Using lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar to wash off chicken and fish before cooking is a common practice in the West Indies/Caribbean. Before the invention of refrigerators, people applied an acidic solution because they thought it would kill any bacteria on the chicken, and also give a hint of extra flavor.
After briefly rinsing off the chicken, add a generous amount of salt, a splash of vinegar, and several limes cut in half. Use the lime and its juices to scrub the surface of each individual piece of chicken. This helps to remove the slime and film off the chicken.
Adding the lemon juice merely neutralizes the fleshy, "fresh chicken" taste of chicken that's been sitting raw in its own juices for several days.
Washing raw poultry in a diluted lemon juice or vinegar solution is an inefficient method for removing pathogens and results in pathogens both in the wash water and on the chicken, increasing the risk for cross contamination and potential foodborne illness.
Natural way to tenderize
To ensure tender meat, Chinese cooks wash it thoroughly. The meat is tenderized as they rinse the meat and wring it out (via Milk Street). J. Kenji López-Alt also explains to Milk Street that the best stir-fried meat will not only be soft but also has a "slippery texture".
Lime juice is acidic and will therefore change the pH of raw meat. This can cause the proteins in the meat to denature and change the texture. In addition, the lime juice can break down fat and cause the meat to be less tender.
Lemon, lime, and orange juice all contain acid that tenderizes the tough proteins in steak and other meats. They can help break down collagen, the connective tissue in your steak, making it easier to chew and digest.
The answer is yes – if you use too much of it. Lime juice is acidic and will break down the proteins in chicken, causing it to become dry and tough. So, if you want to use lime juice in your chicken recipe, be sure to use it sparingly. A little goes a long way!
Cooking: When cooking savory dishes, lime juice and orange juice make a good substitute for lemon juice. Replace the lemon juice with lime juice in equal amounts (e.g. 1 teaspoon for 1 teaspoon).
The citrus acid breaks down the meat, almost pre-cooking it. You don't want to break down the meat too much, though, so don't leave the meat marinating in the fridge for more than 24 hours. In this cilantro lime marinated chicken, the fresh lime juice makes the chicken super tender.
Generally speaking, you can marinate chicken in lime juice for anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours. Just make sure that you don't marinate the chicken for too long, as the acid in the lime juice can start to break down the chicken if left for too long.
While washing meat and poultry to remove dirt, slime, fat or blood may have been appropriate decades ago when many slaughtered and prepared their own food, the modern food safety system doesn't require it. Meat and poultry are cleaned during processing, so further washing is not necessary.
How long can you marinate in lime juice: this is called a quick marinade because you only want to let your meat sit for a maximum of 2 hours, at most! The lime juice will start to “cook” or denature the meat after that. Here is a great Guide to Marinating Meats! We suggest only letting it marinate for 30 minutes.
Lime itself has antibacterial properties that help reduce the spread of germs. Made up of calcium carbonate and due to limestone being alkaline, it has natural anti-bacterial properties. It is often used in agricultural buildings or to disinfect cellars by killing mould.
We suggest exploring options such as soaking meat in a marinade made with lemon, lime juice, or vinegar. However, don't leave your meat in lime or lemon juice for too long, or else it'll get too soft. Anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour is a good time frame for acidic marinades.
While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. You may also include two to three tablespoons of water. For beef, add a 1/4-teaspoon of baking soda for tenderizing. Additional seasonings are optional and vary from recipe to recipe.
Ask a few professional chefs, “Should you wash raw chicken?” and you'll get very different answers depending on who you ask. In general, though, chefs in the U.S. and Europe rarely wash chicken before cooking it for both flavor and safety reasons.
Chicken-washing myths, busted
Others believe washing with a slightly acidic solution (such as vinegar or lemon juice) will kill bacteria. On the contrary, research has shown washing raw poultry in lemon juice or vinegar does not remove bacteria and can increase the cross-contamination risk.
Similarly, Jamaicans have different methods for preparing and cooking chicken and after interviewing a few individuals the common reasoning for washing chicken is to remove the residue from fats and drained chicken “juices” after cleaning — most times with vinegar — not to remove bacteria.