Did your momma give you the Chicken Talk?

Last night, Vasily and I were going to throw together some dinner and rush out the door for the Maroon 5 concert. 

So. Good. 

I was driving home from work, talking to my mom when Vasily called in. I switched lines, asked him to thaw some chicken for me really quick while I drove home because I forgot to set it in the fridge the night before. So he put it in a bowl of hot water. I switched back to mom, told her sorry that I had to ask Vasily to thaw some chicken and she goes,

"How's he thawing it?" 

"In a bowl of hot water." 

"WHAAAAT!!! NO NO NO! Tell him to put it in cold water!" 

"Huh? Cold water? Why? We always do it this way?" 

"WHAAAAT! You shouldn't! Bacteria grows and it's... I can't believe you haven't Googled this."

I sheepishly called Vasily back, told him the deal. He switched it to cold water but by the time I got home, I'm pretty sure Mom had read aloud the entire "Safe Thawing" section of the USDA website and I wanted to both hurl and never eat chicken again. So I took one look at the chicken in the bowl and threw it out. Luckily, we had another package in the freezer so I put that in cold water. I made my rice (successfully, mind you) and continued to stare at the still-frozen chicken. 


This is the pic I sent my mom "Is this right?"


"Vasily! Let's go. We're eating out." 

Aaand we went to Chili's. Not bad, but... you know. It was Chili's. So I didn't Instagram anything.

And just in case your mom didn't give you the Chicken Talk, you might want to know:


FSIS recommends three ways to thaw chicken: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave. Never thaw chicken on the counter or in other locations. It's best to plan ahead for slow, safe thawing in the refrigerator.  

We've never really gotten sick thawing it wrong (that I know of)... but I'm wondering if any of yall have? Or did everyone know this?





5 comments:

  1. How come you didn't just thaw it in the microwave? It takes like 3 minutes!!

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  2. Well, I thought that my apartment would have a microwave. It doesn't and I don't want to sacrifice the counter space to add one... So it's really a battle of my wits to do without. Clearly, I should probably break down... but... you know.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, like the guy in the $6,000 suit is gonna just "throw it in the microwave..."

    COME ON!!

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  4. BWWWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!!! (A) Your writing style is fantastic. Write me a book. Go. (B) David and I have the chicken argument all the time. I'm a hot water girl. It hasn't killed me yet. Besides, if it grew any bacteria, you would kill it when you cooked it. (C) Compromise: Third method for speedier thawing... run the chicken under cold water from the tap. The motion of the water accelerates the thawing process while staying true to the cold water shtick. .... Nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha thanks, Blair! Vasily said the same thing about the bacteria dying when you cook it... and I don't have a good response. I'll definitely try the cold tap water next time :)

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