Pop Culture

Should You Wash Your Chicken?

March 20, 2018

The most recent episode of Ina Garten’s Sunday night TV show, Cook Like a Pro, was all about chicken. Amidst a segment where she stuffed and prepped a bird for roasting, she touched, ever so lightly, on a decades-old debate: Should you or should you not wash your chicken before roasting it? What she mentioned in passing is actually a fraught history, one that’s caused many a panic, and pit two very famous, very great chefs against each other.

It all began on January 24, 1971, on the 14th episode of the seventh season of Julia Child’s show, The French Chef. During a segment called "To Roast a Chicken," Child advised users to run their uncooked birds under the faucet. “I just think it's a safer thing to do,” she reasons. It makes sense: We rinse our produce, so why not our poultry? Though her logic is cursory, at best, it’s Child we’re talking about—it's easy to take everything she says at face value. But should we? Jacques Pepin seemed to disagree. On an episode of their joint show, Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home, he countered his costar. Chickens, he asserted, don’t actually need a pre-roast rinse, the heat of the oven will take care of any lingering bacteria. Thus, a debate was born.

It wasn’t until Sunday night, however, that a new contender stepped into the ring. This time, Ina Garten weighed in. In this aforementioned episode, the Barefoot Contessa herself came down on the side of the unwashed. Chickens, she says, don’t require a bath. Feel free to roast one without rinsing. So there it is, three icons and their chicken-washing practices. But where does science weigh in on this? Does any of it actually matter?

As it turns out, yes! Jennifer Quinlan, a food safety researcher at Drexel University has pretty strong feelings on the matter. We shouldn’t be rinsing raw poultry, Quinlan contends. Not only is it unnecessary, but it’s also dangerous. Washing an uncooked chicken could spread germs, as water splatters carry the pathogens to other parts of your kitchen. This animation provides a salient visual:

There’s no need, however, to despair. One should always be careful when handling raw meat, says Quinlan, and be careful to keep your surfaces and utensils cleaned and rinsed. Plus, make sure you cook your chicken to the recommended 165° F, at the least. To educate home cooks on the dos and don’ts of chicken safety, she developed an entire campaign around the topic. Check out Don’t Wash Your Chicken for videos and explainers and everything else you ever wanted to know about chicken-washing safety.

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So there it is, what started on TV ends with science. From Child to Pepin and back again, a decades-long debate seems to have the closure it needs. And, of course, Ina was right.

Do you wash your chicken prior to cooking? Tell us what you learned in the comments below.

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Valerio is a freelance food writer, editor, researcher and cook. He grew up in his parent's Italian restaurants covered in pizza flour and drinking a Shirley Temple a day. Since, he's worked as a cheesemonger in New York City and a paella instructor in Barcelona. He now lives in Berlin, Germany where he's most likely to be found eating shawarma.

8 Comments

Robert M. October 16, 2018
I do not wash my chicken but I am conflicted as what to do with the chicken juices. I try to carefully pour the juices down the drain but am not always successful and some of the juice ends in the bottom of my sink. Isn’t this almost as bad as washing the bird. Any ideas how to handle the chicken juices?
 
Karin B. September 7, 2018
If you have ever looked in a chicken killing and packing facility (we have a lot of those in Georgia) and have known people who work there (my yard man) you will wash your chicken or never eat chicken again.
 
Elizabeth P. April 11, 2018
I always wash with salt - and i prefer to brine if i have the time. And yes i realize that heat will kill a lot of the bacteria. But then you’re left with a layer of dead bacteria. Hmmm. Don’t want to eat that. I have also noticed that fish that isn’t washed with salt tastes much fishier. Don’t like.
 
Elizabeth P. April 11, 2018
I always wash with salt - and i prefer to brine if i have the time. And yes i realize that heat will kill a lot of the bacteria. But then you’re left with a layer of dead bacteria. Hmmm. Don’t want to eat that. I have also noticed that fish that isn’t washed with salt tastes much fishier. Don’t like.
 
Denise L. March 21, 2018
Yes I wash my chicken! I cut a lemon in half and scrub it all over the chiken then rinse it in cold water and pat dry! My dear,other God Rest Her soul, always said that my chicken was way better than hers! And she was an amazing cook!
 
witloof March 21, 2018
I bypass the whole issue by not eating chicken.
 
FrugalCat March 21, 2018
I not only wash, I exfoliate. Stop laughing. For a whole chicken with skin, I kind of massage it with kosher salt.
 
casey March 21, 2018
Sometimes if the chicken is not so fresh, I'll notice that a rinse helps reduce some of the funky flavor it can get from sitting in its own juices for too long...same with seafood that is too "fishy" and a bit past it's prime.