as outlined by a former vegetarian.
raw meat is super freaky, in my opinion–like 1) gross texture 2) germs!! ahh!! 3) slime……. everywhere. it took me a while to get the hang of it. what i ended up doing was setting a bunch of rules for myself (and my bf) through trial and error, and repeating the same system over and over again until i got comfortable with it.
- cut/chop all vegetables and things that are not raw meat FIRST before the meat is even out of the fridge. garlic is minced and in the pan with oil, zucchini is chopped and set aside in a bowl on the other side of the kitchen, etc. this way there is no underlying anxiety about Meat Slime getting on anything.
- put down a layer of paper towels under the largest cutting board you can find. this will catch any potential run-off of weird juices. (this is optional, though–you might find having a bunch of slime-soaked paper towels is worse than just dealing with the mess.)
- invest in a cheap package of plastic disposable gloves. i get a box of 80 from walgreens for like $3.00 and they last me about a month. disposable gloves mean you don’t have to wash your hands every 30 seconds, you can toss them when you’re done (so no gross cleanup on that end), and you don’t have to actually touch the meat. it was an all-around game changer
- i always drain any weird meat-juice from the package into the sink the moment it’s open. that way it doesn’t go everywhere when u slap the chicken boobs onto the cutting board
- then take a deep breath and go to work. i’ve learned to just cut off any bits that i find even mildly suspicious-looking even if they’re technically edible. it’s my kitchen, i can do what i want, and if that one corner looks particularly stringy or bloody or something fuck it. toss it into a trashcan that you have already pulled out so that you don’t have to touch anything at all ever.
- when your done and the chicken is in the pan: 1) put the cutting board and knife into the sink 2) wrap your gloves in the aforementioned paper towels and toss that shit (or do the Middle School Chemistry Class Shuffle) 3) set the cutting board and knife in the sink under Steaming Hot Water until the chicken bits turn white and you can see where to clean the most 4) wash the cutting board and knife immediately with a really hardy sponge (i use a Scrub Daddy) and the hottest water temp possible, additional pair of gloves optional depending on how ur feeling about that scalding water 5) wash down the counter with some 409/disinfectant
- oh yeah turn on the stove or w/e you’re using before you clean the cutting board but after u take off the gloves so it can cook while you disinfect everything
- boom you’re done you can breathe easy now
- put salt on the meat so the people around you don’t suffer
i’ve also got like a $5.00 meat thermometer from amazon so if i use a whole slab of whatever i can stick it in during the cooking process to make sure nothing’s raw and ease my own mind. 165F for chicken, 105F for beef, 145F for fish.
this is mostly for chicken because 1) it freaks me out the most 2) it’s the cheapest of all the meats 3) it’s the one i cook the most. i could probably expand on this more too if needed. it’s been a long and arduous process getting comfortable with raw meat and there’s absolutely no shame in being freaked out by it. seriously, though–cheap disposable plastic gloves are life-changing.
