I am just learning to cook, and I am fixing a beef roast. Should I wash the meat prior to cooking?

nooooo!

inspect it for debris like any paranoid person would do.

what you should do is give some soy sauce love,(marinade for about an hour in soy sauce poke the meat with a fork first and turn a couple of times ) make sure you cover tightly and low heat ,this will give you a buttery meat .

I personally like to wash off the meat but I don't always. I often get older meat and I like to remove the old blood, etc that it was sitting in. Yes I know the soaker in the bottom of the pan does catch some of the juiciness but it probably fine if you don't. I mainly wash off poultry. If I wash I do pat it dry.

Since everyone else is including tips here are some more:

Use a meat thermometer! This is the key to getting the meat as rare or as well done as you want. Be careful when you wash the thermometer as my kids let it sit upside down in the sink and it fills up with water and never works as good again.

Read up on how to buy the right roast and then you'll know the basics on how that particular roast should best be fixed. Should you pot roast or oven roast? etc. You can get most of the details you need on the sites listed below or make friends with your local butcher or whoever you bought the meat from can help you too.

YOU HAVE to take it easy. Your Q is written as though it has to be done today. You didn't get the best cut of meat. You didn't get the worst cut, either. You have several options: You can do it in a crock pot or slow cooker. Just follow the directions for pot roast. You can do it in the oven. If you do it this way, you should use a meat thermometer. Use salt, pepper and garlic or garlic powder. You might also want to consider adding a couple sticks of celery, some raw onion and a couple carrots to the pan. Put some water in the roasting pan. This helps to make a delicious natural gravy. It all depends on how rare [or well done] you prefer your meat. At 350 degrees F. you have to figure about 8 to 10 minutes per pound. A meat thermometer placed in the thickest part of the roast should take the guesswork out of cooking. You can slice it very thin and do it on the stove top - just like you were going to make Swiss steak or Philly-style steak sandwich. Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it! VTY, Ron Berue Yes, that is my real last name!

Washing meat before cooking is not necessary. (Check the U.S.D.A. web page for that.)

Cooking will kill any bacteria on the surface of the meat.

The liquid in meat packaging is not blood, it is protein-saturated water that has drained from the meat during shipping. All of the blood is drained at the time of dressing the carcass.

You can give meat a quick rinse with cool, clear water if it makes you feel better, but doing so is totally pointless.

Please, never use any kind of soap on uncooked meat, as I have seen suggested here on Y!A several times in the past.

Be sure to pat it dry before browning (if you do brown it).

No all websites related to this same question of any authority say "no". Washing the meat would not get rid of any bacteria anyway and it will also make your meat tough. When you cook the meat all bacteria is destroyed (and again washing it with water would't kill a thing, and you can't use soap on what you eat).

Rinse it with cool water and get all the bits of loose fat and bone fragments. Pat dry with paper towels, then season as desired.

I suggest you rinse all meat prior to cooking, except maybe ground meats and sausages.

Remember when cooking a roast, keep in mind planned leftovers. You can make roast beef sandwiches for lunch and then slice what is left and re-heat with leftover gravy (and if you have leftover mashed potatoes even better) and make hot beef sandwiches. Or cut up the last of the beef and warm with gravy and serve over egg noodles with a veggie on the side.

I've been cooking for many (lots and lots) years now and honestly still enjoy it. Though I do get lazy some days and don't cook, but usually have leftovers to feed the family!

Enjoy

No!!! Water can make it tough. Any bacteria or "germs" on the surface of the meat will be killed in the cooking process. Sometimes cuts of meat that have a bone will have bits of bone on them from the sides of the butchers saw. Just use a slightly damp paper towel to remove them. Roasts are boneless... no need to wet it.

You can't wash ground beef, or any other ground meat, can you??? This is why they say to cook it all the way through to kill anything that has been mixed into the meat. A roast or solid piece of meat obviously can not have anything "mixed into' it.

In my almost forty years of cooking, I have never seen 'debris' on a roast. I've almost never washed off a roast or even chicken for that matter. Never had food poisoning from my cooking.

If oven temperatures won't kill it, a little water won't either.

If you want to...do it. I don't.

I say no. Take the best knife you have and stab the roast, fill the holes with garlic slivers ,heat your oven to 350 and roast for 20 minutes per pound plus 20m minutes

I wash all meat before I cook it except for ground meats. its been hanging up with other meat. Stool and all kinds of stuff is in the slaughter house before the meat is processed in the super market. I prefer to wash it all off in cold water and pat it dry.