Buying This Food
Look for: Firm, fresh pork that is light pink or reddish and has very little visible fat. If there
are any bone ends showing, they should be red, not white; the whiter the bone ends, the
older the animal from which the meat was taken.
Avoid: Packages with a lot of liquid. Meat that has lost moisture is likely to be dry and tough.
Storing This Food
Refrigerate fresh pork immediately. Refrigeration prolongs the freshness of pork by slow-
ing the natural multiplication of bacteria on the surface of meat. Left to their own devices,
these bacteria convert proteins and other substances on the surface of the meat to a slimy
film and, eventually, they will convert the meat’s sulfur-containing amino acids methionine
and cystine into smelly chemicals called mercaptans. When the mercaptans combine with
myoglobin, they produce the greenish pigment that gives spoiled meat its characteristic
unpleasant appearance.
Refrigeration slows this whole chain of events so that fresh roasts and chops usually
stay fresh for three to five days. For longer storage, store the pork in the freezer where the
very low temperatures will slow the bacteria even more.
Store unopened smoked or cured pork products in the refrigerator in the original wrap-
per and use according to the date and directions on the package.
Preparing This Food
Trim the pork carefully. You can significantly reduce the amount of fat and cholesterol in
each serving by judiciously cutting away all visible fat.
Do not add salt to the pork before you cook it; the salt will draw moisture out of the
meat, making it stringy and tough. Add salt near the end of the cooking process.
When you are done, clean all utensils thoroughly with soap and hot water. Wash your
cutting board, wood or plastic, with hot water, soap, and a bleach-and-water solution. For ulti-
mate safety in preventing the transfer of microorganisms from meat to other foods, keep one
cutting board exclusively for raw meat, fish, or poultry, and a second one for everything else.
What Happens When You Cook This Food
Cooking changes the way pork looks and tastes, alters its nutritional value, makes it safer,
and extends its shelf life.
Browning meat before you cook it does not seal in the juices, but it does change the
flavor by caramelizing proteins and sugars on the surface. Because the only sugars that occur
Pork