To rinse or not to rinse: that is the question
Alanna Kellogg from Kitchen Parade just asked me a great question about rinsing fish.
Hi Helen,
Do you know why do recipes sometimes (but not always) suggest rinsing filets?
Seems so basic -- I'm guessing it's for health/bacteria reasons but if that's the case, yuck, who wants to eat fish in the first place (is the reaction I have and I'm guessing others as well)?
And if it IS for health/bacteria reasons, then why don't recipes
suggest the same thing for chicken, pork, etc???
Many thanks --
Alanna
Thanks for a great question, Alanna!
You don't need to rinse fish, chicken, pork, or any other meat before cooking. Not only does it not get rid of bacteria, it spreads bacteria (if water splashes from the sink in the process of rinsing). What kills bacteria much more effectively is cooking.
So why do so many cooks rinse their fish and chickens? Because their mothers used to ;)
Here is a quote from Cook's Illustrated on the subject:
Not only is there no scientific evidence to support your mother's practice, science is actually against you on this one. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as food agencies in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, advises against washing poultry. Rinsing chicken will not remove or kill much bacteria, and the splashing of water around the sink can spread the bacteria found in raw chicken. (Cooking poultry to 165 degrees Fahrenheit effectively destroys the most common culprits behind food-borne illness.)
Fish is not fundamentally different from chicken, so you don't have to rinse it.
Cheers,
-Helen
18 comments:
Thanks, Helen, it was great to have a trusted 'go to guy' for this question. Just fyi, mostly, food bloggers know me from A Veggie Venture.
I knew it! My mother and I have been arguing about this for years. Thanks for clearing up our disagreement (I can't wait to tell her!)
It makes sense that simply cooking the fish/meat would kill bacteria far more efficiently than rinsing it, yet I've been rinsing it for years. Here's my kick in the pants to pay attention to logic :)
Don't worry guys, you are not alone. I've been rinsing fish and meat religiously until I started working in a restaurant and realized that they don't rinse anything.
If you are looking for an intuitive explanation of why you don't need to rinse, think about this -- you don't rinse ground meat, right? It probably never even occured to you to rinse ground beef, pork, or chicken because the water would get into it, and it'd be impossible to dry properly. So you see, you've been eating unrinsed meat and poultry your whole life. Since you are still here, we'll assume it is safe :)
Cheers,
-Helen
Hi Helen,
Just discovered your blog today, and I love it!
I have a further question: many recipes call for salting fish (filets, steaks, whole, the works!) and then rinsing, before cooking. Most of the recipes I get by word-of-mouth also include this step. Important? Relevant? Or just as useless as plain old rinsing?
Thanks!
Hi Miriam,
Hmm, the only recipe I know of that calls for salting then rinsing is gravlax where the salmon is cured in a huge amount of salt. Though I wouldn't rinse even that and just pat it dry with paper towels. Generally, salting and then rinsing is not a good idea. You should definitely salt fish, meat, chicken, etc before cooking, but don't rinse the salt off or it defeats the purpose of salting.
Cheers,
-Helen
Hi
I don't know where you buy your meat and fish, but if it's wrapped in celophane, both meat and fish develop a gelantinous coating which makes it hard to handle in preparing. Rinsing while rubbing gently gets rid of this coating. Thats why our mothers did it. Sometimes a meat can have a odur that comes from this coating, but once washed off is no longer present.
Hi Warrior,
I don't often buy prepackaged meat, fish, and poultry, but when I do, I just wipe that gelatinous coating off with paper towels.
Cheers,
-Helen
One thing to consider is that chops tend to have a fine coating of tiny bone fragments that I guess could be rinsed off, but I tend to scrape the surface with a knife held at an angle to the meat. Sometimes there is also an errant scale or whatever on fish as well.
this is a great blog. Thanks for all your suggestions -very practical and profound. I am a huge fan of fish and poultry (do not eat beef, pork, etc). I found your fish market suggestions very helpful- where do you buy fresh poultry in Boston? Pls let us know- my husband and me- we both miss the simple and fresh poultry we used to eat back home (India)!
Hi Sudesna,
I don't eat much chicken, but when I do, I get it at Russo's and either buy Bell Evans or D'artagnan. both of these brands are available at many butchers (Savenor's, John Dewars, etc).
By the way, thanks for your input on fresh vs. frozen fish debate. It's always great understand the science behind it :)
cheers,
-Helen
I rinse fish to get the slime off. Surely you don't mean to suggest that rinsing fish is unnecessary. My fish is very high quality and fresh (I live in Alaska) but it still needs a rinse.
Actually, I do mean that you don't need to rinse fish. I only rinse whole fish to get the blood out of the cavity, but I hear even that's not necessary. It's just a cultural preference. In US, we like to rinse proteins, in France they don't (they would never let water touch the fish). Whether you rinse or not, the most important thing is to dry it very thoroughly on paper towels (this will also get rid of the slime :) Cooking a damp fish (or any protein) doesn't work.
You have liberated me! :) Come to think of it, I don't even know if my mother washed her chicken...so I actually have no idea why I do!
my husband said so too. :)
hi, i really appreciate your site!
I'm a cookbook editor, and we were all having this very discussion some time back. I'm no sanitation freak, but I rinse previously frozen fish and chicken because I assume the packing companies freeze them with liquid that isn't pure H2O but includes other chemicals. I don't know this for sure, and probably wouldn't get a straight answer if I asked, but it seems like a safe assumption.
Actually, I always rinse chicken because that allows me to get rid of extra fat, the slimy film, pieces of bone that are left from butchering, and feathers that might still be left in the skin. (I like leaving the skin on while cooking because I think it keeps chicken moist and delicious, but usually remove it afterward.)
I also rinse fish because there are always scales on the meat side.
Using a paper towel spreads just as much bacteria as a potential water droplet, unless you're careful. So I use the paper towels to dry the meats and use a bleach-based kitchen cleaner to get rid of bacteria.
Goodness gracious.... I hope to high heaven Anna means she uses a bleach-based cleaners to remove bacteria from her surrounding (potentially 'splashed') work areas!?
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