I'm just wondering how many people change cooking tools during the cooking process
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 And those same tongs put the pieces on my plate when the chicken is done 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?
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 And those same tongs put the pieces on my plate when the chicken is done 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?