In preparing pork dishes, I have a question: in sauteeing a center cut of pork (boneless chop), is it okay for the pork to be a little pink inside?
Chefs will often tell you that most people cook the hell out of their pork–and ultimately dry it out. I don’t want to risk health problems with trichinosis, but I also don’t want a tough cut of meat.
I have read in some medical journal or other that trichinosis has essentially been eliminated from the domestic US pork supply. The implication was that pink pork was now ok. Sorry not to have a cite, don’t feel like searching right now.
A little pink is fine…if it’s gray through and through, it’s going to be tough and juiceless.
Years ago, cookbooks insisted that pork have an internal temperature of at least 180 degrees F when served, which resulted in overdone meat (but remember that pork used to be MUCH fattier than it is today…pork producers are putting out a leaner product now, reflecting consumers’ horror of cholesterol and saturated fat).
In Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly’s The Complete Meat Cookbook (Houghton Mifflin, 1998), they suggest cooking pork to an internal temp of 145 to 150 (then letting it rest, covered with foil, for ten minutes or so…it lets the juices settle so they don’t all squirt out when you carve, plus the meat keeps cooking itelf once you take it off the grill or out of the oven).
I checked the last time this subject came up, there hasn’t been a case of trichinosis in the US since 1968, except for one case of someone who ate some bad proscuitto in Europe.
hopefully you havent trimmed the chop too much in a hot pan add some 10 % olive oil add pork fat side down and brown well on all sides place meat in 350 oven until 150 registers on termomoter in pan add fresh chopped tomato,mushroom,red onion and garlic and cook but not browned add 1/8cup flour mix well add 1/2 cup madera wine and 1 cup beef stock bring to boil and let simmer to pork is cooked slice thin,nape the sauce and serve
Modern pork does not have to be cooked well done to be safe. If I visited anywhere in the third world I’d insist that all pork be well done though. But in the US you’re safe.