If pork smells weird, there are only two possible causes – either you are smelling boar taint, or the meat has started to go bad, and trust me you’ll know the difference. If it’s taint, the smell will only be unpleasant, and if it’s rotten the smell will be nauseating!
Would you like to age pork?
Perhaps aging pork would get rid of some of that ghastly water some processors inject it with. With pork, I prefer to get higher quality meat with more taste generated through feed used and farming methods. I’m not sure how much aging will add. As it’s a white meat, it’s possibly a bit like aging chicken: better done on the hoof than on the shelf.
One question we ran across in our research was “Why is pork aged in vacuum packs?”.
One common answer is, pork is normally aged in vacuum packs, which not only controls bacterial growth but also reduces surface drying ; this helps to reduce weight losses when compared to dry ageing (meat aged on the carcass or unwrapped pork). In addition, ageing in vacuum packs reduces trim losses and space requirements.
Pork and lamb are slaughtered at a young age, which results in inherently tender meat. Therefore, pork and lamb are usually not aged but are processed the day following slaughter. Pork fat is more unsaturated than beef or lamb fat and thus is more subject to development of rancid flavors unless promptly processed and packaged.
I routinely age the meat. It is much more tender that way. However, it probably depends on your system and your breed. Mine get a lot of exercise and so the meat is lean and dark, not white like commercial pork. It is probably less beneficial to age the meat if you have penned animals.
How long can you Dry Age pork?
Pork can’t be dry aged for as long as beef because of pork’s higher water content, which makes aging riskier when it comes to spoilage and meat loss. But, according to Herring, even a week of dry aging an apparently unmarbled pork chop can work miracles.
Should pork butt be rested before cooking?
When you rest the meat, you are actually allowing the juices a chance to soak back into the pork.
You may be asking “Do you let pork tenderloin rest after cooking?”
Whether it is a pork tenderloin or a large beef roast, we always let meat rest after roasting . One of the reasons we do this is that resting allows the meat fibers—which contract when hot—to relax and reabsorb juices they’ve squeezed out. If cut too soon, the roast will release these juices onto your cutting board.
How long can you keep pork butt in a cooler?
This is the difference between an amazing product and lukewarm, unsafe pork. The second is using boiling water to preheat your cooler.