Do I have to rinse my dishes before washing them?Not usually. Most dishwashers handle the normal food residue left on dishes after eating, if you first scrape the dishes to remove any larger bits of food. But if anything is burned, melted, or stuck to the dishes, rinse and scrape them well, before you put them into the dishwasher.
Leaving some residue is actually best, because the protein in the food reacts with the soap for more-effective cleaning.
