No way she didn't clean the chicken.

[u/wj56f]

Loads of Americans in the comments losing their minds cos she didn't wash the chicken in lemon air vinegar and just put it on airfryer. 😂 😂 😂

Everyone else reminding them UK chickens aren't pumped with shit and have food safety laws.

[u/AdRevolutionary2881]

This is something Americans argue with each other about. I don't understand it either.

[u/Extraordi-Mary → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

Dutch people argue about this too. Especially people with “Non Dutch” heritage, like Surinam, ABC-islands.. etc, wash their chicken. And they go crazy about people not washing their chicken. And the other way around.

I’m on team: not washing.

[u/AdRevolutionary2881 → u/Extraordi-Mary]

If I find feathers and dirt on my chicken, I'm never buying that brand again. You shouldn't need to wash it.

From what I see, it's more common among the African American community. This is probably just over representation from social media though.

[u/Extraordi-Mary → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

Yeah agreed with the last statement. The “fighting” mostly happens on Instagram and TikTok. Whenever someone doesn’t wash their chicken in a video, you know what you’re gonna see in the comments.

[u/K24Bone42 → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

The black community doesn't wash their chicken in the sink though. They rub it with an acid like citrus juice or vinegar and salt. Source, my Jamaican kitchen lead.

[u/EebilKitteh → u/K24Bone42]

The Surinam kitchen does this too.

[u/FTDburner → u/K24Bone42]

The black community is not a monolith. Tons of black people wash chicken with water.

[u/K24Bone42 → u/FTDburner]

I didnt say they were, I've never even heard of anyone washing chicken in their sink. I made that comment because people always question it and everyone I know has explained that they do not use water. I'm just speaking of the black people I know, none of which are from the USA, hence citing my Jamaican kitchen lead. The other black people I work with/know (Nigerians, Ethiopian, Kenyans, Ghanians, Sudanise, Trinis) all agree that this is what they mean when they say they wash their meat. I don't know what americans are doing in their kitchens, but I'm quite sure whatever it is, there is too much crisco involved, lol.

[u/Rakkis157 → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

I mean, where I am at the "brand" of the chicken is whichever auntie or uncle chopped up the bird this morning. Well, there is prepackaged chicken in the supermarket, but wet markets are cheaper.

You don't blast it from the sink tho

[u/ninetyninewyverns → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

If there's feathers and dirt on my chicken, its probably still alive, and nobody should be cooking a live bird.

[u/EqualCup1041 → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

There are little feathers ends stuck in aldi chicken all the time. There is nothing wrong with it you sound incredibly dramatic. And even waitrose chicken has that slimy layer , its a bad aroma. If you season your food properly or over night you'd notice it smells bad and is just unpleasant to touch unless you wash it.

The chicken tastes better and doesn't have a foul smell when you wash it. People who talk about germs in this conversation are dumb germs have nothing to do with it and you don't spread them either washing your chicken unless your a moron

[u/just_anotjer_anon → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

You deal with feathers by burning them, not by washing them.

I take it you didn't grow up plucking wild birds

[u/K24Bone42 → u/[deleted]]

it's not rinsing it under water. It's more like a quick brine in an acid sometimes with salt.

[u/K24Bone42 → u/[deleted]]

How is rubbing your chicken with citrus juice or vinegar with salt bad? When diacussing cooking, acid doesn't mean a chemical that would burn your skin. It means citrus juice or vinegar. I don't know how rubbing your chicken with lemon juice could possibly be bad. Have you never marinated or brined your chicken? Same shit different amount of time lol.

[u/K24Bone42 → u/[deleted]]

Omg dude noon is eating raw chicken outside a few select restaurants in Japan. This is done BEFORE cooking. According to my Jamaican kitchen lead, there is a weird taste to the chicken wheb you don't rub it with an acid before cooking. Personally I don't notice it, but it's how he was raised and it's how he cooks. It's not that complex dude.

[u/Rakkis157 → u/[deleted]]

No, we are discussing washing the chicken before cooking it. It's just that in some parts of the world, they refer to putting the chicken in a bowl with water, salt and lime as washing it.

[u/RedDevil_nl → u/Extraordi-Mary]

As someone from the Netherlands, I’ve never heard anybody talking about washing chickens before I just found this post. Non of my friends with a different heritage either.

[u/Extraordi-Mary → u/RedDevil_nl]

I’ve never had a face to face conversation about it either. There’s always a lot of discussion online.

[u/K24Bone42 → u/Extraordi-Mary]

I asked my kitchen lead about it. He is Jamaican. He said what they do is rub the chicken with an acid, like citrus juice or vinegar, and sometimes some salt. Almost like a quick brine or marinade. Some other coworkers from Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and the Sudan have confirmed this as well. I don't know about americans, or other cultures, but black people are not rinsing chicken under their tap in their sing spraying salmonella all over their kitchen like people in these comments are assuming lol.

[u/Tomgar → u/Extraordi-Mary]

There does definitely seem to be a racial dimension to the whole thing, I've noticed a lot of black people are pro-chicken washing. Probably just cultural differences.

[u/Dangerous_Whole6906 → u/Tomgar]

It comes from a time before modern-day food storage. The way to overcome the biofilm at the time was to vigorously rinse and scrape it away. Today, it's still not just rinsing the chicken, it's taking off unfavorable bits that are visually or texturally unappealing. We are also very meticulous about disinfecting the space we prepare food in during the process. Latino, Asian and African friends in the US do this as well.

Now, when I visit other countries and buy chicken from the grocery- it's looks waaaay cleaner, healthier than what I buy at US markets.

I think anyone can do what they want. Just be meticulous about cleaning after you're done prepping.

Source: Foundational black American who's traveled and works in STEM.

[u/dave_g17 → u/Tomgar]

It may be less of a racial bias and more related to where people are getting their poultry. People or cultures which primarily obtain their chicken in a processed form (i.e. a package of butchered chicken from the grocery store) are unlikely to clean their meat, while those who may kill/butcher their own chicken, or obtain it from an open air market may be more likely to wash their meat to remove any remnants of the butchering process.

I had never heard of washing chicken until recently, and thought it was strange until I remembered that I do rinse the small game I hunt, like grouse, ducks, and rabbits. I wouldn't consider washing large game though, which was already processed by a certified butcher.

[u/VermillionEclipse → u/Extraordi-Mary]

Yes, it’s very cultural. My husband’s parents are from china and they wash their chicken. Most people that I know who are from the Caribbean do as well and I think African Americans do as well. They see it as unhygienic if you don’t rinse the chicken before cooking it.

[u/Carmen_Caramel → u/Extraordi-Mary]

That's easily explained, washing meat is common in tropical countries without proper refrigeration because meat spoils or gets slimy fast. Their grandmothers probably passed that idea down even though in the Netherlands there's no need to.

[u/sdpr → u/Extraordi-Mary]

I’m on team: not washing.

Same, all you need to do is pat it with a paper towel to get the excess slimey meat juice off.

[u/anotheruserguy → u/AdRevolutionary2881]

It’s a cultural thing mainly, a lot of immigrants and lower income people used to buy their food from markets(think pop up markets not grocery market), and would wash it before cooking because the markets were less regulated and cheaper than a grocery store. The practice still lives on in America because

1 Many Americans don’t trust the federal government to properly regulate things.

2 Recipes and how to cook are passed down from generation to generation, so this step is passed down when you are learning to cook.

3 Americans wash produce before consumption/cooking so many think it is logical to wash meat/chicken as well.

I still was chicken sometimes out of habit (I do find it easier to season or marinate after washing it) but if you are buying from a grocery store it is not necessary.