TikTok meat hack
A TikTok user has stirred up debate after revealing she drains and washes her ground beef while cooking.
@eemilydharperr
  • TikTok user Emily Harper stirred up debate online after revealing that she drains and washes her ground beef in the sink while cooking the meat. 
  • Harper posted a clip that showed her draining the grease from her pan down the sink and rinsing the beef in a sieve before putting it back in the pan to finish cooking. 
  • Michelin-starred chef Brad Carter told Insider that washing your meat is a “real no-no” because it’s “washing away flavor.”
  • Carter also advises against draining your meat in the sink, which can clog up your plumbing. 
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A TikTok user stirred up a heated debate after revealing that she drains and washes her ground beef in the sink while cooking the meat. 

Emily Harper recently posted a clip of her “kitchen tip,” saying it was a hack that she had learned in her nutrition class “a couple years ago.” 

@eemilydharperr

Another kitchen tip for you 😊 ##ThinkingAbout ##HouseTour ##cooking ##fyp ##foryou ##viral ##kitchentip

♬ Spongebob – Dante9k

The video shows Harper taking raw ground beef out of a plastic bag and putting it in the pan, breaking it up with a spatula as the meat starts to brown. 

“All this grease is disgusting,” she writes in a caption for the clip. “So get rid of it!” 

Harper drains her pan in the sink, then transfers the meat to a sieve and rinses it before putting it back into the pan to finish cooking.

"Look at the difference," she writes at the end of the clip, which has racked up 3.9 million views at the time of writing. 

Many took issue with Emily Harper's tips, including Michelin-starred chef Brad Carter

Harper's video was reshared to Twitter, where it caused even more of an outcry. While some commenters defended her method and even said they did the same thing (at least the draining part, if not the rinsing), a majority criticized her and said the meat looked dry and flavorless.

 

Brad Carter, a Michelin-starred chef who runs Carters of Moseley in Birmingham, England, also says Harper's ground meat "hack" is a bad idea.

"It's obviously washing away flavor," Carter told Insider. "It's a real, real no-no for me. I would never, ever wash the meat." 

Carter also pointed out that the liquid in the pan is just a mixture of fat and water from the meat. 

"At the end of the day, if you use top quality mince it's not going to contain any water, it's going to contain fat - and that's because it's meat and fat," he said. "The cheaper the meat that you use, the more water that's going to be involved." 

"I would leave the fat in, the fat for me would be a big part of it," he added. 

Washing your meat isn't just bad for the taste - it could also spread bacteria throughout your kitchen

Dr. Tamika Sims, director of food technology communications at the International Food Information Council Foundation, told Insider that there's no reason to wash meat. 

"Don't do it, don't wash the meat," she said. "Once you splash water onto the meat it spreads the bacteria around your sink and countertops. It's not necessary, it's not helping you in any way. You're adding water to it for nothing."

Carter also advises against draining fat down the sink because it can clog up your plumbing

"That's also an absolute no-no in the kitchen," he said. "That's only going to block the sink and cause you a real big headache." 

But Harper is clearly taking the criticism in stride, even posting a follow-up video on TikTok. 

"People acting like they never pour grease down the drain in my last vid. Calm down I rarely do it," she wrote in the caption. 

@eemilydharperr

People acting like they never pour grease down the drain in my last vid. Calm down I rarely do it 😂 ##Fyp

♬ busy doin hot girl ish - Chelsea

Harper did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Read the original article on Insider