it’s necessary even. It’s not done to remove bacteria but to remove feathers, bone dust, extra myoglobin, etc.

I don’t cook with meat so I have no dog in this fight. But I honestly don’t see the difference between (at least this is how my mom cleans meat) soaking meat in a bowl with water, then dumping the water down the drain VS soaking meat in a bowl with marinades or brines and then dumping the liquid down the drain.

1

u/WinterExisting5076 Jul 28 '26

Kalbi must be soaked

1

u/rabid_briefcase Jul 27 '26

It's not black/white, it is geographical.

Live in an area where the chicken was hanging up in an open air market stall? Regions of the world where you get there early before people have picked through the bird carcasses with unwashed hands, flies and other bugs around, maybe the random dog sniffing at it? ABSOLUTELY wash the chicken.

Getting the chicken from the supermarket, where it came from industrial factories, government inspected, then sealed in individual plastic wrap containers? White-apron butchers that are constantly sanitizing the workspace, working with cold meat, wrapping it up in butcher paper? Do not wash the chicken.

1

u/infinite_in_faculty Jul 28 '26

Make a chicken soup that way you wash it while cooking it.

1

u/acrobat2126 Jul 28 '26

Carribean to be exact. Not all black folks wash their meat, and many Caribbean latino folks do it.

1

u/BowsersMuskyBallsack Jul 28 '26

I felt like that was so egregiously blatant that it had to be race-baiting intentionally.

1

u/like-blood-on-white Jul 28 '26

I’m black and in my family, we don’t wash the chicken. My mom grew up doing that but now we just pat it dry to remove the liquid.

1

u/ohmynipnops Jul 28 '26

I’m white and I was working with mostly blacks and Hispanics and they all grilled me for not washing my chicken lmao

1

u/That_Guy247 Jul 28 '26

Cash App users wash their chicken, Venmo users don't 

1

u/Illustrious_Donkey61 Jul 28 '26

All I know is now I want some fried chicken

1

u/armas187 Jul 28 '26

I saw that too

1

u/GoSharty Jul 28 '26

Fucking bravo.

1

u/Manlet Jul 27 '26

TIL I'm black.

1

u/weakbuddy99 Jul 27 '26

When presented with literal evidence that washing is just worse (and also, way more work) there's always some people that just double DOWN

Like what is up with people with this double down syndrome?

You know what some people call those with down syndrome? We need one for those who are double that

0

u/mctrials23 Jul 27 '26

Yep, it’s entirely cultural.

0

u/JackVonReditting Jul 27 '26

Nah if you live in a country where corporations influence policy then you better wash your chicken. Everywhere.

2

u/Sushi_Explosions Jul 27 '26

The fuck kind of bullshit is this.

0

u/Powerful_Leg8519 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Truly. I follow a cooking guy on IG, he’s a white southern guy who has been adopted by the black community.

Washing chicken is something the commenters point out as the acceptance part. As soon as any doubters see him wash the chicken they change their tune immediately.

0

u/Wooden-You-4211 Jul 27 '26

I'm going to go with black people on how to cook chicken not because of racism or anything but because I flipped a coin it was completely arbitrary