Internal Temps high?

I cooked my first Pork Roast last week and never made it to 170 (meas. w/Polder).I took it off at 159 and cut it open to check. It was cooked and delicious. I thought a minimum of 155 was sufficient for pork anyway?

Bob

According to The Complete Meat Cookbook, "trichinosis is destroyed at a temperature of 137*F. To be safe, pork products should be cooked to at least 148*F--a medium degree of doneness with the meat still noticeably pink." So you were certainly OK from a food safety standpoint.

To clarify, when you say "pork roast", do you mean a boston butt or a pork loin roast? Butt will benefit from a higher internal cooking temp due to its fat content, whereas a lean pork loin roast will just dry out at high temps.

Regards,
Chris

Uh oh... my ignorance of meat cuts is exposed!! I actually bought something I didn't want. It was labeled "Sirloin Pork Roast", but I expected boneless...it wasn't. I cooked it anyway and it was darn good. Just a little more work to debone it.

The minimum internal temp for pork in Massachusetts food service establishments is 155. I was just curious about the higher minimum temperatures I'm finding on 'net bbq recipes. New Englanders generally prefer their meat rarer than what I had growing up in the midwest.

In any case my new WSM is awesome, I am eternally grateful having the Virtual Weber Bullet as a reference source, and hope to contribute more answers than questions as I progress.

Thanks-Bob

If you want to learn more than you ever cared to know about meat, primal cuts, subprimal cuts, meat merchandising, etc, I heartily recommend The Complete Meat Cookbook. Great diagrams of where everything comes from on the carcass for beef, veal, pork, and lamb, plus a chart showing all the names by which different cuts can be labeled, plus how all these cuts should be cooked--grilled, barbecued, broiled, boiled, braised, etc. It's a great resource.

Regarding high pork temps, you will find this is typical for barbecued pork shoulder and Boston butt. Their high fat content requires higher internal temps to render the fat, to get that crunchy outside meat that folks like, and to make the meat "pullable" for sandwiches.

Continue to have fun with your WSM and keep us informed of your successes (and not-so successes!).