Anonymous #1 4w

All meat is fine, the only cleaning it needs is to be cooked to the proper internal temperature. At least that’s what the USDA says, and they recommend against washing meat because it can lead to cross contamination

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Anonymous OP 4w

Huh the more you know. I mean I normally just rinse it or pat it dry

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Anonymous #1 4w

Patting it dry is fine, but rinsing it will spread germs all through your sink

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Anonymous OP 4w

Okay bet thanks!

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Anonymous OP 4w

It’s completely a cultural thing, every POC I know washes their meat. I usually rinse it with water and add lemons or vinegar. If I’m lazy, I just do water. Yes, it “spreads bacteria” but I clean and sanitize my sink. Never had a problem

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Anonymous #2 4w

Interesting, do you have any idea why people do it? It makes sense it’s a cultural thing but I’m struggling to understand the reasoning behind it

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Anonymous OP 4w

Maybe it’s something to do with like the meat sitting in those juices in the packaging (if it’s store bought, not from a butcher)? The juice might be seen as “unclean” even though it really has no effect on the quality of the meat?

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Anonymous #1 4w

I guess that makes sense, but heat is one of the most effective disinfectants so it seems kinda silly to me to wash your meat in lemons or vinegar (which have some disinfecting properties) knowing that you’re about to cook that meat and kill all the germs anyway. The argument I had was with a friend who wouldn’t eat a steak I had made because I didn’t wash the meat beforehand

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Anonymous OP 4w

I mean lemons makes sense since they tenderize the meat with the acid but I’m not sure about vinegar since it has a much stronger flavor

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Anonymous #3 4w

That makes sense, I’ll even pat meat dry depending on what I’m cooking but I’m not washing it

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Anonymous OP 4w

Many POC Americans are usually immigrants and their meats come from local farms, not in grocery stores, so it’s common to clean whole chickens to get the gunk out. For Black Americans, enslaved people were given dirty/unclean parts so washing became a part of their culture and eventually passed down. I know heat kills everything but I personally find it gross to leave all the juices and cook from the package.

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Anonymous #2 4w

Interesting. My parents raise chickens so a lot of the chicken we ate came from our own backyard and I’ve been hunting and fishing since I was a kid so I’m familiar with gutting/cleaning a whole animal, I didn’t realize people would extend that out to pre packaged meat

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Anonymous #2 4w

And there’s a difference between washing chitlins and washing chicken breast

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Anonymous OP 4w

Yes but chitlins wasn’t the only “dirty” meat that black Americans ate, they had a lot of dirty/unused animal scraps. Up until 1990s, American cookbooks actually encouraged people to wash their chicken. Washing chicken has only been a “weird” practice up until recently. When chicken became highly more processed and industrialized, meat companies had so much contamination which was why they recommend not washing

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Anonymous OP 4w

I understand that it’s a very controversial debate but any POC will tell you they wash their chicken and have been for years. If I have to buy pre-packaged chicken, I will wash it, the slime and gunk is gross. I think it tastes weird if it’s not washed, which is why I don’t order chicken when I go out to eat

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Anonymous OP 4w

Not if you just clean your sink properly lol

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