Actress Paula Patton’s fried chicken recipe video went viral–not in a good way.
In the video, Patton said she was frying 138 chicken wings for her son Julian’s school. (Patton shares Julian with her ex-husband singer Robin Thicke.)
She is then seen rinsing the chicken, dipping it in flour, placing it in avocado oil to fry.
In the initial clip, Patton shared a fried chicken demo that included her barely “rinsing” her chicken and choosing to season the wings when they were already cooking in the grease.
Have you ever seen that done before?
After much chatter about the multiple fried chicken preparation violations, Patton took to social media to address the situation, and she took it all in stride and with laughter.
“I just wanted to respond and say listen, I get it. It might look crazy,” explained Patton, before hurling her mom under the bus. “It is the way we do it—my mom taught me; it is my mom’s recipe.”
She also addressed the filthy fowl situations, adding, “I do believe in washing the chicken. And maybe the way the video was edited, it looked like I don’t wash it long enough, but I definitely do because I feed it to my son. And I sent it to his whole school; that batch I made, I made it for his school.”
The Case for NOT Washing Your Chicken
It may sound weird, but there is a case for you not washing your chicken before you cook it. Yes, I know it sounds contrary to everything you grew up hearing, but FDA experts share their reasons why.
Studies have shown that 44% of the population washes raw chicken prior to cooking. The percentage goes up to 71% when the chicken is frozen.
Both situations raise the risk of spreading Campylobacter bacteria on multiple surfaces (hands, clothing, cooking utensils, counter tops and more) via splashing droplets of water.