Washing chicken is one of the basics in the kitchen, yet it can be the most difficult, time consuming & disliked part of cooking, especially whole chicken! When we were new to the kitchen we didn’t even know what part of the chicken was what. It comes with practice.
According to professionals & chefs there is no need to wash chicken as the bacteria is killed in the cooking process & many argue that when you wash your chicken you are washing away all the flavour. However we feel whole chicken has a lot of skin, slimy, gooey bits, veins & sometimes even feathers! Since we cannot resist, here is our method of washing bone chicken.
We like to buy our chicken in bulk of 3 chickens every two weeks or depending on how long it lasts us (You may want to start off with 1 chicken if you are new to this). We wash & put them in packets consisting of 1/2 a Chicken & freeze. This is easier for when we only require 1/2 a Chicken or 1 1/2 etc.
We also like to get our chicken cut into 5 pieces at the butchers. Mummy Bobat actually buys the chicken as a whole & cuts it into pieces herself! But for us beginners 5 pieces is a good start.
Certain butchers also have smaller & easier to clean chicken. We like to buy our HMC chicken from Kismat (Elgin St, Bolton) & Nisa Local (Derby St, Bolton).
At the beginning, the process of washing 3 chickens in one go would take hours! It’s gotten easier with practice & now we are down to 1 1/2 hours including clean up! Alhamdulilah!
To make it easier we like to alternate between boneless & whole chicken. So one week / day we wash boneless chicken & the other whole chicken (boned chicken). In this way its easier & a lot less tiring.
Click here to see how to wash boneless chicken!
Words of advice: Put the ‘eeewww’ aside & get stuck in!
You will need:
- Chicken (cut into 5 pieces- ask your butcher to do this for you)
- bowl
- colander
- sharp knife
- scissors
- chopping board
- sieve
- vinegar / salt
- sink & running water
- plastic freezer bags
- A tray
Method
- Recite Bismillah.
- Clear the area around the sink from pots, pans, plants, dish rack etc.
- Cut your chicken as shown in our video below or according to preference.
- In a bowl, soak your chicken in cold water & a splash of vinegar or a dash of salt for 3-5 mins. You can miss this step & simply soak in water. We like to do this to get rid of any funny smells & it also helps loosen any fat & slimy bits.
- Start off by getting rid of all the slimy & sticky white bits off the chicken using your hand & the water in the bowl. Work your way through the top of the chicken, the sides & the back. Pull out any red veins that you can see. Using the water in the bowl to do this means you are wasting less water. Use a knife to scrape off any stubborn fat or you may even find it easier using a pair of scissors to cut of any dangling bits .
- Work your way through each piece, placing them in a colander.
- Once you have finished doing this with all the pieces drain the water out from the bowl over a sieve as this will prevent your sink from getting blocked.
- Give the bowl a rinse & transfer the chicken back into the washed bowl.
- Now give the colander a rinse.
- One by one, rinse each part under a running tap of cold water quickly to get rid off anything you may have missed & place in the colander.
- Allow to drain for a few mins & then pack into freezer bags according to preference.
- Place the packets of chicken on a tray & allow them to freeze. This will prevent the packets from sticking to one another. Once they have frozen remove them off the tray, fill in a bag or store as you wish in the freezer.
- We like to finish off with a good scrub, disinfect & wipe of the sink & all areas around the sink, followed by a cap of zo flora & hot water down the drain.
- Check out the video below to have a better understanding of our method. Hope it helps & remember us in your duas!
Tiers 