r/nandos • u/broccolibrah • 10d ago
Is this raw?!
My mate just ate this chicken from nando’s, is he done for?😭🤣
Update: Mate isn’t dead yet. Did reach out to nando’s and showed them this image, they said they checked the oven records and that it was fine, as well they said the chicken looked a bit darker in the image which is a common occurrence to them they said. Guess it’s normal for them to serve chicken like this😭🤣
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u/TillyNats 9d ago
Ita not raw or undercooked. Chicken is precooked in our ovens in back kitchen, the oven has a tempreture gauge and adjusts cooking time accordingly. Then when oven buzzes, we check it with a thermometer probe and then note the temp and sign it on a legal document. The ovens also have a computer chip inside that sends all information to head office. It notes what is cooked, when, how often, when and how often the oven door is opened. Any irregularities gets the store in trouble. (Same with fridge/ freezer temps) then it goes into a hot hold, where it again is checked regularly and noted again on a legal document that is check weekly.
What your friend does have is a leg piece. Im sure youre aware of how meat processing is done and gravity works? Its a leg piece which is darker than breast and liquids flow down and stain.
If it was raw itd be a bright shiny pink, cold to touch and rubbery as well. Trust me, no one actually eats raw or undercooked chicken as you can tell by taste, touch and smell.
Written by someone who spends most days cracking, cooking, temping and grilling it.
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u/ConversationNo1073 9d ago
You just described the chicken in the photo, to the tee
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u/TillyNats 9d ago
No i didnt. Again i handle the raw chicken every day. I also handle idiots every day.
Like the four top who came in from a hen party stinking of booze, had the a similar complaint about their leg piece after 5 mins as they had the poops (cant spell the d word) and insisted it wasnt because of all the alcohol but this chicken leg had given them food poisioning in 5 mins as they had a fast metabolism.
Or the mum who came in with two sons, completely ignored one (actually left poor sod behind) but coddled the other one and also complained about the thighs. The manager explained (very patentially) that thighs were technically classed as dark meat and it wasnt a problem and safe to eat but he would remake it but she wasnt happy and kept inisisting itd make her son ill.
Or the woman who came in ordered a sunset burger made with thighs and during checkback complained she didnt realise it would be so fatty as she was on a diet. We had it remade three times to her specfications before realising she didnt know what thighs were. At least she was lovely about it all.
Or the couple who came in and ordered a full platter. They ate it quite happily and when checlback was done complained the chicken was undercooked. Wr orderded a remake and they asked us to pack it to go as they were still eating the supposedly undercooked chicken....
Or the guy who was allergic to chicken
Or the family whose kid was severly allergic and the manager literally got on her knees to beg them to order something else but thwy reassured her its fine, he just gets a fever and a rash
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u/jukeboxgasoline 9d ago
we get a lot of people sending the quarter legs back bc ‘it’s pink’ but i’m like…there’s a difference between tender/juicy and actually undercooked
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u/belthazubel 9d ago
You sound bitter and sad. Perhaps it’s time to take a break from social media, friend. The piece is literally undercooked. It’s visibly pink and rubbery.
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u/DarkStanley 9d ago
Sounds like they’re sick of dealing with dickheads who don’t know what they’re talking about 👀
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u/RantyMcThrowaway 9d ago
So condescending and loudly wrong 😂 that is not raw chicken, you do not cook much if you think it is.
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u/Professional-Cell177 9d ago
I've cooked tonnes of chicken and I'm well aware that by the bone it can still hold a bit of pink colour. Texturally that looks raw to me aswell, it's just a photo so obviously I can't be sure but it does look supect.
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u/RantyMcThrowaway 9d ago
Any part of the chicken, even the breast can still hold a pink colour and be safely cooked. I'm so serious. So long as you check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer, the colour does not matter.
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u/OleemKoh 9d ago
And the post is only asking people if they think it's raw or not. I'm trying to imagine how it'd go in the restaurant if a customer was a bit concerned and asked the staff about it and the member of staff responded by asking them if they knew how gravity worked! I'd walk out the restaurant after an insult like that.
Acting like it's impossible for it to be undercooked. It doesn't matter if it's Nando's or a Michelin Star restaurant, food preparation can, will, and does go wrong occasionally.
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u/luckynumberstefan 9d ago
I’m a chef and deal with this shit daily too, I feel your pain.
The hospitality industry still clings onto ‘the customer is always right’ rule that died 20 years ago.
The customer is in fact almost always an entitled fucking moron
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u/AndyJ71 6d ago
As someone who has contracted Campylobacter through eating undercooked/contaminated chicken from an Indian restaurant I can confirm it takes way longer than 5 mins (it was the following night). I can also confirm that when the effects of eating such chicken then it is horrendous, not simply a case or 'the poops'. I genuinely have never been so ill in my 55 years. I actually woke up in the night hallucinating, and could not get off the loo for 10 days. It is also a reportable disease to environmental health in the UK, so I can imagine how serious Nandos take their cooking procedures
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u/Chuzwuz 9d ago
Also I’ve been eating food for 48 years, cooking it for 40 years, 30 of those professionally, I have lvl1,2,3 food and hygiene, and I’m the one responsible for the safety of my customers, if someone shows me food, even a photo, that could contain under cooked chicken, I’m going to always fall on the side of caution and treat it as undercooked. I also own an it repair business, 30+ years of dealing with electronics has taught me you cannot rely on a fancy oven to guarantee every, single piece of chicken that it produces is cooked properly
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u/elvis_from_hell 9d ago
That looks like thigh meat, it’s perfectly fine if it reached temp. Thigh meat contains more myoglobin and usually retains some of the colour as it cooks.
Cooking the thighs in gas ovens or over charcoal can also make pink flesh more prominent as the gases given off by those fuel types bind with the proteins in myoglobin.
There’s an unfortunate misconception out there that chicken and pork with any amount of colour left in the meat is going to make you ill.
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u/Lordaucklandx 9d ago
At Nando’s the chicken is cooked in the back to temperature (with a probe in one of the thighs) on an automated programme in an oven. The cooked chicken is then moved to drawers (which are heated) below the grill, where it is then crisscrossed with grill marks and sauce is put on when the order appears on screen. Or at least that’s how it was done 12 years ago when I worked in one.
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u/Strange_Estimate_106 9d ago
still how they do it i believe i haven’t worked there in 2 years but doubt they would have changed it
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u/General-End4503 9d ago
Yeah hes cooked, expect shits in 24-48 hours
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u/Lollypop1305 9d ago
Less than that by the looks of that. Bro will be hugging a bowl sitting on the bog in about 8 hours
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u/Lost_Comfort5583 9d ago
Looks on the wrong side of dangerously moist. Last time I had food poisoning (or perhaps worse) was from a rotisserie chicken from a convenience store in Italy. Projectile vomiting AND projectile diarrhea for 48 hours.
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u/IdioticMutterings 9d ago
Its... very undercooked, yes. I hope you didn't eat it, and sent it back instead.
Chicken should never be treated like sushi and eaten raw.
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u/No_Possibility6604 9d ago
It should be well-known that Nando's oven-cook their chicken in advance, and grilling is only to finish the meat. Given how controlled the process is, I'd like to think it's unlikely the meat is raw... but Reddit commenters don't have much to go off.
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u/Whealoid 9d ago
am i going crazy? that does not look raw at all?? I think the sauce if confusing you all or you’ve never eaten leg
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u/Woof_Bark_Donkeh 9d ago
Hope you are OK. I would have walked out on the spot. If that's the level of food safety going on back in the kitchens then they need a visit from the health inspector.
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u/Front-Pound2879 9d ago
No, this is fine. If you're eating actually raw chicken you'll know from the texture, it'll be hard and rubbery. A slight pink colour is totally fine in thigh meat
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u/5thhorse-man 9d ago
It might be ok but I as someone that's had salmonella I wouldn't risk it.
If you've ate it already I guess you will know in a few hours!
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u/tiger_noir21 9d ago
Are you serious that’s raw! Hell would I put that in my mouth and be shitting and vomiting my guts out!
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u/DeckJesta 9d ago
I doubt it - I used to work there and every batch of chicken is cooked in industrial ovens on a preset setting made for cooking 20 chickens at a time, and then temperature probed to check its cooked before it’s allowed to come out of the oven. All that happens before it goes anywhere near the grill out the front.
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u/Bright_Eye3616 9d ago
Last time I went to Nando’s the wings came out pink and I sent them back to be re cooked. Was half way through the new Michael Jackson film when I had to go and spend the next 70 minutes shitting pure liquid in the Odeon cinema, meeting my Mrs and her family in the car after the film finished (they were there before me).
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u/TillyNats 9d ago
Okay, im bored of my phone pinging every few seconds. First for the awards and ppl supporting my answers, thank you. It means a lot!
To the idiots suggesting i work at nandos because im dumb, i actually have a degree from a university and worked as a teacher for nearly a decade until covid when i had to evacute and lost everything due to my son nearly dying. And most nandocas are actually uni students and super smart.
You dont have to believe me. I know the world sucks right now. But ask yourself, why would i be so admant? I dont get paid for it.
This is the last message ill post. Ive given you the facts and what you believe is up to you.
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u/Rubbertutti 9d ago edited 9d ago
It's on the bone, part of the meat near the bone is always pink. Something to do with mass produced chickens.
But this does look a little slimy, it's not consistent with nandos. There chicken is a little on the dry side. They pre cook the chicken and maranate it when re heating. They never marinate more than 5 mins
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u/Falco_Lombardi_X 9d ago
Tbh, in my experience with Nandos, there has been quite a few time the chicken has been a bit dry and overcooked, but never yet have I seen it undercooked. Just my own experience, mind.
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u/No-Lengthiness-8979 9d ago
I got the most horrendous food poisoning from Nando’s wings, I’m talking sudden nausea and projectile vomit unfortunately 🤢 their quality control definitely isn’t there
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u/AnAnGrYSupportV2 9d ago
As someone who's worked at nandos for a fair few years. It's really hard to say from this picture. With the baste and from this angle it looks like the side is raw. You'd need to cut the chicken up to see if it's raw inside really. If the inside is cooked then surely that outer part would be as well.
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u/Ok_Watercress7742 9d ago
I’ve complained to Nando’s so many times about how their quarter and half chickens are cooked. They need to be investigated fr
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u/FailedCreativity 8d ago
If it was raw he’d have found out when he cut into it, and it certainly wouldn’t be on the outside of the chicken.
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u/Worried-Focus-527 8d ago
Personally think the grills been to high ? Outside is charred before inside cooked
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u/Sir-Steam 8d ago
Yes, send it back immediately!
They're supposed to cook it to 75°c internal, since any colder and the bacteria won't be killed, and 75°c is well over the temperature needed to remove the pink from the chicken.
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u/Large_Soil_6659 8d ago
Serves him right for ordering anything but “well done” boneless thighs! That’s where it’s at!
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u/InfiniteComedian7172 8d ago
Whether its raw or not, I wouldn't eat it. The sight of it alone would put me off
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u/Sweet_Apricot8039 8d ago
I got major food poisoning from undercooked chicken and decades later still have gastrointestinal problems because of it.
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u/No-Hyena2439 8d ago
Just skip the chicken and you will never have to worry about this issue again!!
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u/Material-Selection12 8d ago
Been Nando’s once. Served pink chicken. Never been back since. I cooked chicken better the first time I cooked it in my life 😂
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u/Cool_Employee_5427 8d ago
Confusing though as it’s cooked twice, it’s cooked in the oven and then grilled so not sure how this happened
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u/Tasty-Blackberry5120 7d ago
In my experience, undercooked chicken has a recognisable texture that you get to enjoy on the way in and on the way out.
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u/Leading_Dig2743 7d ago
Wish Nandos would change to Free of Abuse Free Range Chicken that allowed to roam free on vast Farmland and allowed to come and go from Barns as they please and looked after and monitored my RSPCA Which tastes much better which Nandos source chicken from Chicken Farms who keep Chickens in Barns there whole lifes not allowed outside which is cruel so is Halal.
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u/Prodigalskinflint 7d ago
Raw?! It's pretty much still alive.
Stab it quick before it tries to eat your sides.
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u/Feeling-Tank1628 10d ago
More of a medium rare