Unsavoury kitchen habits.

If I’m cooking for my family and the food is going to continue to be cooked on a high temp (so killing bacteria) I’ll continue to use the same tasting spoon up to the very last bit.

If its not cooked I’ll use a clean spoon each time or wash the same one off (even though whatever germs one gets we all tend to end up having) because I wont be the catalyst for spreading something like an unknown stomach bug that’s potentially avoidable.
Even though while I’m taking these precautions I wonder if I’m being excessive!
 
I'm pretty assiduous about washing my hands and not "double-dipping", even at home. However, my favourite way to taste is to just dip my finger in whatever's on the stove. Not a problem when cooking for myself.
I have to be really careful when cutting onions because my wife has a a spectacular aversion to them: she retches loudly if any raw onion touches her lips :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: . So home cooking means using lots of spoons and knives and (plastic) chopping boards. Since they're quick to wash up, I don't worry too much about over use.
When I give Indian food courses, I have to be extremely careful so I usually fill my pockets with plastic spoons, which I then discard. And yes, I often plate with my hands. I can't see the point of putting gloves on then assuming that means you can touch everything and anything and nothing will happen. I keep my hands clean.
Do I worry about "bacteria"? There are about 6 billion inside a human mouth, and I've got no intention of using Lysol every five minutes to get rid of them:laugh::laugh:
 
Some years ago, I ran a company which made synthetic corks for wine bottles. One step for which we never found a good automated substitute was finding obvious printing defects in the logos. We used three or four women at the end of the line just before bagging to push the corks around with their hands and grab/toss any that had a missed print or double print or obvious-at-a-glance gaps in the image. They washed their hands regularly (and to be fair, the bags were gassed with SO2, just in case).

Now, why would we use bare (but washed) hands rather than gloves? We determined experimentally, using plating and culture growth, that the bare-washed-hands method was actually cleaner than gloves! We had a lot of hypotheses about why that should be, but there was no question that this was true. We reran the experiment periodically and always came up with the same results.

We would only have them wear gloves when someone was visiting because that's what they expected to see. As soon as the visitors left, gloves off, hands washed, and back to business as usual.
 
Another thing with gloved hands is that the touch sensation is not the same. Food doesn't "feel" the same with gloves on!
 
Depends on the quality of the hand washing. A lot of people do not wash their hands thoroughly enough, it’s not a method we’re normally taught. Personally I want my surgeon to have a thorough understanding of how to scrub, use hibiscrub and sterile gloves, repeating that for each individual procedure.

And there is the difference, gloves donned at the beginning of a shift working anywhere they are expected to be worn are not changed often enough, they also prevent hand washing because no one washes disposable gloves meaning they pick up bacteria from one area and move it to the next picking even more up along the way. Who hasn‘t seen someone rub their nose while they‘re wearing gloves and then just carry on?

There’s also another phenomena that occurs, where people wearing gloves feel protected so they are more likely to engage in behaviours they wouldn't without the gloves on ie touching things they normally wouldn’t, then keeping the same gloves on as they move to do the next task. We were repeatedly told at every cross infection update unless scrubbed the gloves are only protecting you, they are not protecting the patient so make sure they are binned and your hands are washed after every minor use.

There’s a hand washing lesson thats excellent for improving hand hygiene. You rub UV balm all over your hands, go wash them like you normally do then shove them under a UV lamp and marvel at how much potential bacteria you‘ve left behind. Then you repeat it using the correct method focusing on where you fail!
 
karadekoolaid said:
Another thing with gloved hands is that the touch sensation is not the same. Food doesn't "feel" the same with gloves on!
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It pisses me off royally that we are required by law in NY to use gloves for all food handling, whether it makes sense or not. It's a safety hazard AND it accomplishes exactly the opposite of what it's intended to do. Of course, when I'm there by myself doing preps, I of course follow the law religiously, yessir. I wouldn't even THINK of using washed hands instead and increasing safety and decreasing potential contamination. We need to obey and respect all laws, because they are put in place by people much wiser and more noble than we are.
 
I’ll read the article in-depth later, but yeah, I think most people let things slide a little at home. I always laugh at the folks who get indignant when they see something “unsanitary” in a restaurant, when I know they aren’t that particular at home.

We have very little contact, foodwise, with others, it’s just us two, so yeah, I taste by sticking my finger in the pot, I dig pickles out of the jar with my naked paw, I drink from the OJ jug, and eat straight from the peanut butter jar.

That said, I’m near-obsessive about hand-washing - I don’t like feeling anything on my hands, so I probably wash my hands more making a single meal than some people do all week. As soon as I touch something, I wash my hands.
 
TastyReuben said:
I’ll read the article in-depth later, but yeah, I think most people let things slide a little at home. I always laugh at the folks who get indignant when they see something “unsanitary” in a restaurant, when I know they aren’t that particular at home.
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The article made a vague and brief reference to it, but what we're fanatic about is preventing cross contamination. Separate cutting boards for meat-containing product, vegan, and gluten-free. Ditto implements and cooking surfaces. We change gloves if we're moving from breakfast sandwiches (that have eggs and bacon) to a vegan item. Ditto "normal" versus gluten-free. The serrated knives for cutting bread and sandwiches are color coded.
 
It’s one of the many, many things I love about Pepin, during his shows, he does so many things that probably drive the germaphobes crazy, like sticking his chicken-slime fingers in the salt box, tasting with his fingers, etc.

I always laugh and think, “He’s cooking like he’s at home!” :laugh:

I also roll my eyes at some comments on cooking videos on YT - “Ick! At 2:30, she touched her hair! Gross!” or “Take your filthy rings off when you’re kneading dough, b**ch!” - some people have some real anger issues! :laugh:
 
TastyReuben said:
It’s one of the many, many things I love about Pepin, during his shows, he does so many things that probably drive the germaphobes crazy, like sticking his chicken-slime fingers in the salt box, tasting with his fingers, etc.

I always laugh and think, “He’s cooking like he’s at home!” :laugh:

I also roll my eyes at some comments on cooking videos on YT - “Ick! At 2:30, she touched her hair! Gross!” or “Take your filthy rings off when you’re kneading dough, b**ch!” - some people have some real anger issues! :laugh:
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That was the same with the Two Fat Ladies. Lots of complaints. They didn’t care, you had to have them as they are or not at all 😂
 
karadekoolaid said:
Another thing with gloved hands is that the touch sensation is not the same. Food doesn't "feel" the same with gloves on!
Click to expand...

The only time I use gloves (blue nitrile medical gloves) for cooking is if I am handling something that will leave a stain or bad smell on my hands, or if I am handling hot chilis. The capsaicin in hot chilis does not wash off easily, and if you touch your eyes or other "sensitive" areas, even after thoroughly washing your hands with soap and water, you will have a very unpleasant experience. :eek:

CD
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
There’s a hand washing lesson thats excellent for improving hand hygiene. You rub UV balm all over your hands, go wash them like you normally do then shove them under a UV lamp and marvel at how much potential bacteria you‘ve left behind. Then you repeat it using the correct method focusing on where you fail!
Click to expand...

My sister has been an RN (Registered Nurse) for about 40 years. She no longer has fingerprints. She says that is common with older medical professionals, due to many years of constant hand washing. :ohmy::laugh:

CD
 
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