Straining things into the kitchen sink..

[desm0nd]

I was just watching a come dine with me, and one of the people made pasta, put the strainer into the sink, and then poured the pasta in.

Well, with the sink being the dirtiest spot in your house, then doesnt that mean, that the steam from the boiling water will go into the sink, and then some will rise with bacterias and get on the food?

I just didnt a couple google searches to see if this is common knowledge but couldnt find anything..

Thoughts?

[slowtyper]

My first thought would be that the heat would kill most bacteria. However the real question (well, your question) would be whether or not steam can "lift" bacteria in the first place. I don't know how to find this out but I would guess that no, steam rising is pure steam. Please correct me on this if I am wrong. Going by your fear, you also would never steam a raw piece of chicken as salmonella rise with the steam and infect everything else. I steam chicken every week and would probably be dead by now if true.

[jayt90]

I have been doing this for years. Steam kills!!
Cooking doesn't have to be politically correct; get a life.

[desm0nd]

My first thought would be that the heat would kill most bacteria. However the real question (well, your question) would be whether or not steam can "lift" bacteria in the first place. I don't know how to find this out but I would guess that no, steam rising is pure steam. Please correct me on this if I am wrong. Going by your fear, you also would never steam a raw piece of chicken as salmonella rise with the steam and infect everything else. I steam chicken every week and would probably be dead by now if true.

Well, heat kills salmonella. I would assume that there are bacterias that cant be killed with heat.. But yes, would be interesting to know if the steam can "lift" bacteria



Cooking doesn't have to be politically correct; get a life.

That doesnt make sense

[Siefer999]

I was just watching a come dine with me, and one of the people made pasta, put the strainer into the sink, and then poured the pasta in.

Well, with the sink being the dirtiest spot in your house, then doesnt that mean, that the steam from the boiling water will go into the sink, and then some will rise with bacterias and get on the food?

I just didnt a couple google searches to see if this is common knowledge but couldnt find anything..

Thoughts?
If your sink is the dirtiest spot in your house, then you are a filthy pig and should probably be dead already. My thoughts are you should clean your sink

[desm0nd]

If your sink is the dirtiest spot in your house, then you are a filthy pig and should probably be dead already. My thoughts are you should clean your sink

Its been researched and proven.

So let me guess, you clean your sink once a day right?

[steve-0101]

Is this a serious thread? If you're really worried about this, you should probably never, ever go out to eat.

[amz155]

Bacteria are killed by heat. Water used to boil pasta is hot enough to kill bacteria. Regardless, I don't see how steam can lift organic matter with bacteria attached. Bacteria have to be attached to something; bacteria themselves can't be lifted because they are attached to something.

[Siefer999]

Its been researched and proven.

So let me guess, you clean your sink once a day right?

I clean my sink after doing my dishes and before using it when food is involved. Source your claims.

[slowtyper]

I think he means the drain.

But I do find most people have dirty sinks. keep a spray bottle near with diluted bleach and I am always disinfecting

[my0gr81]

The OP states that the strainer was put in the sink, before the pasta was poured. Standard Operating Procedures as far as I know.

[ShoNuff2]

the boiling water will not instantly sterilize your sink.
that being said not much to worry about unless the bacteria sense the impending danger and decide to jump in the air when the hot water gets poured through the strainer. if this happens all bets are off as the rising steam may cause the little buggers to levitate into the pasta leading to your impending doom. fortunately the only documented case of such an occurrence is with the rarely seen but much dreaded copperfieldococci.

[at1212b]

Think of it as naturally building up your body's immune system.

But you should try to clean your sink more often if you're that worried (have a special scrubber specifically for it).

[arisk]

In addition to the other reasons already stated, remember your pasta is hot.
If there are any bacteria transferred (and I think this doubtful) they will be at an above fatal temperature for several minutes simply because the pasta is hot.

I use this method all the time.
I consider it a non-issue and I'm quite fussy about kitchen sanitation.

[ultrablue]

After reading this thread,I recalled how a bacterial outbreak at a hospital was traced to backsplash from sink drains.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2008/12/15/sinks-hospital.html

With fruit fly season soon upon us,(small ants were already active this past warm spell) I pour a small amount of chlorine bleach in the drain and plug the sink with a stopper.
Kills the "drain flies" as they are known to hatch just up and under the sink drain if it is not disinfected regularly.

Aside from that,I bleach out the kitchen sink at least once a week,on top of daily cleanup.

[slinger99]

I was just watching a come dine with me, and one of the people made pasta, put the strainer into the sink, and then poured the pasta in.

Well, with the sink being the dirtiest spot in your house, then doesnt that mean, that the steam from the boiling water will go into the sink, and then some will rise with bacterias and get on the food?

I just didnt a couple google searches to see if this is common knowledge but couldnt find anything..

Thoughts?

When you say "put the strainer into the sink" do you mean that the strainer was resting on the bottom of the dirty sink?

[gh05t]

I've seen people put the colander directly in contact with the sinks surface as they strain, rice,pasta etc.

This as well as not properly washing meats and seasoning well are pet peeves of mine.

Once seeing this I do not eat food items prepared by them in this way.

I usually throw my stuff back into the pot after it's completely strained in the colander.

There is a chance some of the water at the bottom edges of the colander may go back into the pot with the strained stuff.

For this reason, I always wash all the dishes and wash over the sink with comet,ajax etc before straining stuff.

I also place a clean plate in the sink and then the colander on it.

[rageking]

I regularly piss in my sink so I guess I shouldnt strain things in my kitchen sink.

[AudiDude]

Think of it as naturally building up your body's immune system.


This is what I was thinking. I've eaten so many different things, I don't care any more. After you work on cars (back in the day, NO rubber gloves) and dine on a transmission oil soaked ham and cheese sandwich, an axle grease covered doughnut, heat up old shop pizza and Chinese takeout with a heat gun, eat the other half of the chicken sub that has been sitting there all day with mayonnaise on it, I'm supposed to be scared of bacteria? My biggest concern is all the people sneezing and coughing. SARS didn't spread through pasta...

[Bookpreviews]

My strainer is made of metal and sits on top of the sink like a basket- it never touches the bottom of the sink.
you could pour pasta into it and then it would just sit there and drain in the metal mesh bowl part.

I got it from Lee Valley tools 8+ years ago, but recently saw the same item at the mall- not sure how the quality of the mall one is tho.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=46940&cat=2,40733,44734&ap=3

[Piro21]

Mine has two handles. I hold one and hang it off the side of the sink with the other one.

[angekfire]

I regularly piss in my sink so I guess I shouldnt strain things in my kitchen sink.

Urine is sterile.