Conference turris::cooks

>    While on vacation last year, a woman told us that
>    it has been discovered that pork NO LONGER needs to
>    be cooked 'well done'.

Hmmmmmm.  Well, it's more like -- statistically speaking, you stand an 
excellent chance of getting away with less cooking time when preparing 
pork that is raised in the USA and USDA inspected.  Pork hasn't gotten 
safer, but the conditions in US piggeries have gotten better.  I don't 
know how that translates to the rest of the world, and I'm sure it doesn't 
apply to pigs grown on farms that raise them as a sideline even in the 
US.  

But remember -- you're playing the statistics game.  There's still a 
chance for trichonosis in underdone pork.  Though the chance is thought 
to be vanishingly small, there are no gaurantees.

					>>>==>PStJTT

    I always hated breakfast sausage when I was growing up because Mother
    cooked it "dead" to kill all those little wormies.  I remember it
    being very dark brown and crunching all or most of the way through.
    
    So, when I grew up I decided to improve on that method.  I now cut
    sausage patties very thick (1/2-inch) and cook them over very low heat,
    covered, for about 20 - 30 minutes. Then I uncover them for quick
    browning if necessary.  They come out sort of the consistency of
    hamburger patties:  crusty on the outside but soft and juicy (and
    well-done) on the inside.  They're good! 
    
    I was brought up to believe rare pork is dangerous, and don't believe
    I could eat the stuff undercooked even if I *KNEW* it wouldn't hurt
    me.  Some things your mother teaches you just can't be undone...(^:
    
    							Pat

     I understand that the folks from Down Under are fans of pork cooked
    in a medium rare fashion. One Austrailian (not Paul Hogan) came
    into a restaurant I was working, and asked for his pork chops to
    be cooked "blue." Having never heard of this before, I sauntered
    out to ask him why he wanted his meat dyed :-)
    
     He explained that 'blue" meant that the chop was cooked on the
    rare side, and that the veins that ran along the curve of the bone
    remained blue. So, I went back and cooked just the way he wanted
    'em. He was estatic - it was the first time a U.S. restaurant cooked
    the pork the way it was done back home. I was sure he was gonna
    die from the worms too, but he came back several times after that
    and always ordered the chops.
    
     Me, I cook pork till there's just the slightest hint of pink as
    far as roasts or chops go......
    

     As you may have noticed from magazine ads, pork producers in the
     US are trying to change their image.  Not only are they making
     pork much leaner than in the past, they are also raising the pigs
     in a cleaner environment --- hence less worry of trichinosis.
     Also, if pork has been frozen, there is no worry of trichinosis
     either.  I, too, would probably have problems eating a rare pork
     chop, but I always serve port roasts when there is still a blush
     of pink to the meat.
     


     re: .2
     
     I am always suprised by the number of people who don't know how to
     cook sausages.  My mom always just threw them into a skillet and
     fryed them till they were hard. An extreme case was a Pancake
     Breakfast I went to where the sausages were deep-fried (!) in a
     french fry cooker. 
     
     To cook link sausage properly:
     
     Peirce sausages with a fork on all sides. Put sausages in a pan
     with just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.  Bring
     water to a boil and simmer covered until suasages are nearly cooked
     through.  Uncover, raise heat.  Boil away reamining water in pan
     leaving any fat that has oozed out of the sausages.  Quickly brown
     sausages in fat.  Drain and serve.

Trichinosis can be fatal.  It's not something to trifle with.  In the U.S.,
pork should be cooked until the color changes from pink to white.  You don't
have to cook sausages until they're charred hockey pucks, but you *do* have
to thoroughly cook the meat.

I've heard that, in Austria or Germany (I forget which), there are strictly
controlled "safe piggeries" whose products can safely be eaten raw.  That
certainly isn't true in the U.S.

--PSW

re Note 1177.4 by ROLL::HARRIS:

>      An extreme case was a Pancake
>      Breakfast I went to where the sausages were deep-fried (!) in a
>      french fry cooker. 
     
This is how the LJO2 cafeteria reheats sausage patties!  Ugh!  Gross!  What a
sure way to exceed your recommended daily allowance of grease.

Bob

    ...if Im not mistaken, Julia Child says we are terrified of pork
    and as a result, cook it to death......it only needs to be 160
    degrees on a meat thermometer to kill all germs.....and the color
    is somewhere between pinkISH and white..........and BOY, does that
    taste better than that cooked_til_your_sure_youve_killed_everything_
    and_the_meat_is_like_rubber_ pork.....
    
    Rick

  After reading this, I don't think I will eat pork if I visit Australia unless
I cook it myself.
  Trichinosis is not the only hazard of rare pork. It can have plain old bac-
teria too. I get an upset stomach if I eat pork that is not thoroughly cooked.