The Unwashed Chicken
Nov 15th, 2008 | By Pates Baroni | Category: Unhealthy Living
The CDC used to advise washing chicken before cooking it. They have reversed their opinion.
Campylobacter and salmonella are both at greater risk of transfer if you wash your chicken prior to cooking it. Why is this? Cross contamination is much more likely if you take a raw chicken and run water over it. This contaminates your sink. Rinsing your hands, or produce consumed raw, in a contaminated sink can easily transfer these bacteria to you. Fortunately both afore mentioned bacteria perish when the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
While we are on the topic of temperature, I suggest that you drop a thermometer in your refrigerator every so often. Bacteria thrive between 40 and 140 degrees; so make sure your chill box hovers around 37.
Truth be told, I was feeling pretty down about wasting precious Internet space with this piece until I saw that there is an entire blog dedicated to the campylobacter bacteria. I’m feeling much better about my life knowing that I’ve only dedicated 20 minutes to the horrors of raw chicken.
This leads me to an important side note for anyone who follows my column. I use writing as a way to sober up after a long night. Others take the dizzying trip down from weekend festivities lying in bed, snoring awake every few minutes. I would much rather take solace in knowledge that the imbecilic rant that is keeping me awake will keep some lonely blog reader company when he or she is trying to sober up. Ah the circle of life. So there you have it. Don’t wash your chickens, or when you’re drunk you may end up doing research and writing an article about how useless the practice is. Now I have to go bleach my sink and slip into some Kleenex box slippers.
You know what? I hate the slime that tends to accumulates on the chicken. It’s gross and smelly. I say screw you CDC, I’m washing my chicken. And you know what, I’m going to keep eating fried squirrel heads and raccoon tartar, if it was going to kill me, it would of done it already.
There you go again….dissing what your great grandmother, your grandmother and your mother taught! We’ve ALL washed and then “blotted” or “patted” dry, our chicken … and none of us has ever run around with little campylobacter (I refuse to give them the benefit of a capital “C”) in our sinks or on our hands! I just took a picture, (which I hope you will post on this blog) of a butcher in an alley in Taipei chopping chickens… Dear Buddha…I can’t believe that you meant us to consume Unwashed Chicken… or, for that matter, beef. (Remember I told you about the coat of black flies on the side of beef being carried into the market in Acapulco?) Has the CDC never travelled outside Atlanta???. Listen to ya Muttha!