PSA Concerning Washing Your Turkey

[CallMeKate]

With American Thanksgiving just hours away, I just NOW learned something I never knew before. Not only did I not realize it, but I've been doing it wrong all these years. If you don't want to click the link, in a nutshell, don't wash your turkey before cooking.

To Wash or Not to Wash... Your Turkey?

 

[hollydolly]

here in the UK we've been warned for years against the washing of chicken and turkeys

 

[Nathan]

I've not washed poultry for years, due to possible cross contamination of kitchen surfaces and utensils. I use food service gloves to remove poultry from packaging and put into cooking vessel.

 

[Murrmurr]

Yeah, I never wash my meat.



I mean, I never wash packaged meat. That I buy. At a grocery store.

There's nothing on it that the oven or the grill or any cooking method won't kill.



Ok, once in a while the FDA or whatever does a meat recall, but washing your turkey wouldn't have taken care of that anyway.

 

[CallMeKate]

Ok, once in a while the FDA or whatever does a meat recall, but washing your turkey wouldn't have taken care of that anyway.

I was just reading more on this (feeling foolish that I never knew it... but in fairness to myself, I make a turkey once a year and never lost a guest ) ... and what I'm reading is that in the past, it was recommended to wash/rinse it first and "pat dry." Considering I learned to cook from the great cookbooks of the past, it's just what I learned to do.
From Popular Science of all places:
"If you’re feeling bad about sins of past Thanksgivings, well, don’t. As the Associated Press reports, even the famous chef Julia Child told her viewers that rinsing off a bird before cooking it was safer than taking it straight out of the store packaging."

 

[Murrmurr]

I was just reading more on this (feeling foolish that I never knew it... but in fairness to myself, I make a turkey once a year and never lost a guest ) ... and what I'm reading is that in the past, it was recommended to wash/rinse it first and "pat dry." Considering I learned to cook from the great cookbooks of the past, it's just what I learned to do.
From Popular Science of all places:
"If you’re feeling bad about sins of past Thanksgivings, well, don’t. As the Associated Press reports, even the famous chef Julia Child told her viewers that rinsing off a bird before cooking it was safer than taking it straight out of the store packaging."

But washing poultry meat is from centuries ago, when you killed your own chickens or bought the meat from a neighbor, and the only way to regulate oven heat was to fan the flames or add some logs or raise the kettle.

I have no idea how or why that ritual resurfaced.

 

[CallMeKate]

I have no idea how or why that ritual resurfaced.

I don't either... here are Tom Colicchio and Wolfgang Puck doing it. Although I won't be doing it this year, it's nice to see I was in good company.
THE DISH: Chef Tom Colicchio's Thanksgiving dinner
ROAST TURKEY RECIPE FROM WOLFGANG PUCK - El Toro Gourmet Meats

 

[Murrmurr]

I don't either... here are Tom Colicchio and Wolfgang Puck doing it. Although I won't be doing it this year, it's nice to see I was in good company.
THE DISH: Chef Tom Colicchio's Thanksgiving dinner
ROAST TURKEY RECIPE FROM WOLFGANG PUCK - El Toro Gourmet Meats

Who?

Just kiddin'

 

[CallMeKate]

Who?
Just kiddin'

YES! I feel vindicated... even Betty Crocker!
Roast Turkey

Okay, so now that my dirty bird is in the oven, I'm feeling that a rinse wouldn't have hurt a darn bit according to Betty, Julia, Wolfgang, etc. and ... well, gee. Not gonna get it back to give it a bath, but it's not the dire faux pas it's made out to be if someone chooses to do it, apparently.

 

[jimintoronto]

YES! I feel vindicated... even Betty Crocker!
Roast Turkey

Okay, so now that my dirty bird is in the oven, I'm feeling that a rinse wouldn't have hurt a darn bit according to Betty, Julia, Wolfgang, etc. and ... well, gee. Not gonna get it back to give it a bath, but it's not the dire faux pas it's made out to be if someone chooses to do it, apparently.

Have a fine day down there, Kate. JImB.

 

[CallMeKate]

Have a fine day down there, Kate. JImB.

Thanks, Jim... make that long drive and stop by for turkey... I didn't rinse it! @jimintoronto

 

[jimintoronto]

Thanks, Jim... make that long drive and stop by for turkey... I didn't rinse it! @jimintoronto

Thanks for the offer but my passport has expired. Jimb.

 

[Murrmurr]

YES! I feel vindicated... even Betty Crocker!
Roast Turkey

Okay, so now that my dirty bird is in the oven, I'm feeling that a rinse wouldn't have hurt a darn bit according to Betty, Julia, Wolfgang, etc. and ... well, gee. Not gonna get it back to give it a bath, but it's not the dire faux pas it's made out to be if someone chooses to do it, apparently.

The last thing a poultry factory does just before packaging is; they dip the meat in a bath. Then they spray it down with a "digestible" sanitizer as it comes out of the bath.

Your bird was bathed.

But maybe rinsing your bird before cooking resurfaced because of the chemicals that poultry factories use to clean it.

Happy Thanksgiving, Kate

 

[CallMeKate]

Your bird was bathed.
But maybe rinsing your bird before cooking resurfaced because of the chemicals that poultry factories use to clean it.
Happy Thanksgiving, Kate

Or maybe 'cause no one knows what the dude who last touched it before packaging had been
doing/touching *after* bathing it. Shivers. And I just ate that thang!
Right back at'ya, Frank... have a beautiful Thanksgiving! @Murrmurr

 

[debodun]

 

[Capt Lightning]

I always wash chicken, duck etc.. before cooking them, and will continue to do so. I am particular about washing up after preparing them and I've never had any problems.