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From bacon to pork chops, from holiday ham to grilled sausage, there are many delicious ways to prepare pork recipes. Surprisingly, only one-third of American pork is served fresh. The rest is smoked, salted, cured, or made into tasty sausage.
Modern breeding methods have standardized pork to the degree that the various cuts are no longer graded. Simply check the label for the cut you need. And since pork is slaughtered at an early age, it is naturally tender.
Look for fresh pork that's pinkish white to grayish pink (the leg and shoulder cuts tend to be darker than the loin cuts). The flesh should be firm to the touch. The amount of marbled fat should be minimal, and any external fat should be firm and white. Cured and smoked pork products, however, are darker in color due to the curing process.
The quality of pork recipes has improved dramatically with great studies in its safety, its taste, and even its fat content (it's about 30% leaner than in the 1980s). For culinary purposes, a pig is divided into four sections: loin (tenderloin, loin, and all chops), leg (ham), side (ribs and American-style bacon), and shoulder (hocks and most ground pork, as well as the cuts for pulled pork). In this category you will find the delicious pork recipes with pictures.
Like other meats, today's pork is much leaner than in the past. Pork recipes used to require pork to be cooked to 170°F to prevent any possible infection from trichinosis, a disease that could be passed to humans through undercooked pork. Not only has trichinosis been eradicated from pork products, but the parasite that carries the disease is killed at 137°F. So for tender, juicy pork it should not be cooked above 160°F. The exception is large cuts like fresh ham, which should be cooked to 170°F.
Fresh pork can be refrigerated, tightly wrapped, for up to two days. Cured and smoked products, if unsliced and sealed in their original packaging, will last for two weeks or longer, but only one week after being opened. Do not store according to the "purchase by" date on the package, as supermarket refrigerators are colder than those at home.
A wide and varied choice of smoked pork products is available, ranging from large holiday hams to economical, everyday cuts smoked hocks, spareribs and bacon. Half and whole hams should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than a week before use; ham steaks for 3 to 4 days; sliced boiled ham and prosciutto for up to 3 days; and bacon for 5 to 7 days.
