373148 Tue Feb 20 15:46:40 -0800 2007 13 29 Not About Food 0 2311992 Last night, as the waitress was describing the specials, she mentioned a pork dish that was served medium rare. I thought this was strange, since pork is always cooked to a doneness and not overdone. My dinning companions did not think it strange though. Tue Feb 20 15:46:40 -0800 2007 12037 Ida Red 1 2312056 Pork can be served medium rare, medium, medium well etc. I prefer it to be medium rare and request it if not asked how I would like it. It's the same with salmon, it can be cooked to any degree of doneness. Tue Feb 20 16:05:03 -0800 2007 2311992 21341 hrhboo 1 2312108 As I understand it, trichinosis is much rarer than it used to be, at least in the U.S., and this has made ordering pork medium-rare a viable option. Good pork cooked to pink rather than beige is quite heavenly. Tue Feb 20 16:18:47 -0800 2007 2311992 17813 Bill on Capitol Hill 2 2315793 You only need to cook past 137F (which would be rare for pork) to kill trichnosis, which is virtually unknown in US pigs bred for slaughter anyway. Wed Feb 21 16:24:10 -0800 2007 2312108 13819 Karl S 1 2312371 Pork thats cooked til its "done" is tough and dry (mostly) and I perfer my pork to be med. In South America where pigs are just left to wander (at least in Bolivia) and eat whatever they find I would never eat any undercooked pork but in the U.S. I feel that standards are quite high and things like trichinosis are not common anymore. I find that more restaurants do offer the option of rare, med etc for pork but mostly I don't order pork when I'm out cuz its never done right. Tue Feb 20 17:35:28 -0800 2007 2311992 27101 bolivianita 1 2312591 I for one like my pork to have a hint of pink inside. In the last couple of decades, food scientists have bred out the fat from commercial pork, leaving it a fairly dry and tasteless food. And since commercial pork isn't foraging for food but fed a strict diet, they've all but eliminated the incidence of Trichinellosis If you check the statistics from the CDC, you’ll find that not only is Trichinellosis rare (<12 cases a year) but more folks get Trichinellosis from bear meat than pork. Tue Feb 20 18:50:41 -0800 2007 2311992 22801 bkhuna 1 2312697 Honestly, for the most part the only meat that needs to be well done, is poultry. Tue Feb 20 19:28:51 -0800 2007 2311992 62751 strephking 2 2313993 Anything well done is overdone, unless you like your chicken to have the texture of Rye Crisps. As long as the juices run clear, the bird is finished. And yes, I eat raw eggs in Ceasar Salad, medium rare pork chops, and I run in the house with scissors. Wed Feb 21 09:14:00 -0800 2007 2312697 22801 bkhuna 3 2316362 Actually the juices don't even have to run clear. A bird can be done and juices will still be colored by myoglobin. Wed Feb 21 19:28:08 -0800 2007 2313993 10832 Humbucker 4 2319424 I've run across that with brined and smoked birds. If find that it's the dark meat that's reddish, not the juices. Thu Feb 22 13:54:30 -0800 2007 2316362 22801 bkhuna 1 2315157 I agree for the most part, but I hope we're not including bacon in the "well done is never well done" category! Wed Feb 21 13:36:12 -0800 2007 2311992 17813 Bill on Capitol Hill 2 2315800 Yup! Overcooked, crunchy bacon is horrible. I like thick cut bacon because I can get the outside nice and crispy while there's still a little chew left in the interior. Wed Feb 21 16:26:07 -0800 2007 2315157 22801 bkhuna 1 2317390 not long ago, people cooked pork to well-done fearing tainted meat. that's not really a worry anymore, but plenty of folks still have the mindset of thinking it needs to be cooked through. the server was being proactive. Thu Feb 22 07:18:18 -0800 2007 2311992 30273 hotoynoodle 2 2317474 Right. I've seen people send back pork for not being cooked enough, and this probably happened a lot at this restaurant. I ate at a BBQ place once that insisted it was the properties of their smoker that left the pork with a "pink ring" and that it was, in fact, cooked. Personally I hate overcooked pork, and like bkhuna I also get thick-sliced bacon bc DH (I don't like bacon) hates it when it's overcooked. Thu Feb 22 07:38:52 -0800 2007 2317390 12858 Covert Ops