CHICKEN: TO RINSE OR NOT TO RINSE

About 5 yrs. ago all the chefs began touting “brining” poultry. My family has been “soaking” it in salted water, before cooking, for generations because salt draws the blood. Unlike other meats, residual blood in poultry toughens the meat and taints the taste. It’s only sensible to clean any remaining organ scraps from the cavity as well before cooking. The past few months several “star” chefs have advised against all of this, advocating simply putting the poultry directly from package to pan and cooking. The reasoning is that, since about 90% of our chickens carry salmonella, the water that splashes during a rinsing will carry the bacteria to surrounding surfaces and cause cross contamination of other foods.

This week my dog is very happy. Last Sunday, my daughter, short on time, not wanting to delay dinner for the kids, decided to save the 15-20 mins. cleaning and brining requires and popped a large roaster into the oven. During cooking she detected an acrid odor along with the aroma of roasting chicken. Her husband noticed in moving it to a carving platter that it was a lot “sturdier” than usual, but what alarmed him was the black “sludge” oozing out of the cavity. This was the remaining organ matter and settled blood that would have been removed with rinsing.  With difficulty they cut a slice to taste and my dog got a 6+pound bird all to herself, but even she wouldn’t eat the meat close to the bones.

We’ve been aware of the risk of salmonella for over 30 yrs. There have been no outbreaks, so why this sudden interest?  I do seem to recall the movement started with a health official, not a culinary guru,, but it makes me wonder how many chefs really do their own shopping and prepping. Furthermore, dealing with a boutique butcher is one thing, depending on commercial processing plants, no matter how famous the brand, and sold through even the highest end supermarket, is quite another

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Only two things kill the bacteria, soap and heat. When cleaning chicken, I have a plastic chopping -board that is washed after use and “lives” in the dishwasher. I keep a bowl of soapy water in the sink and any utensils I use go right in. I also have Clorox wipes by the sink for area cleaning. As for “splashing” are we children? Keep the water pressure down. If you’re still worried, fill a sink or pot with water and slip the bird or parts in, clean, change the water add salt, brine, change water again to rinse, lift out into the pan. If you’re still worried, surround the area with waxed paper. I always open the package on a flat plastic bag, which I then roll up and throw away. Don’t forget, the package fluid is the highest level of probable salmonella contamination. So do. Always, be careful handling that.

I’ve had salmonella, and it’s no joke, but mine was from eating food containing raw eggs, not cross contamination . I love chicken and like working with it. It’s probably the most adaptable of all meats. I certainly am not going to risk the flavor of all the wonderful dishes I can create by lack of proper preparation, nor am I going to contaminate my kitchen with unsafe handling. Here’s the perfect case where I can have it all by exercising good sense, I will save cents and create wonderful scents.