About Pork

Leaner hogs and (unfounded) fears of food bourne illness result in pork that is often too dry, chewy, or lacking in flavor. Most American cooks are only now breaking out of the baked ham/broiled chops/roasted loin habit to discover just how versatile and exciting "The other white meat" can be.

Pork is arguably the most versatile of meats. No other animal provides as wide a variety of uses worldwide or in American cuisine. Chinese, Southeast Asian, and Latin American, Polynesian and European cuisines all make good use of pork. In the US pork is commonly eaten as ribs, ham, chops, and for special occasions, perhaps a roast. It is used in sausages and hotdogs (the casings if not also the actual meat), meatloaf, bacon, and in parts of the country the intestines, skin, and even the feet are considered delicacies. Your average person eats pork in more forms than they eat beef, fish, or chicken, even if they eat more of any of those other animal proteins.

Nevertheless, until recently the average American cook would make a few favorite recipes, barely skimming the surface of this meat's great flavor potential. To make matters worse, there have been lingering fears about eating undercooked pork that have causedmany a cook to err on the side of caution, resulting in quite a lot of dried out, chewy pork dinners that have put some people off pork for good. Add to that the fact that pork is often overcooked for fear of trichinosis, and you have a lot of people out there who have eaten pork all of their lives without ever knowing how truly delicious it can be.

Well Done or Rare?

There was a time when illness caused by undercooked pork was a valid worry. That time is over. While pork should never be eaten raw or even rare, it can be eaten while still slightly rosey in the center, when it is at its juciest. That is an important advancement, because today's hog is bred to be far leaner than it was in the past. You can still find plenty of fatty cuts with abundant fat that needs to be trimmed off, but the fat running through the meat has been drastically reduced to meet current consumer demand. With fewer worries regarding illness, pork cooked to medium (instead of well done) will abundantly compensate for the loss of fat in terms of flavor. The big worry has been trichinosis with a lesser but valid preoccupation with porcine tape worm. Tape worm cysts can be killed by cooking pork to a rosey centered-medium, and trichinosis has been all but eradicated. In the last forty years there havbeen only a handful of cases, the majority being attributable to venison and other game, and locally produced hogs, not the ones you find in the supermarkets. Not that I'm arguing that industrial hog production is the greatest advancement of the modrn era, but it has allowed us to finally eat a juicy pork chop without worry.

Pork Recipes

Thai Coconut Rib
Dry-Rubbed Barbequed Ribs
Sheboygan-style Bratwurst
Jamaican Jerk-rubbed Pork
Char Sieu: Chinese "Red" Barbequed Pork

Thai Coconut Ribs

4 pounds baby back pork ribs
1 cup canned ligh coconut milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/3 cup (packed) chopped shallots
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
2 stalks lemongrass, chopped
1 teaspoon salt

Puree all ingredients (except meat!) to make marinade.
Marinate ribs overnight.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat) or preheat broiler. Remove ribs from marinade; reserve marinade. Grill or broil ribs until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes. Transfer to platter.
Transfer marinade to heavy small saucepan. Boil marinade 1 minute.
Serve ribs with marinade.

Note: Try with pork kebabs

Dry-Rubbed Barbequed Ribs

Pork Ribs
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup black peppercorns
2 Tb kosher salt
2 Tb onion powder
1 Tb powdered mustard
1 Tb garlic powder
1 Tb chile powder
(makes enough rub for
several pounds of ribs)

Mix all dry ingredients in a spice mill and grind.
Rub on ribs, let stand an hour.
Grill over indirect heat 30 min-1 hour until nicely charred but not burned, turning occasionally to ensure even cooking.
Wrap ribs in foil and cook an hour more, turning over once halfway. The ribs need to do most of their cooking slowly and under low heat in order to tenderize the ribs.
Put foil package in a paper bag and let sit in a cold or warm oven for 1 hour.
Serve with your favorite barbeque sauce if desired, but these ribs stand up on their own.

Sheboygan-style Bratwurst

Bratwurst originally hails from Germany, where it is a finely ground, lightly seasoned mixture of veal and pork. In the United States Bratwurst is marketed widely but is most popular in areas of the country where German immigrants settleds in dense numbers. My wife hails from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a state which loves its bratwurst and a town that pioneered a distinctive style that is rather different than the German variety. Sheboygan style bratwursts would probably not be recognizable as such by most Germans, and indeed there is a constant battle between admirers of the Sheboygan style and the Milwaukee style, which more closely resembles the German version. The Sheboygan bratwurst is coursely ground, and usually foregoes the veal. Some folks also eat the bratwurst not as a sausage but rather as a patty, which is most convenient when making it at home unless you have a sausage stuffer and a bit of expertise in using it. I usually prepare mine with leaner meat, which sacrifices flavor and juiciness but significantly reduces the amount of fat, cholesteral and calories, which otherwise can be rather high (Wisconsin's population is the heaviest in the nation, and apart from cheese and butter, I suspect that bratwurst is a prime cause of that).

3 lb pork butt (shoulder)
1 Tb MSG
1 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry mustard, preferably Colman's
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg or mace

Chill the meat and cut it into cubes. Add the dry ingredients and mix to coat.
Using a 3/8-inch plate, grind the meat and place the ground meat in a large bowl in the refrigerator.
Let the mixture rest overnight for the best flavor, or use immediately if you are pressed for time. The mixture also freezes well at this point.
Form the mixture into patties or stuff them into sausage casings. Cook according to your taste, but make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked through.

Jamaican Jerk-rubbed Pork

2 Tb onion powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp allspice
½ tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp habanero

Combine the dry ingredients well into a dry rub. Make a double batch if desired for quick future use (it keeps well in an airtight container).
Rub generously over pork tenderloin, pork chops, loin roast, kebabs, patties, or whatever form of pork you fancy. Cook as desired.

Note: Works well on chicken, fish or steak too.

Char Sieu: Chinese "Red" Barbequed Pork

½ c kejap manis (or equal parts honey, soy sauce)
2 Tb hoisin
1 Tb shaoxing (or dry sherry)
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp five spice powder
2 drops red food coloring

Combine ingredients and mix well.
Marinate pork in mixture for several hours.
Cook pork as desired (slower times, lower temperatures and/or indirect heat sources are preferred to keep sugars from burning)
Boil the reserved marinade for 5 minutes to use as a sauce for serving.

Recipe1

Marc's Pork Page
Last Updated Dec 31, 2003
Marc A. Healy