Have you ever seen someone toss salad with his hands?

[Rudynate]

5 hours ago, Rudynate said:

I use my trusty salad spinner that I have had for twenty years or more.  I use a salad set to toss salad, but I wouldn't be grossed out to see someone tossing it with their hands.  I would feel safe assuming that my host had washed his hands after taking a dump or any other unsavory activities.  Even then - most "sanitary" measures are actually "aesthetic" measures.

 

Aww - poor pubic_assistance - getting grossed out like those nasty-nice gay men.   

 

[+ BobPS]

I prefer using my tongue 😜 

[jeezifonly]

Clean hands used as universal food-making tools is hardly new.
Goddesses Ina and Martha still toss some salads with them. 
Just avoid the fresh food items that seem suspect when at a private dinner, and decline further invitations if the very idea is bothersome.

(I presume whenever dining out, you also ask the manager of the establishment for the most recent full State Health Dept. Report, a tour of the kitchen, and a full Q&A with all kitchen and serving staff…) 😂

 

 

 

[Just Chuck]

In the height of the pandemic lockdown, I had to travel to a nearby city to take my greyhound to a specialist veterinarian.  The city was REALLY serious about lockdown protocols. I was staying in an Embassy Suites and managed to stand in line, outdoors and in the winter, to buy a pre-packaged salad.  I took it back to my room and realized that I didn't have any utensils.  So, I not only tossed but also ate the salad with my hands.  

[pubic_assistance]

2 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Do your guests know you toss the salad with your hands, @pubic_assistance?

Actually I don't.

I meant I've touched all the ingredients with my hands while I'm preparing the salad in the kitchen.....but...the appropriate way to serve a salad is to toss the dressing at the table. (Keeps the lettuce fresh and crunchy if you wait until it's being served ). So..no at the table I wouldn't use my hands. That's why I asked where this offensive salad was being tossed by hand.

Since I've touched everything that's going in the salad..I don't really understand why if someone chose to also toss in the dressing in the kitchen and mix it together by hand before serving...how does this suddenly makes it gross ?  The comment about being ok for cooked foods is bizarre. WHO uses gloves to make a cold sandwich or cut up some fruit ? This conversation has me baffled by the randomness of application of sanitary rules. As long as the food is handled with clean hands who cares ? I agree it's a bit messy with salad oils to be using your hands...but I can't imagine your host picked his nose just before making your salad...so I personally wouldn't have been offended. 

[pubic_assistance]

1 hour ago, Rudynate said:

 

Aww - poor pubic_assistance - getting grossed out like those nasty-nice gay men.   

 

I'm not grossed out. 

Quite the opposite.

I am confused why a gay man would be grossed out by touching a salad when many ( I'm unaware of all of @Unicorn's sexual interests ) gay men seem to love licking someone's asshole. Seems a bizarre contradiction of sanitary standards. 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

...gay men seem to love licking someone's asshole...

No, I do not. 🤮

 

[+ José Soplanucas]

 

[+ poolboy48220]

Two experiences both from the restaurant I worked at in my teens...

• the dishwasher was helping stir salad dressing in the kitchen, using his whole arm in the huge bin of dressing. I don't remember what kind of dressing it was.
• A waiter was preparing a tableside Caesar salad and working so hard to impress the two young ladies he was making it for, he dripped sweat into the salad.  They barely touched it. 

[marylander1940]

 

I'm watching this movie, and I don't know why I remembered this old thread...

[+ Pensant]

I always handle the salad ingredients with my bare hands since I then proceed to chop the lettuce, shallots, etc. with a sharp butcher knife before loading them in the bowl with my bare hands. I then toss the salad with cold-pressed EVOO and thick balsamic vinegar with salad tongs. Of course, I wash my hands before and after. I’ve prepared salads this way since 2000, in full view of guests. In 23 years I’ve never given this a second thought, nor have my guests.

The best way to make a kale salad is to hand-knead it with EVOO to soften it, although I wear gloves when I do that since I don’t want oil all over my hands.

[samhexum]

On 9/11/2023 at 3:59 PM, marylander1940 said:

Let's ask @Unicorn to recall the event! 

😞😪😢

On 9/12/2023 at 7:57 AM, poolboy48220 said:

the dishwasher was helping stir salad dressing in the kitchen, using his whole arm in the huge bin of dressing. I don't remember what kind of dressing it was.

 

I can quote Designing Women for many situations in life. 😎

[+ WstVlgChris]

Responding to just the OP, I don't think it's all that common a practice, but it is indeed something I've seen done (at small dinner parties) and done myself (ditto). And of course, I thoroughly wash my hands right before doing so, even if I'd done so just before chopping, shredding, etc.   

I don't think it's gross, and the benefit is a very even distribution of the dressing (i.e., I prepare the salad, put everything in the bowl and don't worry about even distribution of tomatoes, etc., prepare the vinaigrette, pour it on top, and then toss all with my hands). The only downside is that my hands are super oily and greasy so once I finish, you have to ask someone else to turn the faucet back on to wash your hands again (or else immediately clean faucet handle after th at).

[+ Pensant]

7 hours ago, WstVlgChris said:

you have to ask someone else to turn the faucet back on to wash your hands again

Or use your elbow, as I always do!

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

On 9/11/2023 at 12:40 AM, mike carey said:

I've noticed in recent years a lot of food preparation where using implement was mandated, disposable gloves are now used and I can see the advantage of using gloved hands to work more quickly than using tongs. Perhaps tossing a salad with gloved hands in certain types of eateries could be part of the [I hesitate to use the word] 'artisanal' image they seek to project.

They better not be using single use plastic gloves.  Re-usable utensils are much more sustainable for the environment than plastic gloves.

[pubic_assistance]

2 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

They better not be using single use plastic gloves

Single use plastic gloves are mandatory in all food service businesses in NYC. You would die if you knew number of gloves a single delicatessen goes through in a days time. Times the number of delis and restaurants in NYC feeding the millions of people who dine out and take out every week. It's billions of gloves tossed in the trash every year.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

3 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Single use plastic gloves are mandatory in all food service businesses in NYC. You would die if you knew number of gloves a single delicatessen goes through in a days time. Times the number of delis and restaurants in NYC feeding the millions of people who dine out and take out every week. It's billions of gloves tossed in the trash every year.

Very ironic for NYC 😂

At least when I request a single-use straw, I'll be comforted to know that it's wrapper was only touched by gloved hands!

[pubic_assistance]

2 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

Very ironic for NYC 😂

Completely.

We must go through 20 million plastic food containers a day but its the straws that will end the planet. Nothing makes sense here