When Omaha’s long-awaited Chick-fil-A opened last October, the city went nuts. No longer did chicken sandwich fanatics have to drive an hour and a half away to get their Chick-fil-A fix!
Despite the hoopla, I’ve never been to the Omaha Chick-fil-A. In fact, I’ve only ever had a Chick-fil-A sandwich once a road trip, and while I’m sure it enjoyed it, I don’t remember it being worthy of its own out-of-state excursion. Even the 20 minute drive to our local Chick-fil-A seems a bit excessive for a fast food chicken sandwich.
However, I’m tempted to try The Effortless Chic’s homemade Chick-fil-A sandwich recipe, which calls for brining the chicken in dill pickle juice. Is that Chick-fil-A’s secret ingredient?!
As I was reading Jen’s recipe, the one thing that jumped out at me (besides the dill pick juice) was her instruction to wash each chicken breast before preparing them. Washing raw chicken is something either my mom or my grandmother (or both) taught me to do when I was learning how to cook. Was the point to clean the chicken or to rinse off any slimy coating? I’m not sure, but I can remember following their rules in my college apartment kitchen. I even used a paper towel to pat the wet chicken breast dry because it seemed like the obvious next step.
Sometime between college and the present day I stopped washing raw chicken. Most likely, I was simply too lazy to include the extra step in my dinner preparations. But it turns out that my laziness was actually a good thing: washing raw poultry makes it less safe, not more.
Jennifer Quinlan, a food researcher at Drexel University, has created a public health campaign to get Americans to break their chicken-washing habit. Amazingly, as many as 90% of people rinse their raw chicken before cooking. Rather than cleaning their birds, chicken-rinsers are actually spraying foodborne pathogens like salmonella all over their kitchens.
This animation illustrates how bacteria can travel up to 3 feet away from your sink:
The takeaway: If, like me, you’re planning to make a homemade Chick-fil-A sandwich, don’t wash your chicken. But do get yourself a meat thermometer! Cooking chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165-degrees Fahrenheit will kill unwanted bacteria.
Will you admit to being a chicken-rinser? How about to being a Chick-fil-A fanatic??
I think washing the outside too much can actually remove some of the properties that keep chicken breasts, in particular, juicy. Patting the meat dry and then immediately throwing away the paper towel isn’t a problem though!
I’m from the South, and grew up loving and eating Chick-fil-A. I hope someone has pointed out to y’all in Omaha how hateful and bigoted the head of Chick-fil-A, S. Truett Cathy, has been in his anti-gay marriage and homophobic statements. The company actively supports organisations that put forward this view point as well. In Atlanta, where I’m from, some people boycott Chickf-fil-A because of this, while others have made a point to actively support Chick-fil-A because they agree with Cathy’s point of view. Personally, I’ve been a long time Chick-fil-A fan, and refuse to eat there ever again because of this issue. I think it’s a fabulous idea to make your own Chick-fil-A style chicken sandwich. Now you just need to copy their waffle fries and chicken biscuits!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352041/The-gay-chicken-row-Chick-Fil-As-anti-gay-stance-sparks-protest-loyal-customers-turn-chain.html
This is something I’ve never done, and I was surprised to hear that most people did this! The only time I will rinse a meat is steak after we’ve marinated it in salt to tenderize.
I was definitely surprised by the number of people who admitted to doing it! I don’t think I’ve ever rinsed a steak… but then again, I don’t think I’ve ever tenderized a steak in salt!