The key to your family's good health lies in how you wash, cut and cook your poultry
A recent report from Australia's Food Safety Information Council's chairman, Dr Michael Eyles, surprised many when it cautioned home cooks against washing chicken before cooking. Researchers pointed out that washing chicken puts you at a higher risk of food poisoning due to cross contamination as it leads to spreading of bacteria around the kitchen. Instead, doctors advised mopping up excess moisture with a paper towel.
"Cooking poultry right through kills these bacteria, making it safe," Dr Eyles said in the report. We thought why not venture out and find out if there's more to cooking chicken the right way, and there were quite a few eye openers.
If you really have to wash your chicken
Most home cooks in India don't pick up frozen or packaged chicken, but order for fresh poultry. In this case, washing off all the gore becomes necessary. Make sure that you don't have a cluttered counter to minimise contamination on clean utensils or food while you wash the raw chicken. Once you are done, transfer the chicken in a pan, wash your hands thoroughly, and wipe down your counter with hot soapy water.
Use a wooden cutting board
A quick hand wash is all that's needed in case of a wooden cutting board. But if you place raw meats on a plastic cutting board, it needs to be sanitised.
You can't refrigerate forever
You'll be forced to toss out your chicken in the bin if it's in the fridge for more than two days, as home fridges are warmer than the ones in stores. Deep freezing your chicken for longer is okay though.
Thaw it right
Researchers suggest defrosting frozen poultry right through to the centre in the fridge or microwave in a sealed container before cooking. If you keep it out, bacteria are sure to have a field day multiplying.
Chicken fat is good
Most home cooks snip every bit of fat off the chicken. However, chicken fat could be good for you. Firstly, poultry fat is low in polyunsaturated fatty acids, thus more stable than other fats at higher heat. And it's high in palmitoleic acid, an immune booster, and a source of oleic acid, which is good cholesterol.
A recent report from Australia's Food Safety Information Council's chairman, Dr Michael Eyles, surprised many when it cautioned home cooks against washing chicken before cooking. Researchers pointed out that washing chicken puts you at a higher risk of food poisoning due to cross contamination as it leads to spreading of bacteria around the kitchen. Instead, doctors advised mopping up excess moisture with a paper towel.
"Cooking poultry right through kills these bacteria, making it safe," Dr Eyles said in the report. We thought why not venture out and find out if there's more to cooking chicken the right way, and there were quite a few eye openers.
If you really have to wash your chicken
Most home cooks in India don't pick up frozen or packaged chicken, but order for fresh poultry. In this case, washing off all the gore becomes necessary. Make sure that you don't have a cluttered counter to minimise contamination on clean utensils or food while you wash the raw chicken. Once you are done, transfer the chicken in a pan, wash your hands thoroughly, and wipe down your counter with hot soapy water.
Use a wooden cutting board
A quick hand wash is all that's needed in case of a wooden cutting board. But if you place raw meats on a plastic cutting board, it needs to be sanitised.
You can't refrigerate forever
You'll be forced to toss out your chicken in the bin if it's in the fridge for more than two days, as home fridges are warmer than the ones in stores. Deep freezing your chicken for longer is okay though.
Thaw it right
Researchers suggest defrosting frozen poultry right through to the centre in the fridge or microwave in a sealed container before cooking. If you keep it out, bacteria are sure to have a field day multiplying.
Chicken fat is good
Most home cooks snip every bit of fat off the chicken. However, chicken fat could be good for you. Firstly, poultry fat is low in polyunsaturated fatty acids, thus more stable than other fats at higher heat. And it's high in palmitoleic acid, an immune booster, and a source of oleic acid, which is good cholesterol.
No comments:
Post a Comment