Chicken...to wash or not ?

[GWAYGWAY]

If it is from USA you do not need to wash it as they already have done it, in a strong chlorine mix, as they do not believe in keeping them in good conditions . Big fuss because the EU will not allow them in but may have to with the Atlantic Trade deal, coming.

 

[Channa]

If it is from USA you do not need to wash it as they already have done it, in a strong chlorine mix, as they do not believe in keeping them in good conditions . Big fuss because the EU will not allow them in but may have to with the Atlantic Trade deal, coming.

The Americans have been bleaching poultry for years bringing it back fit for human consumption

In the UK at least every animal slaughtered is supervised by DEFRA vets albeit I suspect chickens considered as a flock. That is really the real issue in all this sensationalism , Food Standards agency and its partners are wanting to bring about 100 % traceability for the consumer in the event of food poisoning, not something currently easy to establish in these parts with lots of small Asian butchers.

Most food shops , certainly restaurants and cafes have a EHO star rating readily available on the net for your area. you would be amazed how many people believe it reflects the quality of the food, It doesn't a lot of the EHO ratings lend towards record keeping, of temps , traceability etc. clean kitchens play only a part

Channa

 

[yorkslass]

Do you do the same with chicken?

I should have known better.:lol-053:

Don't think I havn't noticed you Peter, I have a long memory.:lol-049:

 

[korky]

Washing,no. Completely pointless.

But brining, yes yes yes.

I'm a recent convert to this and it transforms the juiciness and flavour of the meat.

Best done night before, but a couple of hours before cooking is OK.

Dissolve 20-30gms salt in a litre of water. I use 30gms.

Place chicken in brine,leave in fridge and turn over half way through.

Before cooking,drain and let bird come to room temp.

Cook in oven breast down on some sliced onions,carrots etc.

OK finished bird does not look as good as one cooked breast up but result is far superior.

Rest bird while you make gravy, cook veg. etc.

This will taste fantastic,but not so much with a bargain basement chuck fed on shite and kept in a tiny cage.Time they were illegal.

Always brine chicken now except in the van as fridge not really big enough.

Try it. Korky.

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

Having had the dubious pleasure of working in a chicken factory and seeing the process and the amount of handling and then the cleaning regime that goes on every night I would say that in general it's ok NOT to wash a fresh bird ... but I still do give most birds a careful rinse under the cold tap because I don't know which factory the birds I buy in my local shops came from ... However, if bought from the factory shop, then no, I don't feel the need to rinse it under the tap, but, I do use the same professional cleaning solutions at home that I used to use in my snack bar when cleaning in my kitchen, but I'm pretty much (or certainly used to be) immune to the germs that abound in the chicken world ... You develop an immunity when you are handling the damn things, basically, everything gets covered in sh!t when you are moving chickens then you sit and have yer sarnies and tea after opening the curtains on your wagon etc.

It's the catchers I always felt for ... catching anything from 3,500 birds and up to around 7,000 per load (usually in about 45 minutes for 7,000 hens, or 20 odd minutes for 3,500 cocks) then back to their van for a cuppa, a fag and a packet of crisps or a sarnie, few of them bothered to wash their hands in between loads (they'd usually catch about 5 or 6 loads a shift.) Fit buggers they were ... out of boredom one day I decided to give them a hand (officially I was on a break for the tachograph) ... going at less than half the speed they go at, I was dying after just 10 minutes ... bend yourself double, grab a couple of birds legs in each hand and pass both handfuls to one hand then grab another few legs in empty hand, stand upright and step over to cages (baskets) and plop the birds in then repeat.

On average, at six weeks old the birds would weight enough that lifting them to chest height took a little effort, especially when holding 4 or 5 in one hand and 2 or 3 in the other ... the catchers can grab a lot more than that in one go, they can easily grab 5 or 6 birds in each hand ... they're not supposed to of course, but picking the birds up 2 at a time the wagons would never get loaded on schedule.

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

Washing,no. Completely pointless.

But brining, yes yes yes.

I'm a recent convert to this and it transforms the juiciness and flavour of the meat.

Best done night before, but a couple of hours before cooking is OK.

Dissolve 20-30gms salt in a litre of water. I use 30gms.

Place chicken in brine,leave in fridge and turn over half way through.

Before cooking,drain and let bird come to room temp.

Cook in oven breast down on some sliced onions,carrots etc.

OK finished bird does not look as good as one cooked breast up but result is far superior.

Rest bird while you make gravy, cook veg. etc.

This will taste fantastic,but not so much with a bargain basement chuck fed on shite and kept in a tiny cage.Time they were illegal.

Always brine chicken now except in the van as fridge not really big enough.

Try it. Korky.

To the best of my knowledge and belief, that only applies on an egg production site, and trust me, they don't get fed shite and, to the best of my belief, they don't go into the human food chain either. The feed costs a fortune.

An organic bird gets the freedom to roam (but chooks are so bloody stupid they seldom wander more than a few yards) and they always come running at feeding time.
Free range birds are exactly the same as the Organic birds with the exception of the food they get.
Mass produced (in this country at least) barn chickens are in huge sheds and get fed the best food available ... they are specially bred to eat and do little else. In this way they will put on maximum weight in the short time they are alive (normally harvested at around 42 days old) ... no that is NOT a misprint or typo. Occasionally smaller birds are required I have transported birds in the past as young as 36 or 37 days old, but the norm is around 39 to 42 days, believe me, they wouldn't grow to a sufficient weight if they were fed shite.

 

[Private]

Chicken run

Having had the dubious pleasure of working in a chicken factory and seeing the process and the amount of handling and then the cleaning regime that goes on every night I would say that in general it's ok NOT to wash a fresh bird ... but I still do give most birds a carefully rinse under the cold tap because I don't know which factory the birds I buy in my local shops came from ... However, if bought from the factory shop, then no, I don't feel the need to rinse it under the tap, but, I do use the same professional cleaning solutions at home that I used to use in my snack bar when cleaning in my kitchen, but I'm pretty much (or certainly used to be) immune to the germs that abound in the chicken world ... You develop an immunity when you are handling the damn things, basically, everything gets covered in
sh!t when you are moving chickens then you sit and have yer sarnies and tea after opening the curtains on your wagon etc.

It's the catchers I always felt for ... catching anything from 3,500 birds and up to around 7,000 per load (usually in about 45 minutes for 7,000 hens, or 20 odd minutes for cocks) then back to their van for a cuppa, a fag and a packet of crisps or a sarnie, few of them bothered to wash their hands in between loads (they'd usually catch about 5 or 6 loads a shift.) Fit buggers they were ... out of boredom one day I decided to give them a hand (officially I was on a break for the tachograph) ... going at less than half the speed they go at, I was dying after just 10 minutes ... bend yourself double, grab a couple of birds legs in each hand and pass both handfuls to one hand then grab another few legs in empty hand, stand upright and step over to cages (baskets) and plop the birds in then repeat.

On average, at six weeks old the birds would weight enough that lifting them to chest height took a little effort, especially when holding 4 or 5 in one hand and 2 or 3 in the other ... the catchers can grab a lot more than that in one go, they can easily grab 5 or 6 birds in each hand ... they're not supposed to of course, but picking the birds up 2 at a time the wagons would never get loaded on schedule.

I concur.
I used to do the chicken run too and you described it exactly as I saw it.

The first night I thought I'd never eat during a shift because of the smell and my sandwiches went home with me.
The second night I ate some,but not all, and by the third night it was normal service resumed; munching away on my sandwiches whenever I got the chance.
The brain has an amazing ability to cancel out smells one it understands the source.

Challenging driving; taking an artic down roads in the dark that today I would pause to verify the route before taking my motorhome down.

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

I concur.
I used to do the chicken run too and you described it exactly as I saw it.

The first night I thought I'd never eat during a shift because of the smell and my sandwiches went home with me.
The second night I ate some,but not all, and by the third night it was normal service resumed; munching away on my sandwiches whenever I got the chance.
The brain has an amazing ability to cancel out smells one it understands the source.

Challenging driving; taking an artic down roads in the dark that today I would pause to verify the route before taking my motorhome down.

I considered it great fun!

I don't know where you drove, but getting the Organics from the bottom of a field just outside Inverness in the middle of a snow storm was my greatest pleasure ... turn in off the road over a track in the verge around midnight and through a farm gate, follow the dirt track for about 100 yards then, if the huts were at the bottom of the fields near the railway tracks, wait to see if the catchers and farm manager turned up. Once the catchers turned up and (can't remember his name) the farm manager you found out if you were to go down, or if they'd bring the birds up (they'd do this only if the snow was more than a foot or so deep.) If you were going down, basically you hung onto the steering wheel and waited until the vehicle slid to a halt somewhere on the flat bit at the bottom of the hills, as you know, even when "empty" we had a good 11 or 12 tons of cages and racks on the back and it was always fun trying to keep it all sliding in the same direction.

After loading, getting back up was a doddle, the farm manager would follow you up with the telescopic F/L and push as required but if it got really difficult, he had a trick where he would sorta dig the F/L in and use the power of his telescopic ram to inch you up a bit at a time ... I effing LOVED those days.

Only once in all the years I worked there (Coupar Angus) did we have to abandon a couple of vehicles on a farm up near Fraserburgh, but it was because the recovery trucks couldn't get the wagon in front of me out of a ditch after the farmer had towed him too fast to get him to the main road ... that was a hilarious day but takes a bit of telling and typing, maybe another time.

 

[Private]

Absolutely

I agree.
I worked in the Yorkshire area.
No snow issues as you described but always an adrenaline filled night. I loved it too.
I had the Moffet Mounty on the back adding to the challenge but it was the narrow roads and tight farm lanes in the pitch black of night that got the blood pumping rather than the weather. No sat nav directions; you had to know the right way in and out.
There were a few that if you did not get clearance before heading up the country lane and you met a co-driver coming the other way it would be crane time to sort it out; no chance of either reversing.
A few wagons were toppled over just by the driver being a few inch off the perfect line on the farm tracks and going down in the soft mud; fortunately not at my hands.

Beats pounding the motorway but a job for the few, not the many.

Then there was Eastern Europe with a pocket full of cash in half a dozen currencies where you had to stop at every border.........
Like you say, lots to tell.

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

I agree.
I worked in the Yorkshire area.
No snow issues as you described but always an adrenaline filled night. I loved it too.
I had the Moffet Mounty on the back adding to the challenge but it was the narrow roads and tight farm lanes in the pitch black of night that got the blood pumping rather than the weather. No sat nav directions; you had to know the right way in and out.
There were a few that if you did not get clearance before heading up the country lane and you met a co-driver coming the other way it would be crane time to sort it out; no chance of either reversing.
A few wagons were toppled over just by the driver being a few inch off the perfect line on the farm tracks and going down in the soft mud; fortunately not at my hands.

Beats pounding the motorway but a job for the few, not the many.

Then there was Eastern Europe with a pocket full of cash in half a dozen currencies where you had to stop at every border.........
Like you say, lots to tell.

Yeah, as you say many of the farms were challenging to get into, or out of. We were fortunate in that the company provided us with our own mobile phones and we would call the driver in front to make sure it was safe to head in. The greatest majority of our runs were generously timed so we seldom left a farm early or arrived on time or late. But, we'd still check in to be on the safe side as some of the farms were in and out on the same road, but many were in one road and out another. Only one driver (there's always one, isn't there) was a stubborn auld fecker and he came flying down a wee road straight at me on a tight bend ... I had to wiggle so close to a garden wall that it took me ages to manoeuvre back out without taking the wall with me.

Oh yeah, the first time I had the moffat on the back I was a bit apprehensive, 3 tons dangling off yer arsend doesn't do traction a lot of good, some hills were a nightmare and we had one farm where you had to stop at the bottom of the hill to take the mm off, drive up the hill and walk back down for the mm.

Likewise, many a fence post was taken out by the old mm and you can usually recognise the entrance to a chicken farm by the gouges in the grass bank opposite the entrance!

 

[korky]

Having had the dubious pleasure of working in a chicken factory and seeing the process and the amount of handling and then the cleaning regime that goes on every night I would say that in general it's ok NOT to wash a fresh bird ... but I still do give most birds a careful rinse under the cold tap because I don't know which factory the birds I buy in my local shops came from ... However, if bought from the factory shop, then no, I don't feel the need to rinse it under the tap, but, I do use the same professional cleaning solutions at home that I used to use in my snack bar when cleaning in my kitchen, but I'm pretty much (or certainly used to be) immune to the germs that abound in the chicken world ... You develop an immunity when you are handling the damn things, basically, everything gets covered in sh!t when you are moving chickens then you sit and have yer sarnies and tea after opening the curtains on your wagon etc.

It's the catchers I always felt for ... catching anything from 3,500 birds and up to around 7,000 per load (usually in about 45 minutes for 7,000 hens, or 20 odd minutes for 3,500 cocks) then back to their van for a cuppa, a fag and a packet of crisps or a sarnie, few of them bothered to wash their hands in between loads (they'd usually catch about 5 or 6 loads a shift.) Fit buggers they were ... out of boredom one day I decided to give them a hand (officially I was on a break for the tachograph) ... going at less than half the speed they go at, I was dying after just 10 minutes ... bend yourself double, grab a couple of birds legs in each hand and pass both handfuls to one hand then grab another few legs in empty hand, stand upright and step over to cages (baskets) and plop the birds in then repeat.

On average, at six weeks old the birds would weight enough that lifting them to chest height took a little effort, especially when holding 4 or 5 in one hand and 2 or 3 in the other ... the catchers can grab a lot more than that in one go, they can easily grab 5 or 6 birds in each hand ... they're not supposed to of course, but picking the birds up 2 at a time the wagons would never get loaded on schedule.

Grabbing 5 or 6 with one hand is why you see so many oven readies with broken legs.Nice.
Korky.

 

[korky]

To the best of my knowledge and belief, that only applies on an egg production site, and trust me, they don't get fed shite and, to the best of my belief, they don't go into the human food chain either. The feed costs a fortune.

An organic bird gets the freedom to roam (but chooks are so bloody stupid they seldom wander more than a few yards) and they always come running at feeding time.
Free range birds are exactly the same as the Organic birds with the exception of the food they get.
Mass produced (in this country at least) barn chickens are in huge sheds and get fed the best food available ... they are specially bred to eat and do little else. In this way they will put on maximum weight in the short time they are alive (normally harvested at around 42 days old) ... no that is NOT a misprint or typo. Occasionally smaller birds are required I have transported birds in the past as young as 36 or 37 days old, but the norm is around 39 to 42 days, believe me, they wouldn't grow to a sufficient weight if they were fed shite.

Agree with you about the cages over here,but so much bargain basement chicken is from the Far East where welfare and hygiene standards are woeful.Ours are frankly the best but still piss poor.
Feed is crucial,it might make them put weight on fast but most are still tasteless if not fed better quality feed.
On the egg side of things,I used to live next to a Free Range producer.Huge operation all for Tescos.
Used to buy his dirt cheap double yolkers that Tescos didn't want.Only fit for baking,they were tasteless.
All fed down to a price.
Best eggs are from hens feeding on slugs,worms insects as well as proprietary food.Obviously not viable to feed a nation.
Luckily lots of old biddies round me with hens in back yard so eggs are great.
I love chickens both on and off my plate.
Also think I've sat in sun too long in this vineyard outside Bordeaux with a bottle of their finest.
Korky.

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

Agree with you about the cages over here,but so much bargain basement chicken is from the Far East where welfare and hygiene standards are woeful.Ours are frankly the best but still piss poor.
Feed is crucial,it might make them put weight on fast but most are still tasteless if not fed better quality feed.
On the egg side of things,I used to live next to a Free Range producer.Huge operation all for Tescos.
Used to buy his dirt cheap double yolkers that Tescos didn't want.Only fit for baking,they were tasteless.
All fed down to a price.
Best eggs are from hens feeding on slugs,worms insects as well as proprietary food.Obviously not viable to feed a nation.
Luckily lots of old biddies round me with hens in back yard so eggs are great.
I love chickens both on and off my plate.
Also think I've sat in sun too long in this vineyard outside Bordeaux with a bottle of their finest.
Korky.

Oh I couldn't agree with you more. When you take taste and texture into consideration then you want a real bird, but the mass production is to satisfy a huge demand for cheap protein to feed the masses. One farm shop I used to visit when I was in the area near Turriff used to sell eggs. I would pick up a dozen most times as I passed by. I was convinced that they were free range eggs and one day when talking to the farmer I told him his free range eggs were the cheapest around ... he told me they weren't free range, they were barn eggs, he also mentioned that he has a wee auld wifie who has been buying his eggs for years and will not accept his story that they are barn eggs. as he (and you) said, it all comes down to the feed.

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

Grabbing 5 or 6 with one hand is why you see so many oven readies with broken legs.Nice.
Korky.

I gotta disagree with you ... while I don't doubt that there will be some that get injured by callous handling, I personally believe that most of the broken legs you will find happens when they are hung on the line at the factory and during the process they go through. You can always tell if the bird was alive when the leg was broken, the masses of bruised and discoloured flesh.

Personally, I was more concerned about the number of deformities you used to find in the joints ... this was due mainly to the fact that the skeleton growth couldn't keep up with the weight gain of the bird and the leg joints in particular were subject to deformity ... a huge increase in the amount of calcium in their feed (usually in the form of powdered milk) helped a great deal with that and it is considerably rarer these days, but you do still come across the odd roaster will malformed joints.

 

[trevskoda]

Robmac has some feathered rats,sorry chickens which he will bath as long as you can make them disappear before morning.:bow:

 

[yeoblade]

Having had the dubious pleasure of working in a chicken factory and seeing the process and the amount of handling and then the cleaning regime that goes on every night I would say that in general it's ok NOT to wash a fresh bird ... but I still do give most birds a careful rinse under the cold tap because I don't know which factory the birds I buy in my local shops came from ... However, if bought from the factory shop, then no, I don't feel the need to rinse it under the tap, but, I do use the same professional cleaning solutions at home that I used to use in my snack bar when cleaning in my kitchen, but I'm pretty much (or certainly used to be) immune to the germs that abound in the chicken world ... You develop an immunity when you are handling the damn things, basically, everything gets covered in sh!t when you are moving chickens then you sit and have yer sarnies and tea after opening the curtains on your wagon etc.

It's the catchers I always felt for ... catching anything from 3,500 birds and up to around 7,000 per load (usually in about 45 minutes for 7,000 hens, or 20 odd minutes for 3,500 cocks) then back to their van for a cuppa, a fag and a packet of crisps or a sarnie, few of them bothered to wash their hands in between loads (they'd usually catch about 5 or 6 loads a shift.) Fit buggers they were ... out of boredom one day I decided to give them a hand (officially I was on a break for the tachograph) ... going at less than half the speed they go at, I was dying after just 10 minutes ... bend yourself double, grab a couple of birds legs in each hand and pass both handfuls to one hand then grab another few legs in empty hand, stand upright and step over to cages (baskets) and plop the birds in then repeat.

On average, at six weeks old the birds would weight enough that lifting them to chest height took a little effort, especially when holding 4 or 5 in one hand and 2 or 3 in the other ... the catchers can grab a lot more than that in one go, they can easily grab 5 or 6 birds in each hand ... they're not supposed to of course, but picking the birds up 2 at a time the wagons would never get loaded on schedule.

I did a bit of chicken catchin' as a yuf, shi1 pis$$ beaks and claws all giving you a hard time, We had to get 6 at a time as that's what each cage compartment had to hold. Strangely I did it in Somerset and Israel too, same method though.

 

[harrow]

If you are buying a whole chicken,

why not buy a cook in the bag chicken ?

Place it in a roasting tin or strong baking sheet, job done and no mess ?

:ninja::ninja::ninja:

Ps love the stories about the countryside and the adventures with lorries

:banana::banana::banana:

 

[trevskoda]

If you are buying a whole chicken,

why not buy a cook in the bag chicken ?

Place it in a roasting tin or strong baking sheet, job done and no mess ?

:ninja::ninja::ninja:

Ps love the stories about the countryside and the adventures with lorries

:banana::banana::banana:

Or just go to KFC save all the farting about.

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

If you are buying a whole chicken,

why not buy a cook in the bag chicken ?

Place it in a roasting tin or strong baking sheet, job done and no mess ?

:ninja::ninja::ninja:

Ps love the stories about the countryside and the adventures with lorries

:banana::banana::banana:

My daughter buys the cook in the bag birds quite often, personally I like to see what I'm eating before it goes in the oven, but I haven't had any problems eating the "in the bag" chooks.

Oh, NEVER get a pair of auld truckers going on stories of their adventures ... you'll never get away from them!

 

[Auld Pharrrt]

Or just go to KFC save all the farting about.

erm, I'm fond of KFC, but, IMHO, they don't get a lot of birds from this country.