Tongs and tools, from start to finish?

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pacanis

Chef Extraordinaire
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Feb 11, 2007
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I'm just wondering how many people change cooking tools during the cooking process :huh:

Here's my typical handling of chicken pieces;
Grab a steak knife and carefully cut open the package and peel back the plastic
Season
Use the knife to turn the pieces over
Season
Use the knife to spear the pieces and put into the pan or on the grill
Put the knife in the dishwasher

Then, I use a different tool, like tongs, to finish cooking the chicken with, but, even though one side has been sizzling away in the fry pan, that means the tongs touch the relatively uncooked side :ohmy: And those same tongs put the pieces on my plate when the chicken is done :shock: And it's not like they are getting sanitized inbetween uses....

Last night I poured some frozen wings out of the bag and onto the grill and used the same tongs start to finish, rearranging and turning the wings several times. I'm thinking now that may not have been the safest thing to do.
Now, if I had also been grilling some potatoes or another food, I would have grabbed another pair of tongs for those, but really, what's the difference?

If I am flouring some chicken in a bag I make a conscious effort to NOT use the same tongs I pull the pieces out with to flip them once they are in the pan, but again during the first flip the tongs are still touching halfway cooked chicken. Is this safe? Safe enough I guess, as I'm still here, but how do the professionals do it? What is smart kitchen practice? How many people really go through 2-3 cooking tools while cooking chicken start to finish?

:huh:
 
I'm too lazy and have don't have a lot of duplicate/triplicate tools for cooking.

If my tongs touch uncooked chicken, I stick the ends into the burner to sanitize. It doesn't take long for the tong ends to exceed 160 F in an open gas flame. Same goes for the gas grill.
 
An open flame.... good idea. I used to rinse with hot water, but there have been those here who said in a residential dishwasher, the water does not get hot enough to sanitize, so obviously a standard water heater won't work. And I can set the working end of a flipper on my grill and close the lid, but not my tongs. Nor can I reach the fire. Not unless I take them into the house to the stove....

Soup is another one, or chili/stews....
You're using one pot, have your trusty wooden spoon stirring the ingredients around as you brown and cook, then 2 hours later use the same spoon to taste test. I never see them swapping out cooking utensils on the cooking shows part way through cooking something. Oftentimes you will see them use the same spoon they started cooking with, taste, then grab a fresh spoon.
 
If your gas grill is preheated to 500-600 F, the grate is hot enough to bring the tongs ends to more than the 160 F necessary.

Dishwashers heat their own water. The standard is 160 F with different cycles getting even hotter.

If you keep sticking the spoon back into the pot to stir the soup, no problem. You are not supposed to taste with the cooking spoon.
 
I do not swap or wash . I do similar to what Andy does. I will leave the tongs or spoon or whatever sitting in the pan so that it heats up with the food.
 
I do not swap or wash . I do similar to what Andy does. I will leave the tongs or spoon or whatever sitting in the pan so that it heats up with the food.

So if you are pan frying some chicken you will rest your tongs in the pan?
I've gotten out of that habit because some of my plastic handled stuff was getting melted by the edge of the pan. And of course that prevents you from getting a good seal with the lid. And did you ever grab a metal spoon or fork was that was setting in the pan? :ohmy:

Andy, are you saying that when you are grilling, that everytime you get the tongs or flipper close to the food/grate, that they become sterilized? That makes sense.

Maybe I am reading too much into this. It just seems that for all the precautions you take when handling the food, that the cooking utensils are pretty much ignored.
 
If I'm cooking chicken, for example, on the grill, afer I turn it once, I don't have to touch a contaminated food surface again as the surface of the chicken has been subjected to enough heat to kill any SURFACE bacteria.

I then stick the ends of the tongs between the grate bars down near the flames. They are sanitized by the intense heat there in a few seconds. Even if you just lay the ends of the tongs on the grate for a few seconds, that will do the trick. You will quickly see any tiny droplets of fat or water on the tongs sizzling. That's an indication the tongs have reached at least the boiling point of water.

I don't leave utensils in the pots and pans while cooking for the reasons you stated.
 
So if you are pan frying some chicken you will rest your tongs in the pan?
I've gotten out of that habit because some of my plastic handled stuff was getting melted by the edge of the pan. And of course that prevents you from getting a good seal with the lid. And did you ever grab a metal spoon or fork was that was setting in the pan? :ohmy:
The tongs and plastic utensils I use are heat proof much beyond anything my stove can put out. Anything metal also has rubberized grips so I am not touching the metal directly. I rarely cook anything that I am putting in the pan then slapping a lid on right away.

For instance, last nights dinner I browned some ground turkey in a fry pan. I used a plastic spoon which can withstand extremely high temps. I left the spoon in the pan while the turkey cooked. I then added my sauce and pasta and covered the pan, taking the spoon out. the spoon had already been taken care of by the heat it received while cooking the turkey. Now the lid is on and has a normal seal.
 
I'll have to get used to this sanitize by heat method.
Seems like I am always running out of tongs.... :LOL:
 
I agree with Andy and GB. What is important is understanding the potential for cross-contamination, and taking steps to resolve it. This can be done by swapping, heating, or sanitizing the utensils. You can be ultra safe (and there is nothing wrong with that) or you can be pretty safe.

Personally, I treat chicken and turkey differently than other potentially hazardous food, because they are the most likely to be highly contaminated. Once a soup or stew reaches the boiling point, I'm not real concerned about the utensils.

BTW, dishwashers sanitize because there is bleach in the dish soap, regardless of the water temp.
 
First, I'd put gloves on. Then, I'd pop that package with my fingernail, through the gloves. Drop the chicken in a bowl, and remove the gloves. With bare hands I'll add any seasoning or liquid. Get out the cooking pan/clean transfer plate. Put gloves back on. Rub the chicken wearing the gloves, place into clean vehicle. Toss gloves. At that point, either it goes into the fridge or it gets cooked. If I use the grill, I'll put it on with my bare hands. If it's going into the oven it's already in the pan. If it's going into a saute pan, I'll use bare hands. Once the chicken is cooking I'd wash and sanitize my hands past my wrists regardless whether I'd touched it or not.
I don't flip everything, but if I did I'd wash the tongs between uses.

I'm used to using my hands because of the quantity I'm used to working with. The gloves....I admit they are wasteful and regret having to use them. I never really cared for the feeling of raw meat. For what it's worth, I can barely stand the feel of steel wool, either.
 
I'm really creeped out by raw poultry/bacteria issues so i always wash tongs/tools after touching any raw parts-the exception to this is soups/stews, in which case the tool is going inside boiling liquid...maybe i should wash up when cooking these too?:angel:
 
OMG, I am totally obsessive about this! Since I've always been a really bad cook - much better now, thanks - I was terrified that I might accidentally kill one of the people I was feeding by making a mistake. I viewed raw meat in any form, especially chicken, as potentially deadly. (Hence we ate very little meat - mostly pasta and other "safe" stuff.)

Anyway, thanks to DC, I feel more confident in my ability to master the deadly poultry and can serve it to people I love without trembling. But I still routinely use most of my 8 sets of tongs when preparing raw chicken. It's like surgery - I use one set and then stick it in the special SS bucket I have set out for this purpose. To bread or season or marinate the meat, I use one set. To turn the meat, I use a set. Another set for taking the fully cooked chicken out of the pan. It's never ending. :wacko:
 
When i have to cook chicken, like i did last night, I use a sharp knife and 2-3 tongs. First i make my coating mix then put on a pair of latex gloves. Then i rip the plastic dump the chicken in the bowl and coat w/one pair of tongs and use the same tongs to transfer to my pan. If i don't have enough tongs I'll coat the food with my gloved hands.

As I am cleaning up I use another pair of tongs to flip and turn the chicken. When the chicken is at the right temp I use a final pair of tongs to plate the dish. I have never used frozen chicken because all that ice melts in the pot and mixes with all the yucky stuff.

I do become paranoid when it comes to any kind of poultry, and yes, even turkeys.

The way i see it a you're own procedure of sanitation overkill should work. I wipe down every inch of counters in my kitchen and i wash the tools on the sanitizer setting of the dishwasher.
 
And as soon as anything is exposed to the air again everything is re-contaminated with bacterias, molds and fungi probably worse than what you are stressed about.

Heaven forbid if you should ever sneeze or walk outside and have any dirt get on your shoes or clothing that could be carrying the C. Botulinum spore. And forget it if you have any kind of fan blowing in your kitchen.

Personally I have faith in my immune system and my market to do their best to keep me healthy. Chicken cleaning is done efficiently as is the clean up afterwards with soap and water. Sometimes I will do a wipe down with a Clorox wipe if I've been a messy person that day, but nothing more. A chicken is our friend and should be treated like one, not as a mortal enemy.
 
And as soon as anything is exposed to the air again everything is re-contaminated with bacterias, molds and fungi probably worse than what you are stressed about.

Heaven forbid if you should ever sneeze or walk outside and have any dirt get on your shoes or clothing that could be carrying the C. Botulinum spore. And forget it if you have any kind of fan blowing in your kitchen.

Personally I have faith in my immune system and my market to do their best to keep me healthy. Chicken cleaning is done efficiently as is the clean up afterwards with soap and water. Sometimes I will do a wipe down with a Clorox wipe if I've been a messy person that day, but nothing more. A chicken is our friend and should be treated like one, not as a mortal enemy.

Finally, the voice of reason cries from the darkness. I'm not saying that we should have poor sanitation practices in out home kitchens, but I've always raised an eyebrow at the number of people who are obsessed with this issue. If they saw how their mother and grandmother handled food without any special knowledge of good kitchen practices, they would be horrified. Yet, we have managed to live through it. I, too, have faith in my immune system, and it's actually good to give it a workout once in awhile. That's why we were given it, not to leave it on a shelf gathering dust while we bathe in Clorox wipes.
 
If they saw how their mother and grandmother handled food without any special knowledge of good kitchen practices, they would be horrified. Yet, we have managed to live through it.
I do not disagree that some people go overboard, but the above argument always gets me. Yes everyone here did live through it, but there have been plenty of people who have not. Hey back then no one wore seat belts either, but we all lived through that too right?

We know a lot more now then we did back then. Plus chicken processing is much different now then it was then which is part of the reason it is more dangerous now then it used to be.
 
Yea, back then lopping the head of one chicken and serving it up for supper did not risk contaminating the rest. But one contaminated chicken in a factory could potentially contaminate hundreds if not more... apply the same theory to 'cross-contamination' at home.
Don't get me wrong, I don't obsess over every little thing and don't use anti-bacterial soaps and washes and wipes and etc ect ect ect ad infinium LOL. But I see nothing wrong with a sane calm approach of being careful about how one processes their food in their kitchen either.
I clean as I go along, and when in doubt I toss the utensil in the sink and grab another one... hence the 'arms reach' comment LOL. Drives the wife nuts as she feels I end up using more dishes than I should, but hey we are all still alive here!
 
Yes, we are all here and alive, with our phobias, biases, misinformation, and the thing we call Human Nature. It is what makes us who we are, but it does give me hope for a better future because I'm going to buy stock in rubber gloves, tongs, and maybe face masks. :LOL:
 
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