Dirty this and that.

I know what goes into those heated cauldrons in some pubs and buffets. It is all the old veg from the buffet, put daily into a big pot with added Maggi powdered stock, about 60% salt, cooked down, liquidised and added to the pot to top it up.
One of my concerns with those pots is that they are just 'kept warm' all day, removed after service, placed in a walk-in fridge overnight and place back into the cauldron the next morning to haet up, never coming to the boil or even simmer.
I have seen one pot topped up for two weeks without being emptied and cleaned out.
I am not fanatical on cleanliness and both DD and I never use those anti-bacterial wipes or sprays, too clean is not healthy.
In fact DD makes a lot of her own cleaning products from traditional recipes.

Perhaps you will tell me why when watching professional male chefs on tv so many don't use a mixer or a spoon when making a cake.But mix with their hands? Never saw Delia do this.I accept scones and pastry by hand but when adding eggs YUK! this really puts me off watching.

I'm with uou on this one legs
Spent three weeks touring India eating from hotel buffets most evening - was obviously careful to avoid salad, ice etc but I wasn't ill once and I have a very dodgy digestive system . They were fairly high end hotels but I doubt that guarantees much

Agree that a little dirt never hurt anyone. Years ago I worked with a girl who used to disinfect all the paintwork in her whole house every week, doors, skirting boards etc as well as the regular housework. When she had visitors she used to clean the loo every time someone used it and yet she was always off sick with tummy bugs. I think you can be too clean.

My mother-in-law used to say a good layer of dirt keeps the germs out. She lived to be almost 94 so it didn't do her any harm!

Legs55 I totally agree with you this is the reason there are so many bad bugs about no good bugs to see them off. As for soup, I worked in a posh hotel during a summer break from college, brown Windsor soup was always on the menu on Friday all it was, was all the left over soup during the week with gravy browning added to make it dark enough

My DM used to say that too Nanamaz

I would never ever have soup from one of those keep hot cauldron things you see parked at the end of self service buffets. Yuck.
oh dear!

Townie I was thinking along those lines too, there has been the trend for 'clean eating' lately so probably people are sick of hearing about that and what they should and should not be eating from the food nannies.
However, the term dirty food is quite offputting; but it doesn't mean unhygienic, it means 'bad for you food' - ie naughty but nice.

My late Grandmother used to say "You've got to eat a peck of dirt before you die". Just looked up a 'peck' and it equates to 9.9 dry litres! I don't think she meant it was compulsory, just that less than a peck wouldn't kill you. Don't think I'll try to reach that target!

PS, this was in response to Carolpaint. Perhaps you should try another website

Oh, and who do you think you are to make such an observation?

Thank you Townie thank you Legs, can there be another site for braver Grans cos this site rarely reflects real life thinking ones.

Right I'm now going to put hard hat & flak jacket on - we have become too hygiene conscious leading to lower immunity. I was brought up with the "a little bit of dirt never did you any harm". I rarely check dates on food preferring to use my senses, smell, looks & taste.

I can hear the "howls of outrage" but I am also of the opinion that "what the eye don't see, the heart don't grieve"

There are lots of things that go on in Kitchens that you would not believe & don't for one minute think the "poshest" restaurant has the highest standards of hygiene. It is a personal opinion & I'm not sure that I would want to eat something labelled "dirty" just my own observations

Ah, thank goodness someone else thinks the same as me!

This recent trend doesn't refer to poor food hygiene.
As a PP said, It's just a reaction to the craze for super 'healthy', so-called 'clean' food, free from sugar, carbs, wheat, etc,etc. 'Dirty' food doesn't meet purist criteria for 'healthiness but is tasty and enjoyable to eat. E.g. There have been 'dirty hamburger' places around for some years now.

I believe that all buffet food can be classed as 'dirty food'. We never go to a buffet. Just imagine; you got there before you? Did they accidentally spit spittal at it whilst talking, cough, sneeze etc. It's bad enough that you can't see into the kitchens and see what the staff are doing let alone what other customers will add to the concoction. For that reason i'm out!

Gizzards. Lovely. Thank you for the explanation of a dirty Martini I wondered what they were but none of the other stuff I'm very food hygiene conscious having been an Infection Control Nurse some years ago and managed several foo poisoning outbreaks. The microbiologists I worked with would never eat food from a buffet and with a brother who is a chef I've heard and seen a lot a lot of nasty kitchen things. Mind you it can go too far. DH seems to be barking up the tree that he only wants food that I have cooked from fresh at home which is a bit of a trial. Its nice to go out and enjoy a meal.

We were in France years ago and were dipping into the complementary nuts that arrived with the drinks until DS2 asked what sort of nut he had in his hand. It was a cockroach!

That qualifies as dirty food and, probably, Nuts and Cracks!

We are in France at the moment and been enjoying nibbling 'Nuts and Cracks,' a brand of mixed nuts and crackly bits, that we found in the local supermarket.

Dirty Rice – a mixture of rice, pork, chicken livers and gizzards, onions, peppers, herbs and cayenne pepper – is a traditional Cajun dish and a Dirty Martini – a Dry Martini with the addition of a little brine from a jar of cocktail olives – has been around for decades. I'm pretty sure that there are other "dirty" recipes but these are the first two that sprang to mind.

Tricia's husband

Tricia, Ibelong to the same school of cuisine as you, and yet we didn't relaise we were trend setters

I read that the latest trend in french haute cuisine is burnt food - maybe it's a similar idea. Anything as long as it's different.
They slowly over - roast eg veg. so that the inside tastes smokey. Husband says "that's not new, you do it all the time".

As a chef I think it is awful, conjures up some of the revolting kitchen practices I have witnessed over the last 22 years.
Not going to detail them, just one, I would never ever have soup from one of those keep hot cauldron things you see parked at the end of self service buffets. Yuck.

Dirty burgers apparently are a thing. I think it's meant to denote foods that are forbidden foods e.g. burgers weighted down with cheese/bacon/chilli and so on.

I recently read an interesting article on the western attitude to food, how we talk of forbidden food, guilty treats and so on. Other cultures don't have that, food is just food, it's what you eat to sustain life.

DH is watching a food (repeat) programme on TV. I've just caught the words, 'Restaurants serving dirty food are all the rage'

Okayeeeee!