I always quickly rinse my meat under water to get off any slime. But with respect to maximizing flavor, soaking it in water for 5-60 minutes before cooking is something I always wonder is beneficial or not.
i do it for oxtail. Just to get out all that residual blood and grime. But I do it cause I want a really clean broth. If i was just doing a braise I wouldn’t really care
rinsing of meat or seafood in cold water is fine, but I usually make sure I towel dry as best I can (unless it’s going straight into another liquid)
Like Charlie, if I have time, I’ll blanch any meat and bones once (or twice!) before making any broth or stock. It’s an old school Chinese method and also high end French technique (a la Thomas Keller for the non-believers)
I like to brine poultry or pork in some water and salt for about 15 minutes before cooking. You have to rinse the brine off and blot dry before cooking.
Rinse the ground meats in a colander under cold running water. It’s best to do the two separately. Handling the meat as little as possible, press it and stir it gently against the side of the colander to drain thoroughly. Shake colander up and down a bit. Allow the meats to drain and keep discarding the red juices that collect at the bottom of the bowl. You want the meats to dry but they will still be extremely moist.
Soaking raw meat for a few minutes would seem to help remove any rancid film from the meat and prepare the outside of the meat for any seasoning better, without risking any dilution of the interior meat flavor.
With high quality meat it probably doesn’t matter either way, but I was curious about the opinions of others.
I guess I don’t see how rinsing or soaking raw meat would make any difference in “preparing” the outside of the meat for seasoning. I’ve never soaked or rinsed a steak, and I don’t know of any restaurants offhand that do…