Cured smoked boneless pork loin

[b-one]

Looks great,nice work!

 

[tjrr]

Yes, this type of cure creates a sweet ham-like flavor. Target temperature was 156-160, this may have gotten a bit warmer.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
Yes, this type of cure creates a sweet ham-like flavor. Target temperature was 156-160, this may have gotten a bit warmer.

Any particular reason you target 156° to 160°?

Bear

 

[tjrr]

At that temp it's officially fully cooked and ready to eat (at least that's how I remember the regulations.) Of course it'd be plenty safe at around 140, especially considering how long it's cooked. I've not tried rarer cured pork. A higher temp seems to dry it out more and become a bit too falling apart for neat slicing. On the other hand, I'm far less fussy about overshooting temperature on this type of meat than I would be on sausages.

If baked later, I usually cook it to pretty well done.

 

[Bearcarver]

 
At that temp it's officially fully cooked and ready to eat (at least that's how I remember the regulations.) Of course it'd be plenty safe at around 140, especially considering how long it's cooked. I've not tried rarer cured pork. A higher temp seems to dry it out more and become a bit too falling apart for neat slicing. On the other hand, I'm far less fussy about overshooting temperature on this type of meat than I would be on sausages.

If baked later, I usually cook it to pretty well done.

That's why I wondered. It is now officially fully cooked at 145°. And it doesn't need later cooking once it's been to 145°.

About 4 years ago, the USDA changed their safe to eat Pork internal temperature from the old 160° to their new 145°. I like to take mine to between 145° and 150°, because when we used to take it to 160° like the old rule said, I found it quite Dry.

So According to USDA, 145° IT is safe & recommended.

Bear

 

[tjrr]

I just looked once again at the table on page 128 of my Marinaski book (The Art of Making Fermented Sausages.) That's the table of temperature/time combinations for a given reduction of Salmonella bacteria. Actually I was incorrect, the right value in the table for an instantaneous holding time is 158F. However, using any sort of smoker processing method, the hold time at temperature is going to be a few seconds at least, so a lower temperature could be considered safe. After looking at this again, I don't see a citation for the table's source. I always assumed it was a USDA standard. But the date isn't mentioned. I've had the book for at least 4 years, so if there's been a change recently...In any event, I think the 145F standard you refer to is a consumer standard where there's quite a bit of overkill for bad thermometers, rounding error, etc. FoodSafety.gov gives a 3 minute holding period for pork.

On page 127, the Marianskis suggest that these temperatures are appropriate for destruction of E. Coli, listeria, etc. as well. They say that trichinae are killed at 137F.

On page 129, they cite the old standard for poultry, 160F for uncured and 155F for cured poultry products. Apparently that standard changed in 2001 to a time/temperature table similar to the one cited but with slightly higher temperatures. There are also slight differences in the tables according to the fat content of the poultry product.

Anyway, that's a long bunch of blather to explain my rationale. I really haven't tried cooking whole muscle cured pork, other than homemade bacon that was intended to be fried, lower than the high 150's or 160. Personally I don't find juiciness an issue at those temperatures, others may have different tastes and opinions. As for safety, I suspect that if it's cooked to 145 in a smoker it'll be at that temperature for at least 4 minutes, which meets the requirements of the table I use. This go-round I had no concern about trichinosis as the raw pork spent 8 months in my deepfreeze. For what it's worth, I do smoke salami and Lebanon bolo to only 140F for 12 minutes. I once did some Lebanon bolo to 135F and held for 40 minutes, hated the texture, just not firm enough.

OK, enough. The main reason is I just hadn't tried it and have been satisfied with the results I'm getting.

 

[Bearcarver]

Current recommendations:

[h3]Safe Internal Temperatures[/h3]
www.foodsafety.gov

• Meat Safety
• •Roasting Chart
• •Storage Times

Beef:	145°F
Poultry:	165°F
Pork:	145°F

And I take my Sausage products to 160° IT.

Bear

 

[hoity toit]

 
I'll be curing my Pork Loin later today, No injection, dry cure only

Gary

got 2 loins and 2 tenderloins out of the cure today, gonna be rubbing with garlic n pepper, some with powdered Worcestershire, and pepper,,be doing a hickory or apple smoke on them tomorrow.8/9/2016

HT