Minimum pork temp

mollyshark

Costco had these wild-looking little 3-packs of pork roasts, all vacuum sealed and pretty. Marinated one yesterday in the bourbon, soy, etc stuff until I remembered it was in the refrigerator (oops..typical me) and seared it and brought it up to 160 inside. Sliced it reeeeal thin for sandwiches. Very flavorful, but a little dry. Of course this is a continuing pork problem since there are no pigs outside of the two in my backyard that have fat on them anymore. The OTHER white meat, doncha know. Anyway, I thought the 160 could be overdoing it a bit. What is the lowest you feel comfy doing a pork roast? Or what is the lowest you have done one and lived to tell?

mShark

ps-I even had a BEER with it. I haven't had a beer in...sheesh. Dunno. Must be feeling better!

gdenby

The lowest and lived to tell was 150. It was a rather thick roast, and when I cut it open, it was obvious that I hadn't pushed the thermometer in far enough. But everyone was fine afterwards.

Pepper Monkey BBQ

Hey Mollyshark,

What temp / set up did you have the loin on to get it to 160? I'd think your temp was about spot on ... was that the final temp after it rested or was that the temp you reached with the meat still on the Egg?

JM

lowercasebill

when i roast it is with sauerkraut so that doesn't count. for loins and tenderloins i shoot for 140.. small tenderloins come off at 140 and don't get much rest. loins at 135 and rest.. you get much past 140 and you it is going to be dry....i like a hint of pink.. trichanosis is a thing of the past so the old coventional wisdom of cooking till grey and uselesss to prevent disease does not apply

FrankC

Hi Molly,

I pull all of my pork at about 140, and let it rest to 145. It took a while to convince my wife that it was ok, but once she tried it, she really loved it. Needless to say, we eat a lot more pork now, because it's so much tastier and juicy at 145.

fc

civil eggineer

I have pulled loins at 130. The rarer meat is incredibly tender. I lived ....

fishlessman

same as bill. this chart is pretty accurate and talks more about off the grill temps verse carryover. pork is safe to eat somewhere between 137 to 139 but i dont recall which.
http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/doneness_chart.htm

lowercasebill

nice chart thanks much more realistic than usda charts... will save this link
bill

Gunnar

Pretty much what I follow, but had nothing in writing. Thanks, I forwarded to my daughter whom I'm converting to temps not time.

Gunnar

Pretty much what I follow, but had nothing in writing. Thanks, I forwarded to my daughter whom I'm converting to temps not time.

WokOnMedium

Thank you for the chart. It sheds a little light on why my pork tenderloin wasn't so tender the other night. I think I'll tattoo that to the inside of my forearm for future use.

AZRP

Monika, I pull them at 145 and let them rest about 15 minutes. Glad you're feeling better. -RP

Jeffersonian

I usually take my pork loins to around 150-155 and they're as juicy as a peach.

Celtic Wolf

I haven't read the other answers, but 160 is a wee bit high. As you know it's going to climb above 165 while it's resting..

Now having said that it will depend on HOW you cook it too. I saw Tyler Florence remove a really moist roast from his oven at 160, but he had pasted it up with an oil herb paste and he roasted it in a bath of hard apple cider.

Bacon wrapped can be brought to 160 as well.

Personally I like Pork Loin around 145 after rest, but only if I don't wrap it in bacon.

Grandpas Grub

For me 160° turns out a big dry. I cook to 145° internal, always moist and great flavor.

Hope you are feeling and or getting better.

GG

Beanie-Bean

I saw those, too! Read your beer post in another place...;) Glad to know that you're feeling better--we missed you at the TX Eggfest!

Little Chef

Molly....For pork roasts, loin, I pull at 137. (carryover brings it to about 143). Tenderloin, I pull at 133, it carries over to 137-8...I like it med rare-med. (I am still alive!) :woohoo: Honestly, there is nothing wrong with still showing a bit of pink in your pork...137 is the magic number for 'safe to eat' with pork.
The chart is a good reference. Happy cookin!

stike

death is instant at 138 for trichinosis.

anything over 140 is good for pork, but you will find most folks like it done around 145 to 150.

bacteria is only on the outside anyway, but that's not something everyone is comfortable with

BobS

Trichinosis is officially toast at 138 F.

I usually shoot for 140 - 145 to be on the safe side. Even at that, you will have people ask about the slight pink color some times.

It will have juice running all over the place, so I do not see any advantage in pushing it lower.

Little Chef

Stike and I have argued over this 1 degree for a year now....LOL! Here Stike....

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=trichinosis+killed+at+what+temp?&aq=0&oq=&aqi=

PhilsGrill

Since trichinosis does not occur in commercially available pork anymore, it's moot point I think. I cook mine to 130-135 and pull. It must be slightly pink in the center or it is overcooked as far as I'm concerned.

Little Chef

Phil...I am with you 100%...gotta be a bit pink, but in all honesty, I still wait to see the magic number of 137* hit before I am willing to eat it. Trich is not extinct....just not prevalent. So keep 137* in mind, even if hit just during carryover, which is what we do with our tenerloins in particular...
Thanks for the feedback!
Happy Eggin!! :laugh:

PhilsGrill

Hi Michelle, I'll just nod my head and smile. With all the pork that just the US deals out, you know that a lot of folks under cook and don't have a thermometer. If trichinosis was still around there would be hundreds, no thousands sick each year, but there are essentially none.

We were going to do pork loins at the contest we met at and we did all ours to 125 degrees and were perfect, more than perfect. We did 5-6 full test cooks and we are all still here ;-). The reason why we did not do the pork loin is exactly this discussion. I would bet the judges would use a thermometer to make sure it was at the recommended 140. So we did country ribs instead!

Little Chef

Phil...Where have you been, by the way??? Haven't seen you online forever, it seems! Hope all is well...
Nice to see you again!

PhilsGrill

I don't post a whole lot, because most everybody beats me to the punch. So I sit and read, drink my beer and have fun! I have to teach just about every other weekend and too tired to fire the eggs up when I get home. Have a great weekend!!

stike

hahaha

ppblblblbt. :P

i remember last week you were telling a dude to throw out his pork butt because it dipped below 140, now yer serving pork at 138.

what gives?

hahhaha