Mysteries From the Kitchen

[maggiethecat]

There may be a similar topic I've forgotten, but I just wanna know!

Undercooked poultry is not only yucky (so is overcooked)it's dangerous. So, why do the breasts of our web-footed friends, the ducks, get away with being cooked rare, even saignant? None of us would eat a turkey or chicken or pea fowl served pink. What's the deal with ducks? Why don't we get killed by red duck juices?

Do you get befuddled and mystified between the fridge and the stove?

[heidih]

With the fowl, perhaps, it is a cultural thing. I am not sure pink chicken breast will make me ill, I just have not had it served that way.

One that comes to mind is the category of "just a few minutes" or "at least an hour" as in squid and octopus. The middle ground seems to spell dental Olympics. I am sure there is a chemical backup for the phenomenon, but on its face I find it interesting.

[Keith_W]

I think it is a cultural thing - many people find undercooked white fish repulsive, yet have no problem with eating salmon and tuna with pink centres.

[feedmec00kies]

Third-ing cultural. I think slightly pink whole chicken is more common with Chinese (Cantonese specifically?) people, and I know for a fact that there is such a thing as chicken sashimi.

[Hassouni]

chicken sashimi sounds really really gross. Is it similar to how it's ok to have rare beef but not rare pork? Perhaps chicken is more likely to make you sick rare than duck is.

[Shalmanese]

Because our food preferences are largely guided by food safety. Beef & lamb is primarily unsafe due to e.coli which only resides on the surface so if you can cook the surface, the meat is generally safe. Pork used to have trichinosis which is why it was recommended to be cooked well done but is now fine with a pink center. Chicken suffers from salmonella which penetrates the entire muscle tissue which is why it should be cooked until completely done. Duck does not have the same salmonella problems and so can be served more rare.

[Mjx]

I think the deal with raw chicken is largely cultural: I recall a conversation with a fellow student who came from China, in which he mentioned that raw snake really does taste like raw chicken, and he didn't seem to regard either as unusual (although my initial thought was, 'He ate raw chicken? How is he not dead?!'). I just find it difficult to believe that chickens in Asian countries are freer of salmonella than those in NA or EU countries.

On the other hand, since I, and plenty of other people I know, have had salmonellosis (none from chicken, however, no idea why), I'm not feeling tremendously inclined to ditch my preference for chicken that is fully cooked.

[Peter the eater]

Because our food preferences are largely guided by food safety. Beef & lamb is primarily unsafe due to e.coli which only resides on the surface so if you can cook the surface, the meat is generally safe. Pork used to have trichinosis which is why it was recommended to be cooked well done but is now fine with a pink center. Chicken suffers from salmonella which penetrates the entire muscle tissue which is why it should be cooked until completely done. Duck does not have the same salmonella problems and so can be served more rare.

That is exactly my understanding. And the surface bacteria goes throughout if the meat is ground up.

My fish guy/ichthyology PhD says almost every adult fish in the Atlantic Ocean has some amount of parasites. Fortunately, most are harmless to humans and easily removed with light and tweezers.

[ambra]

I get sick to my stomach every time I am served or have to watch a Tuscan eat raw pork sausages.

Apparently, I am "missing out" on something "great."

But they are so good cooked!

[patrickamory]

My fish guy/ichthyology PhD says almost every adult fish in the Atlantic Ocean has some amount of parasites. Fortunately, most are harmless to humans and easily removed with light and tweezers.

Easily removed with light and tweezers?

[Mjx]

My fish guy/ichthyology PhD says almost every adult fish in the Atlantic Ocean has some amount of parasites. Fortunately, most are harmless to humans and easily removed with light and tweezers.

Easily removed with light and tweezers?

Visible to the unaided human eye. The occasions I actually have seen parasites in fresh fish I'd bought, I felt too queasy to eat, however (which is pretty weird, when you consider that if I'd been looking at them as specimens in one of my bio classes, I could have gone eaten a solid lunch immediately after, without turning a hair).