"Dee Dee" wrote:
>
> Vegetables: I rinse, paper-towel dry, spray with vinegar and let sit a
> little bit, rinse off the vinegar - that's it.

I wash all produce, mostly to remove sand and insects..... I grow much
of my own salad stuff so there is always sand, and I use no
insecticides so there are always insects/woims, even small snails/
slugs. Root veggies I scrub with a brush. I also spray salad veggies
with vinegar (or lemon juice), but only after it's all washed and
prepped, and I don't rinse it off... acidulated produce keeps better
in the fridge and only improves any added dressings.

> Beef, I pat dry with a paper towel. Good grade hamburger, I squeeze out the
> blood if there is any - don't ask why, don't know -

There's no such thing as good grade (or any grade) hamburger unless
you've ground it yourself... in fact pre ground meat is not USDA
graded... all pre ground is "Mystery" grade.

I rinse all beef and pork, especially those with sawed bone.

> chicken I always wash.

I carefully wash, and clean all poultry of all extraneous guts
(there's always bits of guts), and I trim away excess fat/skin and any
nasty looking bits... I usually remove all rib bones too, just rip
them out, makes for nicer presentation and easier eating.... then I
heavily salt and let sit in fridge for at least an hour before rinsing
off salt and cooking (this is my disinfecting procedure), and I
usually douche all poultry with lemon/lime juice just before cooking -
further disinfects, and deodorizes). The only chicken parts I buy are
the store brand skinless/boneless breasts, those are butchered from
whole birds in the store... the national brands are made up at the
factory and are salvaged from sick chickens. I don't buy chicken
parts, I do my own disjointing. Chicken parts are never from the same
bird, the diseased/cancerous portions have been separated... selling
pre disjointed poultry was instituted at the onset of hormone
processed poultry specifically as a method to market the salvaged
portions of sick birds... and anyone who buys preground poultry is a
very, very sick bird.

For that article to claim washing meat at home is dangerous is
asinine... then it may as well say not to ever bring raw meats home.
If one uses a little common sense and exersizes due diligence there
will be no cross contamination. I typically do all my meat prepping
in my kitchen sink. Before beginning I scrub my sink, and immediately
upon finishing I scrub it again. I place a plastic board in my sink
and work on that. Prepped and washed meat then goes directly into a
waiting glass dish lined with paper towels. I have two Pyrex baking
pans that I use for this chore, one large round one, and a larger
rectangular one... I don't use them for anything else but prepping raw
meat, I never bake in glass. When done with the plastic board and
glassware they go into the dishwasher. There is no cross
contamination... the only folks who will cause cross contamination
from washing meat are those who don't know how to wash their own ass,
really.... yoose all with the shit stained undies, yoose know who you
are... bocci players! hehe

There's far more chance for cross contamination from building a ham
and cheese sandwich than from washing a couple porterhouse.... sliced
meats from the deli offers the greatest opportunity for cross (and
direct) contamintion, and from the greatest variety of pathogens...
deli salads, I don't even want to go there. And anyone who partakes
of salad bars and buffets need to just shut their mouths.

Sheldon