January 16th
2007
Thank you all for sharing your personal point of view on this topic. Your various comments made one thing pretty clear: There is no absolute consensus on how to handle fresh meat (as well as poultry and fish). I won't give recommendations here, but below you'll find a little summary about the most prominent pros and cons on the issue. After all, it's an individual thing and entirely up to you how you treat your meat.
Rinse meat - the Pros:
helps to get rid off possible salmonellea/bacteria
not super fresh meats may require rinsing to get rid of the smell
helps to get rid of any small bone fragments or excessive blood/meat juice
soft factor but convincing: the word of people who work in the industry (poultry)
Rinse meat - the Cons:
high temperature (roasting, etc.) kills all bacteria anyway
rinsing alone might not entirely get rid of bacteria
possible cross-contamination with bacteria (sponges, sink, appliances etc.)
no need to rinse, if you trust your butcher/shop
the advice to wash meat is a relic from an earlier time, when meat oftentimes wasn't quite that fresh or it was covered with certain agents for preservation
General tips:
Be scrupulous about choosing where to buy your meat. This may be a no-brainer, but the butcher should have a clean shop, meats and sausages should look fresh. They ought to be able to answer all your questions about origin and what meat to choose for what dish. A long line of customers is always a good sign (an observation I have to can make every Saturday morning at my favorite butcher).
Try to choose organically raised meat. The prices may be higher, but there's no need to eat meat every day and if handled correctly, the quality is much better. Aside from the moral issue.
Buy your meat just in time before using it, no unnecessary storing or freezing (unless you just got lucky and someone gave you half a pork as a present...).
Washed or not washed, always pad dry your meat with paper towels or similar to avoid splattering fat in the pan.
To minimize the risk of bacteria contamination, always use separate cutting boards for meats, poultry, fish and vegetables. Different colors might help to keep them apart.
And last but not least: I double checked with random cookbooks of mine and was not surprised to find many of them containing instructions to not only wash fish, seafood and poultry, but all kinds of meat. Some of the ones I picked out are very successful basic cookbooks, others written by star-awarded chefs. Which again proves one thing: There appears to be a general lack of common knowledge when it comes to rinsing meat (either way) - do chefs care or do they not? Or could this be a perfect showcase of famous chefs writing cookbooks (ghostwriters, hello?), providing advice they don't practice in their own kitchens?
Mind you, this list isn't comprehensive, but attests the discrepancy out there.
"Wash the veal breast" - The new Sacher cookbook, Alexandra Gürtler, Christoph Wagner p.101
"Rinse the lamb" - Falling cloudberries, Tessa Kiros, p.111
"Das Lammfleisch abspülen/rinse the lamb" - simple dishes, Frank Buchholz, p. 67
"Die Rindsrouladen kalt abspülen/rinse beef olive cold" - simple dishes, Frank Buchholz, p. 75
"ich spüle das Fleisch kurz ab/I briefly rinse the meat with cold water" - Einfach und genial, Lea Linster, p.92
"Rindfleisch gut abwaschen/wash beef well" - Best of Lea Linster Cuisinière, p.108
"Das Roastbeef waschen/wash roastbeef" - Koch doch, Alexander Herrmann, p.90
"Die Steaks waschen/wash the steaks"- Koch doch, Alexander Herrmann, p.92
"Das Lammfilet waschen/wash the lamb filet" - Lean Cuisine, Frank Heppner, p.87
"Fleisch (Roastbeef) waschen/wash meat (roastbeef)" - Ich helf Dir kochen, Hedwig Maria Studer, p.76
"Die Keule waschen (Heidelamm)/wash leg (of lamb)" - Das große Kochbuch der guten Küche, Zabert Sandmann, p.354
"Schweinefilet abspülen/rinse pork fillet" - Das große Kochbuch der guten Küche, Zabert Sandmann, p.326
"Das Rindfleisch waschen/wash the beef" - Kräuter, Susanne Bodensteiner etc., p.170
More information you can find here (UF), over here & there (NY TIMES) more here (Herald Tribune).
We've been taught to wash meat, but this was back in the early 80s. Funny that the cookbooks still mention it!
Thanks for the summary Nicky! One would think that there is a common bottom line to all this, but I guess not - too many factors to consider for a simple rule over thumb. On the other hand, better safe than sorry - I wash all the meats I buy - J
Very interesting summary. Thanks for the tips!
Wow, especially the discussion in your earlier post/comments is making me want to rethink my rather laissez-faire way of dealing with meat. What an eye openener!
When living in the U.S. I never rinsed meat. Living in China I always rinse all the meat very well before I freeze it and before I cook it.
All of our vegetables are washed,sanitized and rinsed with bottled water too.
French cooking habits and schools advise to rinse fish but never meat. Both should be dried with absorbing paper if they had time to draw blood. It is not so much seen as a hygienic issue than a great difference of taste when cooked.
Nice summary Nicky. Thank you.
I haven't thought of using a separate board for meat and vegetables. I might do that soon.
I definitely rinse pork chops well, to get rid of the bone "sawdust" that inevitably remains and can be unpleasant to crunch down on.
Lots of interesting pros and cons.
Thanks for such an informative summary! I usually rinse chicken, sometimes fish, and sometimes meat...but have never actually thought about it. These were just reflex actions. Thanks for all the tips! :)
I don't think rinsing gets rid of a lot of bacteria so I think this PRO should be removed
Now that I look at the PROs again, also when the meat/fish smells bad rinsing may not be the option of choice - if it smells bad it probably is no good anymore for use anyway!
I found this just fascinating. It is really interesting to know what goes on in other peoples kitchens! I have a friend who washes all meat in vinegar to kill bacteria - a bit extreme perhaps - but then she stores every thing (yep everything) in a refrigerator - and I am in trouble if she reads this!
Clean cotton, and a firm but kind rub, or stoke . that's of course if the beast is going to get cooked. Now what if it's tartar or carpaccio, haven't really figured that one out yet, but the I never serve either at home.
interesting article. I voted for "wash poultry only"
Very interesting. It has never occurred to me to rinse meat or poultry, and I've never encountered a cookbook that told me to (and I have a *lot* of cookbooks!).
One or two of the "pros" seem unconvincing to me; if meat or fish smells bad to me, it goes in the bin. In any case I normally buy fresh produce at most the day before I intend to cook it.
I always scrub cutting boards, knives etc. thoroughly after preparing meat or chicken. And I rinse out whole fish in case the fishmonger left a bit of guts in. We haven't poisoned ourselves yet ...
Nice summary Nicky. Thank you.
I haven’t thought of using a separate board for meat and vegetables. I might do that in the future.
Wow, I'm surprised about the number of cookbooks that tell you to wash meat. Great summary, too!