New guidelines for cooking pork have chefs tickled pink

It is no longer necessary to cook the meat until it is gray and tough; less cooking makes it tastier.

Jan Underwood/Staff Photographer Meadowlark Restaurant, 5531 Far Hills Ave., makes a dish called "Pork Jezebel" which includes a pork tenderloin cooked to the pink side of medium in line with new federal guidelines. STAFF PHOTO BY JAN UNDERWOOD

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By Mark Fisher, Staff Writer 3:57 PM Friday, July 15, 2011

Meadowlark Restaurant owner and chef Elizabeth Wiley initially had a one-word reaction to the news a few weeks ago that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had lowered its temperature recommendation for cooking pork from 160 degrees to 145 degrees: “Hallelujah!”

“Today’s pork isn’t the pork of our grandmothers, so the old rules just don’t apply anymore,” said Wiley, who is a fan of pork tenderloin and has offered a tenderloin-based dish called Pork Jezebel (see recipe) on her restaurant’s menu for several years. “Hopefully, this will ease people’s fears.”

The USDA’s decision finally aligns federal cooking guidelines with real-world practices. Savvy home cooks and restaurant chefs recognized long ago that pork production methods had improved, and they had grown weary of cooking some of pork’s leanest and most prized cuts — such as pork loin, pork chops and especially pork tenderloin — way past medium. Eating those cuts of pork cooked to 160 degrees or above was akin to stuffing cotton balls in your cheeks and then gnawing on shoe leather.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s new 145-degree recommendation aligns pork with the same standard as beef, veal and lamb. The agency also called for letting the pork rest for three minutes after removing it from the grill or oven. The meat’s temperature will remain constant or rise during that period, killing any pathogens, USDA officials said.

“With a single temperature for all whole cuts of meat and uniform three-minute stand time, we feel it will be much easier for consumers to remember and result in safer food preparation,” USDA Under Secretary Elisabeth Hagen said in a statement. Ground meats from any source should still be cooked to 160 degrees, and all poultry products should be cooked to 165 degrees, according to USDA guidelines.

Jack Gridley, who oversees meat and seafood for Dorothy Lane Market’s three Dayton-area stores, said he’s happy to see the old rules of cooking pork “until it’s gray and falling apart” fall by the wayside, and noted that top-notch restaurants have been cooking certain pork cuts to medium for years.

The USDA made the change after several years of research and talks with producers and food safety experts. Ceci Snyder, vice president of marketing for the National Pork Board, told the Associated Press that producers proposed the change in 2008, based in part on new production methods, improved feed and housing of the animals that reduced the risk of pathogens.

Snyder said it would take time before people feel comfortable eating pork with a touch of pink. “Those myths die hard,” she said.

Cooking pork

Some pork cuts — such as pork shoulder (Boston butt) and babyback or spare pork ribs — require low-and-slow cooking to break down connective tissue and tenderize the meat. And no one wants their bacon medium-rare. But lean pork tenderloin — which can be as tender as beef tenderloin at half the cost, and which benefits nicely from marinades and rubs — is at its best with at least a touch of pink in the center, and dries out quickly if cooked to medium-well or beyond.

For the soy-marinated pork loin, prepare a marinade of soy sauce, lemon juice, grated fresh garlic, grated fresh ginger and brown sugar, tasting it as you add ingredients until the marinade’s flavor is balanced among the salty-sweet-sour components and appeals to your taste. Add a few dashes of olive or vegetable oil. Divide the tenderloins and marinade among some gallon ziplock plastic bags and marinate for four hours in the refrigerator. Remove, shake off excess marinade, and grill to desired doneness — about 145 degrees will leave some pink in the middle. Alternately, roast uncovered in a preheated 400-degree oven until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 145 degrees, 17 to 20 minutes (can vary based on thickness of tenderloins).

Here are three other pork tenderloin recipes, starting with Wiley’s Meadowlark recipe, followed by two that first appeared in “Gourmet” magazine and which are still available online at Epicurious.com.

PORK JEZEBEL

Recipe courtesy of Elizabeth Wiley, chef-owner of Meadowlark Restaurant in Washington Twp.

Note: This recipe has been a mainstay on Meadowlark’s menu for years, and stuck on the menu after the restaurant’s move to a new location at 5531 Far Hills Ave., Washington Twp. Meadowlark’s chef-owner Elizabeth Wiley said both she and her customers are big fans of the finished product, and Wiley said it’s relatively simple to prepare.

Ingredients

1/2 cup peach jam

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 pork tenderloins, trimmed

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

In a small bowl, make the peach-horseradish jam by whisking together the first four ingredients until combined. Cut each pork tenderloin into 6 equal pieces. Gently pound the tenderloin pieces until uniformly thin (about 1/2-inch thick). Season with salt and pepper.

Heat peach-horseradish jam and heavy cream together in a wide, shallow pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce until thick, about 4 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

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