USDA guidelines for Pork state that you should cook it to 160F. I have heard over the years that you can undercook from that, which seems desirable, as 160F is going to be pretty dry.
I know the general temperature safety rules, but I'm curious about texture. Does anybody have a range of temperatures and descriptions, a-la beef for Pork? Are there other, non-bacterial concerns for keeping pork up at 160F?
Best Answer
The main goal with temperature is to kill anything nasty. Those nasties die based on temperature and exposure. Much like a human could live forever at 95 degrees, for a long while at 110, shorter while at 150, and would die instantly at 750, so for all the stuff in Pork. 160 is considered a safe temperature because at 160, everything dies instantly. The FDA has a chart for all this, here. You'll see that even 120 degrees is safe IF you cook it for 21 hours!
I cook a lot of sous vide, so these temperatures and times are easy to get and be precise about. The thing you need to be careful about is that the time table shows the amount of time that the whole piece of meat needs to be at a given temperature, so make sure you heat it through before you start counting.
I'll regularly do pork chops in the 135 range, and it's lovely and moist without the stringy overcooked texture you get when well done.