Couples Cooking: pork, the dichotomy

The US Gummint has recently changed their cooking guidelines on pork. For example, cooking to pink is fine, whereas, cooking to white or gray was the standard to keep from dying, blah blah blah...all A's life.
Now, A comes from a background of raising hogs, processing the meat, and preparing it so as to enjoy it, not die from eating it. B didn't get any lectures or demonstrations, apparently. B likes juicy and tender, whereas A sort of panics when there is just too much juice, or too much tender.
When there is the question posed as to how long a pork loin should grill at 400 degree heat, B goes by look, not time. (Ok. We are all going to die, aren't we?) How long! Not cook by look! A grabs a beer, B "looks". ( At the pok on the grill and at A twisting and spinning, waving hands like as whirling Dervish.)
A had some pork cook theory support, since the neighbor got his (A's brother) compliment to the chef. He put his chop in the oven and cooked it to family lore temperature (broil) and time (20 minutes).
A's brother wants more! All the time!
B says A shall be responsible for all future pork cook.
Except that B is not going to wait for A to get off work to prepare the pork.
A's brother suggested pork and beans, pork fried, roasted, boiled,and on and on. So, Brother will get his wishes come true. A will cook. B just might watch, in case B is called to cooking duty.
In the meantime pork screams for complimentary sweet stuff.
Typically, black eyed peas, sweet cornbread, cabbage, yams, apple cider as a rue...
And the whole point of this is to just distract you from the ills and woes of this day, and every day. And possibly encourage you to experiment with your cooking, and for me to demonstrate how awful cooking by look ( B's go to) as opposed to A's timed method works.
A's brother is excited! Get excited by apple cider, if nothing else!
And stay safe, healthy, make what you can out of pandemic isolation, friends.

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"COVID CRAZY"

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

pigs are smarter than chimpanzees and have been taught to play video games?

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@ovals49 intelligent. It is no surprise they would learn to play a video game.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

...but stop at beef medium for tender pork instead of the high temp fresh pork thermometer marking. There hasn't been a case of trichinosis in the US in decades. Really isn't a worry, which is the reason we've been programed to overcook pork. So, I'm with B on this one.

We cooked a rack of baby pork ribs in the instant pot last week - 30 min/lb at high pressure. Use a chili powder based rub. Bones pulled right out, super tender and tasty. I'm making a easy BBQ sauce...small can tomato sauce, squeeze or two of mustard, healthy dose of hot sauce, squirt of liquid aminos (soy sauce), lemon juice, and a dollop of balsamic vinegar. Sure was good on the ribs!

Happy cooking (and eating) one and all!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout And meat thermometers.
It was a surprise that these pork chops were so comparatively inexpensive. If that package had contained beef, it would have cost at least 3 times more.
A has been "volunteered" to take over pork cooking.
Given the brother next door is a pork freak, and the price is right, let there be pork.
What is available here is shelves full of sauces and rubs that are not sold in other parts of the country. It is just easy to forego sauce creation in favor of grabbing a bottle or bag of flavorings.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

weights and cuts and all that leads inescapably to "invest in a good instant read meat thermometer and use the hell out of it. There are charts, FDA if you prefer, but really mo bettah da kine from various experienced cooks and chefs to check on proper temp for anything and everything, keep them in a folder and keep it handy.

YAMS (sweet potatoes) - you're gonna love this. Use preferably small ones, scrub and freeze for at least 1 hour up to 2 hrs. Remove from freezer and bake on parchment paper or silicone mat for 1 hour at 450. Here I'll quote from my source:

After an hour or so, once caramelized sugar is seeping from the potatoes and trapped steam has separated the skin from the flesh, they’re finished. But as the chef points out, it’s near impossible to overcook a sweet potato, the sugars becoming more concentrated as they cook.

This is an old Chinese street food from some frozen province. The freezing does something to the water in the cells that enhances the sweetness when baked long and hot afterward.

Normally not a fan of sweet except in desserts, but this (and applesauce) is an exception.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris I will try that!
I typically use charts from an ancient Betty Crocker Cookbook. What sort of shocked me was a month or so ago, I did a quick Google search for some tips on preparing a pork loin. I was flooded with information about revised temperatures and cooking times for pork. The way they were describing these new guidelines was treating pork like quick and easy food. It made me feel old! Lol!
I do use a meat thermometer, although somebody around here was hungry enough to gnaw off his own arm, so I didn't get a chance to check it before it landed on the table.
Given the low prices, and that my gang loves pork, I intend to have it more often, and do intend to stick with the 1960's guidelines for prep.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981