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I'm super paranoid when prepping/cooking chicken, pork, etc...especially now that we have an 11 month old crawling around. So, I'm constantly trying to be vigilant about keeping the raw meat prep area confined and I'm constantly washing my hands with hot soapy water.

When you watch chefs on TV, they basically wipe their hands on their aprons, wipe down cutting surfaces with a cloth, etc. I don't see any system or methodology for keeping things sanitary.

Any recommendations on methods, techniques, etc.?

TFD
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milesmeow
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1 Answers1

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Commercial kitchens use a few methods that are hidden from the camera during kitchen shows. First, there are cutting boards for meats, and separate cutting boards for vegetables. These are often color coded so they aren't mixed up. If there is room, raw meats use an entirely different table. Any possibly contaminated board is sanitized before reuse. Second, the cloths you see are stored in a bucket of sanitizing fluid which kills microbes on contact. When a surface is wiped down, or hands are cleaned, they are being sanitized by the liquid on the cloth. Finally, there is usually more than one person working behind the scenes and labor is divided so the raw meat people are not the same as the green salad people.

At home, planning is the key. Try to do all of your non-meat prep first. Then you can contaminate your cutting board without having to wash it again. Then try to take care of all of your meat prep, so you only have to wash your hands once. And remember that if you drop a vegetable on your raw chicken, it's not a big deal if it's all going to be cooked.

michael
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  • I wonder what this food-safe sanitizing liquid is. :) – milesmeow Sep 12 '12 at 06:21
  • I use separate boards, cut meat last, and spray the board and knife with anti-bac spray before washing them as normal in hot soapy water. If I'm going to be very hands on with the meat, rubbing in a marinade say, I wear rubber gloves. – ElendilTheTall Sep 12 '12 at 06:41
  • @milesmeow In all the restaurants that I've worked at the sanitizing liquid was simple chlorine Bleach (i.e Clorox) mixed with water (1 teaspoon per gallon of H20). – djmadscribbler Sep 12 '12 at 16:14
  • Bleach works but the professional standard is now quaternary solution... an example but not a product rec http://www.amazon.com/Steramine-Quaternary-Sanitizing-Tablets-Sanitizer/dp/B004BLPE3C – sarge_smith Sep 14 '12 at 13:45