- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Location
- Rocklin, CA
I got to spend three days with Chris Lilly, at Memphis In May, learning to many things. One of the topics was how to pick the right pork. I thought I would share my recent blog post. I do a lot of writing for the National Pork Board and combined Chris's tips with information from my client.
Chris's information is below, but because I don't have permission to share outside my blog, you'll have to click through for the additional information and pictures from NPB.
Enjoy...
My trip to Memphis in May this year was an amazing experience. Spending a weekend learning about how to cook BBQ with Chris Lilly was, without a doubt, the most educational experience I’ve had in a long time. The fact that this learning experience was centered around BBQ only made it that much more valuable to me.
One of the more valuable “classes” from Chris was how to choose the best pork for competitions. Certainly, utilizing the same standards for home cooking, whether indoors or outdoors will help you put the best tasting pork dishes on your dining room table.
“What I look for when I choose pork is the right color,” Chris explained to his class. “I want to stay away from the washed out pale pink pork. And the reason I do that is water retention. You want the water in the pork to give you a moist result,” Chris continued.
According to Chris, staying away from pale pink pork is not enough when picking the right pork to start with. “I want a more reddish pink, as opposed to a pinkish red. You want a reddish pink up to a certain point. You don’t want blood-red pork because that’s a sign of to high an acidity in the pork. Pork with a high acidity, may have good water retention but it’s likely to give you a mushy texture when cooked.”
“This is very important. I would say it’s as important, if not more so than the marbling of the pork,” Chris said while expanding upon the importance of paying attention to the color of the pork during the selection process.
“The next thing to consider is marbling,” Chris continued. “The higher the strands of fat within the meat, the better the fat and the better the flavor.”
Picking the right pork isn’t all that hard. You might have to spend a little more time going through the meat case at the store, but it will be well worth the effort when you put an amazing cut of pork on your table for your friends or family.
The following information from the National Pork Board will help you when it comes to choosing the best pork
The rest of the story...
Chris's information is below, but because I don't have permission to share outside my blog, you'll have to click through for the additional information and pictures from NPB.
Enjoy...
My trip to Memphis in May this year was an amazing experience. Spending a weekend learning about how to cook BBQ with Chris Lilly was, without a doubt, the most educational experience I’ve had in a long time. The fact that this learning experience was centered around BBQ only made it that much more valuable to me.
One of the more valuable “classes” from Chris was how to choose the best pork for competitions. Certainly, utilizing the same standards for home cooking, whether indoors or outdoors will help you put the best tasting pork dishes on your dining room table.
“What I look for when I choose pork is the right color,” Chris explained to his class. “I want to stay away from the washed out pale pink pork. And the reason I do that is water retention. You want the water in the pork to give you a moist result,” Chris continued.
According to Chris, staying away from pale pink pork is not enough when picking the right pork to start with. “I want a more reddish pink, as opposed to a pinkish red. You want a reddish pink up to a certain point. You don’t want blood-red pork because that’s a sign of to high an acidity in the pork. Pork with a high acidity, may have good water retention but it’s likely to give you a mushy texture when cooked.”
“This is very important. I would say it’s as important, if not more so than the marbling of the pork,” Chris said while expanding upon the importance of paying attention to the color of the pork during the selection process.
“The next thing to consider is marbling,” Chris continued. “The higher the strands of fat within the meat, the better the fat and the better the flavor.”
Picking the right pork isn’t all that hard. You might have to spend a little more time going through the meat case at the store, but it will be well worth the effort when you put an amazing cut of pork on your table for your friends or family.
The following information from the National Pork Board will help you when it comes to choosing the best pork
The rest of the story...
