Pork Marinade
Pleasures for your Palette
A pork marinade is usually a little lighter than marinades for other meats, but there is still a wide range of flavorful ingredients to choose from. Pork is a very versatile meat; it goes well with sweet, salty and spicy flavors. So, you have lots to choose from when making a pork marinade.
A pork marinade could include any one of these ingredients: salt, pepper, garlic, orange juice, lime juice, lemon juice, honey, coriander, tomatoes, horseradish, oregano, onion, cilantro, maple syrup, sugar, vegetable oil, olive oil, vinegar, brandy, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, bay leaves, ginger, curry powder, ginger, oregano, dill, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, cumin and chili peppers. Pork is also very agreeable to mustard, so you might try adding some honey mustard to the pork marinade recipe. If you like things really spicy, add chili powder and/or cayenne to your pork marinade or add hot sauce. Pork also goes well with fruit, and there are many recipes that include apples, avocados, apricots and pineapples.
The cut of meat you are cooking may also influence the type of pork marinade you want to use on it. You could be eating pork ribs or pork loin, ham, roast or even tongue or feet.
Although pork generally refers to young swine that are under a year old, most pork today is slaughtered between six to nine months of age. This process produces a leaner, more tender cut of pork. If you can, you should look for pork that is pale pink with a small amount of marbling and white (not yellow) fat. The darker pink the flesh is, then the older the animal is. Fresh pork that will be used within six hours of buying it may be refrigerated in its original store packaging. If you aren't going to cook the pork right away you should remove the packaging from the meat. You should then store it in loosely wrapped waxed paper in the coldest part of your refrigerator for up to two days. You can store wrapped, airtight pork in the freezer from three to six months.
When creating a pork marinade you should take precautions. You should wash anything such as your hands, knives, cutting boards, etc. that comes in contact with raw pork and you should never taste uncooked pork. If you cook pork to an internal temperature of 137°F it will kill any trichinae. However, for a safety margin, most experts believe you should cook it to an internal temperature from 150°F to 165°F. This will produce a juicy, tender piece of pork. If you cook your pork to the 170°F to 185°F temperature that many cookbooks recommend, then you may end up with dried out, overcooked meat.