How To Keep Raw Meat From Contaminating Surfaces

One of the biggest dangers of cooking with raw meat is having the blood or fat or liquid of any kind escaping the package and contaminating the kitchen area. When people cook raw meat they inevitably contaminate areas that they use for eating or they transfer bacteria to the various utensils or the refrigerator or the condiments...using gloves only keeps your hands free of the bacteria, they don't prevent the spread of germs or bacteria.

However, I have begun doing something recently with remarkable success. When you are going to cook using raw meat, frozen or fresh, and the package is air/water tight, submerge in a pot of boiling water and bring the temperature of the meat to 165 for 5 minutes; it will cook it enough to kill the bacteria before the package is opened. Want to keep the flavor of the fat or use the juices from the package to make a sauce or a gravy? This process will allow you to separate from the package to use or discard before cooking.

Another benefit I have noticed when cooking certain fatty foods like pork or bacon is that the meat will separate the fat and allow for less shrinkage when cooked.

I take a package of bacon from the refrigerator and place it directly into the boiling water, heating to 165 for 5 minutes. Then I cut a small corner of the package at the bottom and drain the fat; I like to use it for my spaghetti sauce. When I want to eat bacon during the week, the package that I opened allows for me to separate the pieces easier ( it is no longer raw ) and when they are cooked in the pan there is no fat/grease splatter (the fat was already drained) and there is very little shrinkage, no loss of flavor and the bacon doesn't get unevenly cooked; it lays flat and cooks fairly quickly because the fat content has been severely reduced.

This process works with any meat I have tried it with frozen/fresh. I have yet do this with fish, that is tricky because fish is so flaky, but I would prefer to use this method even with fish that is raw for the simple reason I would rather not contaminate the cooking area. I do bet that if you have a fish with the skin attached and you wish to separate it before cooking, this process would be very effective.

I would do this with any meat and I guarantee you will get awesome results.

reply to post by soulpowertothendegree


Washing ones hands and a little lysol go a long way, too.

intrptr
reply to post by soulpowertothendegree

 

Washing ones hands and a little lysol go a long way, too.

Its not wise to use antibacterials for common things like this, you may create resistance in bacterias to the active compound.

reply to post by intrptr


No need for those if you use this process. Besides, who wants lysol or antibacterial soaps around their food? I don't. This really is an ingenious way of cooking and worth the effort.

reply to post by soulpowertothendegree

Oh so many wrong things with this post. Bacon in pasta sauce is heresy? Then boiling a beautiful piece of meat like a t-bone steak is well, just plain sacrilege

I've loved to cook since my college days. Cooked for my housemates and they loved it. I still cook for myself, guests and even my ex-wife and no one has ever been poisoned from not boiling the protein first. If a chef in a restaurant ever did that prior to serving it to me, I'd walk out.

What are you thinking? What are your fears?

Did you make any research about the plastics that is packaging your food stuff before putting it in boiling water?

I would be afraid to see lots of plastic particles get infused in the meat... and that can't be good... It does overtime at room temperature.

reply to post by Indigent


Aside from that fact, the method is awesome for separating the fat and eliminating calories without giving up the taste.

By the way op, plastics have additives most of the times, heating a plastic may release them more easily and you may be poisoning yourself in the effort of not poisoning yourself with a bacteria

Indigent
By the way op, plastics have additives most of the times, heating a plastic may release them more easily and you may be poisoning yourself in the effort of not poisoning yourself with a bacteria

Yeah that in addition to ruining some really beautiful cuts of meat.

reply to post by soulpowertothendegree


i tend to want to avoid the toxins of the chemicals in the plastics and etc's of the packaging itself, boiling the packaging just increases the amount of bleed the packaging will have leeching the chemicals into your food.

at least the immune system can fight off bacteria, the chemicals just # you up

reply to post by soulpowertothendegree

No need for those if you use this process. Besides, who wants lysol or antibacterial soaps around their food? I don't. This really is an ingenious way of cooking and worth the effort.

I don't recommend eating Lysol either. You should rinse your hands and counter after washing, too.

But I see your point. I guess all restaurants and food processing plants should stop using disinfectant? According to you its, not necessary…

reply to post by NowanKenubi


There has been no residual effect from the plastic. It is not the same as putting things in the microwave for that purpose. I do think the cooking time I am specifying though pertains to raw and not frozen, but even the frozen taking a little more time has not created a problem with the plastic. However, it is not always necessary to keep the meat in the plastic unless you simply want to separate the fat for elimination or to use in other parts of the cooking process, like I suggested with bacon fat, I like to use it in my sauce. Some of the fat would just be better to discard obviously, but bacon is so tasty. I have used this process to precook my pork chops and ribs without the plastic. Also, for frozen meat, it is not necessary to cook it all the way through, just making sure the outer layer is thoroughly cooked enough to handle it with out contamination ( you will need to turn the meat package over through the process ).

reply to post by intrptr


Well I was wasn't talking about restaurants or packaging plants. Obviously they need to do different things in their processes, but if I did have a restaurant I would use this process.

reply to post by pryingopen3rdeye


Suit yourself, I suggest you are mistaken, the fact is every package with plastic already has chemicals in the process, if anything this would help take the chemicals out of the food in a liquid state.

reply to post by Bilk22


There is no reason to do this all the time, but none of the meat I have done this with has turned out to be any less satisfying. If anything the meat is healthier by eliminating the high fat content without eliminating the taste.

reply to post by Indigent


Would sure like to see how you cook if your concern for additives in plastic is your biggest issue. The packaging process uses plenty of chemicals in every industry. If you think there are not chemicals already in your food you are severely delusional, that being said, the process I have put forth here is completely safe or I would not use it myself or try to share with others. Want to do something really smart and this process doesn't ring true for you no problem...get rid of your microwave.

reply to post by soulpowertothendegree

Obviously they need to do different things in their processes, but if I did have a restaurant I would use this process.

Not to be a… but the board of health would shut you down.

"Boiling" away bugs is not a failsafe measure. Many bacteria are resistant to heat.

reply to post by soulpowertothendegree


The thing with plastics is they are soft or rigid depending of the glass transition temperature (tg) of the plastic. Most of the packing plastics needs additives for flexibility, lower cost and barrier properties.

If you heat a plastic above the tg it will become softer and may release things that would no do normally at room temperature, if the company did not foreseen an use above room temperature it can have things that could be released at higher temperatures.
Plasticizer

soulpowertothendegree
reply to post by Bilk22

 

There is no reason to do this all the time, but none of the meat I have done this with has turned out to be any less satisfying. If anything the meat is healthier by eliminating the high fat content without eliminating the taste.

Boiled grey meat cannot be tastier IMO. This method you suggest sounds like something they do in a prison commissary or school cafeteria. No thank you. I like my steaks to still be mooing with nice grill marks. I like my pork chops to be juicy and pink inside instead of being dry and grey all the way through. Bon appétit!

reply to post by Bilk22


You guys are reminding me of the scene form the movie 'Better off Dead', where the mom boiled the bacon because the father had told her that he didn't like bacon to be greasy.

I do not freak out over uncooked meat juices. I use a large wooden cutting board and unwrap the meat on top of it. I do what prep work I need to on it and afterward, I wash the cutting board.