WASHING CHICKEN BEFORE COOKING

One of my readers emailed me something interesting. I have not researched it, but I thought I would share it with you guys. It makes a lot of sense. His name is Kelly. If you want to comment, please click on the comment link at the bottom of this post:

I know how persistent and commonplace the myth about chicken washing is, but it really isn't necessary. But you needn't take my word for it, here is what the USDA has to say about it.

One famous chef even said something to the effect that any germ that is still alive on a chicken after all that time in the oven deserves to live. :) Salmonella, which is generally the chief concern regarding poultry, dies instantly at 165 degrees, or at 140 degrees after about 15 minutes.

The way I see it, it can actually be worse to wash or rinse chicken. You risk spreading bacteria anywhere the waste water goes. I think the whole thing about washing chickens probably got started in the days when one started off preparing a chicken for cooking by plucking it, and it was common practice to singe the remaining pinfeathers off with a flame. Of course you would want to rinse the resultant soot off, as well as any barnyard "residue." :) Then, when commercially cleaned chickens became commonplace, as so often happens, the practice continued, even after there was no longer any reason for it.

People then invented reasons to keep doing it, like "It kills germs," when the real reason was probably more like "Because that's the way my grandmother taught me to do it."

I hope you take this in the spirit in which it is intended.

Kelly