Pork Chop

Everyone loves bacon, but what about all the other meat that comes from a pig? Do we know how to cook it? Or what temperature to cook it to? Or where that pulled pork sandwich you are eating comes from exactly?

Pork is properly cooked when it has reached 145 degrees and let sit for three minutes after removing from heat. Pork can have a pink tint to it still as long as it has been cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Pork chops are to be cooked similarly to a steak, cooking on one side and then flipping once to the other, many times they may become dry from over-cooking because of how lean they are.

There are five wholesale cuts (bigger quantity cuts) to a pig: boston butt, picnic shoulder, loin, belly/side, and ham. The diagram below shows what retail cuts (cuts of meat sold in grocery stores) come from where and also what type of cooking to do. The boston butt and picnic shoulder make up the shoulder, it is just split into two parts. The boston butt tends to be leaner and is usually used for those barbeque pulled pork sandwiches! Loin cuts tend to be the leanest cuts of pork if you are looking for a leaner product!

If pork is packaged and sealed, it can be kept for 2-4 days in the fridge before it goes bad, otherwise it should be put in the freezer and then thawed when ready to cook.

Organic meat tends to give off this idea that it is healthier than other meat, and it is not healthier or safer. The differences between conventional practices and organic practices is the management practices. Organic farms may allow their pigs to go outside and if a pig becomes sick they can not treat them with antibiotics without marking that pig as non-organic. Conventional farms keep their pigs indoors and are allowed to use antibiotics when needed, all producers follow withdrawal periods that keep consumers safe from antibiotic consumption. Along with withdrawal times, all pork is tested for antibiotic residue before it is put into grocery stores so that there is no chance of antibiotics in meat. There are also no GMOs in pork, even if their feed has GMOs, their stomachs still digest and breakdown all food the same. When you see a label on a pork product that says "Hormone Free," it does not mean anything because it is illegal to give added hormones to pigs going to market! The best thing to do is understand the labels before you buy!