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Pork isn't considered as lean and healthy as chicken and so it gets a bad rap in online recipes. That's because they seem to be tailored to creating BBQ or pork

Pork isn't considered as lean and healthy as chicken and so it gets a bad rap in online recipes. That's because they seem to be tailored to creating BBQ or pork belly or bacon-wrapped things which are considered unhealthy. But some cuts of pork are lean and can be included in healthier recipes. Pork needs some marketing help in the online recipes dept.

tracker1 3y ago
It's sad that some bad science and religion caused such a disproportionate stance against animal fats in general for well over half a century. From fat soluble nutrients to poor hormone production. Combined with industrial food it's definitely taken a toll on society. edit: s/decade/century/
- riku_iki 3y ago
  > From fat soluble nutrients to poor hormone production. the question is how much extra fat average consumer gets from meat.
  - tracker1 3y ago
    Most meat has a perfectly fine proportion of fat to protein. You, in general should be getting about 1g fat per 2g protein for nutritional levels. Most don't get nearly enough, and what they do get is a very unbalanced ratio from seed oils. Fat can be used for energy, but is also a primary nutrient source. Carbs are solely for energy and the proteins and fats derived from vegetarian sources are of poor quality and low absorption. Most excess energy that gets stored as fat comes from carbohydrate sources, which are much easier for the body to break down.
    - riku_iki 3y ago
      > Most meat has a perfectly fine proportion of fat to protein. I think popular cuts (pork butt, chicken thighs) have worse proportion than that.
      - tracker1 3y ago
        Here's the nutrition information for a 3-ounce serving of skinless chicken thigh, per the USDA: 9 grams fat. 20 g protein. About 1g fat per 2g protein in the chicken thigh. It's far higher than more recent recommendations, but those have been far too low in terms of natural fat intake. Pork butt is about 20g protein and 16g fat, which isn't in and of itself bad, as it can still be used for energy (like carbs can). If you look at a lot of western nutrition issues, most are centered around lack of fat soluble nutrients and hormone deficiencies, which are sourced significantly from fatty acids. Edit: there's also obesity, but fat is far more satiating than carbs and tend not to cause the insulin/carb cycling in terms of hunger response that you get from sugars and simpler carbs. In the end, one should not be specifically avoiding fats from animals in natural proportions. That isn't to say you cannot overeat meat, only that it's less likely than overeating from other sources.
        riku_iki 3y ago
        > 3-ounce serving of skinless chicken thigh skinless is obviously not popular cut. > tend not to cause the insulin/carb cycling in terms of hunger response they contribute to extra calories.
        tracker1 3y ago
        More than half the calories people take in is purely for energy. Excess is excess, it doesn't matter so much that it's fat or carbs. The difference being that if you're downing refined sugar or heavily processed foods there's other negative impacts that you don't see from excess fats. Unless you're suggesting that getting an extra ounce of natural animal fat is worse than eating something like a cereal bar with lots of refined chemical additives that aren't real food, including refined fats that don't even exist and would never be taken in in nature?
        riku_iki 3y ago
        My point is very simple: person can over consume calories from animal fat the same way as from processed food or refined sugar. Fat is 2.5 more dense in calories, and switching to lean meat can cut calories intake significantly.
- maw 3y ago
  Half a decade? Hasn't it been going on for well over 40 years by this point? On the bright side, it seems like fewer and fewer people take it seriously.
  - tracker1 3y ago
    s/decade/century/
robmusial 3y ago
Is there a good reason to encourage pork consumption?
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  It tastes good.
- dpratt 3y ago
  It’s delicious and nutritious in moderation?
- jzawodn 3y ago
  Yes
- Incipient 3y ago
  They're much higher density than other animals when farming them, and they eat anything.
riku_iki 3y ago
and chicken tights with skin on have lots of fat.
- stuff4ben 3y ago
  This is very true! I trim a lot of the chicken thighs I get because they almost always have extra skin and fat that it really doesn't need. A little skin and fat is ok, but I have to trim it to keep it reasonable.
lief79 3y ago
My wife seems to think that pork is always dry. She'll occasionally go for pulled pork (crockpot cooked). Do you have any other suggestions? Especially if they are potentially kid friendly. She's not a fan of fatty recipes either, while my daughter is basically a bacontarian ... avoiding most other meats.
- arcticbull 3y ago
  Get a heritage breed that hasn't had all the fat removed from the gene pool. Check out the Berkshire/Kurabota pork chops they sell at high-end butcher shops like Niku (when the site comes back up, but you can Google Images for some of their stuff, or their Instagram). [1, 2] It's a perfect almost-red meat. Cast iron skillet on high heat, start with a high smoke point oil, 1 inch thick salt and pepper'd heritage chop, 10 minutes total (3-3-2-2) add butter (and optionally sage, and whole garlic clove - just watch they don't burn†) after the first 6 minutes and baste continuously to finish. Melts like butter. † if I see them starting to burn, I place them on top of the chop and pour the fat from the pan over it. Seems to stop the cook while continuing to impart the flavor. [1] https://www.nikubutchershop.com/ https://www.nikubutchershop.com/ [2] https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Faga-DCL8/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Faga-DCL8/
- favorited 3y ago
  Pork chops have a bad reputation because people buy very thin chops and cook them to 165 degrees. They are delicious and juicy if you buy 1" thick chops, and cook them to the USDA-recommended 145 degrees. Treat them like you would a steak, and be vigilant about taking their temperature as they cook, and they won't be dry at all.
  - frumper 3y ago
    My wife grew up eating overcooked pork chops, and not liking them, but a pork chop at 145 feels uncooked to her. Academically she says she knows it is safe, but that still won't allow her to eat it.
- RajT88 3y ago
  It can be pretty inconsistent. Pork chops with almost no fat can be easy to overcook (PSA: you can cook pork rare now), to pork belly which leaves half an inch of rendered fat in the pan. I try and split the difference by keeping the fat and cooking the chops in it. It works OK.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

tracker1 3y ago

It's sad that some bad science and religion caused such a disproportionate stance against animal fats in general for well over half a century. From fat soluble nutrients to poor hormone production. Combined with industrial food it's definitely taken a toll on society. edit: s/decade/century/

riku_iki 3y ago
> From fat soluble nutrients to poor hormone production. the question is how much extra fat average consumer gets from meat.
- tracker1 3y ago
  Most meat has a perfectly fine proportion of fat to protein. You, in general should be getting about 1g fat per 2g protein for nutritional levels. Most don't get nearly enough, and what they do get is a very unbalanced ratio from seed oils. Fat can be used for energy, but is also a primary nutrient source. Carbs are solely for energy and the proteins and fats derived from vegetarian sources are of poor quality and low absorption. Most excess energy that gets stored as fat comes from carbohydrate sources, which are much easier for the body to break down.
  - riku_iki 3y ago
    > Most meat has a perfectly fine proportion of fat to protein. I think popular cuts (pork butt, chicken thighs) have worse proportion than that.
    - tracker1 3y ago
      Here's the nutrition information for a 3-ounce serving of skinless chicken thigh, per the USDA: 9 grams fat. 20 g protein. About 1g fat per 2g protein in the chicken thigh. It's far higher than more recent recommendations, but those have been far too low in terms of natural fat intake. Pork butt is about 20g protein and 16g fat, which isn't in and of itself bad, as it can still be used for energy (like carbs can). If you look at a lot of western nutrition issues, most are centered around lack of fat soluble nutrients and hormone deficiencies, which are sourced significantly from fatty acids. Edit: there's also obesity, but fat is far more satiating than carbs and tend not to cause the insulin/carb cycling in terms of hunger response that you get from sugars and simpler carbs. In the end, one should not be specifically avoiding fats from animals in natural proportions. That isn't to say you cannot overeat meat, only that it's less likely than overeating from other sources.
      - riku_iki 3y ago
        > 3-ounce serving of skinless chicken thigh skinless is obviously not popular cut. > tend not to cause the insulin/carb cycling in terms of hunger response they contribute to extra calories.
        tracker1 3y ago
        More than half the calories people take in is purely for energy. Excess is excess, it doesn't matter so much that it's fat or carbs. The difference being that if you're downing refined sugar or heavily processed foods there's other negative impacts that you don't see from excess fats. Unless you're suggesting that getting an extra ounce of natural animal fat is worse than eating something like a cereal bar with lots of refined chemical additives that aren't real food, including refined fats that don't even exist and would never be taken in in nature?
        riku_iki 3y ago
        My point is very simple: person can over consume calories from animal fat the same way as from processed food or refined sugar. Fat is 2.5 more dense in calories, and switching to lean meat can cut calories intake significantly.
maw 3y ago
Half a decade? Hasn't it been going on for well over 40 years by this point? On the bright side, it seems like fewer and fewer people take it seriously.
- tracker1 3y ago
  s/decade/century/

robmusial 3y ago

Is there a good reason to encourage pork consumption?

readthenotes1 3y ago
It tastes good.
dpratt 3y ago
It’s delicious and nutritious in moderation?
jzawodn 3y ago
Yes
Incipient 3y ago
They're much higher density than other animals when farming them, and they eat anything.

riku_iki 3y ago

and chicken tights with skin on have lots of fat.

stuff4ben 3y ago
This is very true! I trim a lot of the chicken thighs I get because they almost always have extra skin and fat that it really doesn't need. A little skin and fat is ok, but I have to trim it to keep it reasonable.

lief79 3y ago

My wife seems to think that pork is always dry. She'll occasionally go for pulled pork (crockpot cooked). Do you have any other suggestions? Especially if they are potentially kid friendly. She's not a fan of fatty recipes either, while my daughter is basically a bacontarian ... avoiding most other meats.

arcticbull 3y ago
Get a heritage breed that hasn't had all the fat removed from the gene pool. Check out the Berkshire/Kurabota pork chops they sell at high-end butcher shops like Niku (when the site comes back up, but you can Google Images for some of their stuff, or their Instagram). [1, 2] It's a perfect almost-red meat. Cast iron skillet on high heat, start with a high smoke point oil, 1 inch thick salt and pepper'd heritage chop, 10 minutes total (3-3-2-2) add butter (and optionally sage, and whole garlic clove - just watch they don't burn†) after the first 6 minutes and baste continuously to finish. Melts like butter. † if I see them starting to burn, I place them on top of the chop and pour the fat from the pan over it. Seems to stop the cook while continuing to impart the flavor. [1] https://www.nikubutchershop.com/ https://www.nikubutchershop.com/ [2] https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Faga-DCL8/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Faga-DCL8/
favorited 3y ago
Pork chops have a bad reputation because people buy very thin chops and cook them to 165 degrees. They are delicious and juicy if you buy 1" thick chops, and cook them to the USDA-recommended 145 degrees. Treat them like you would a steak, and be vigilant about taking their temperature as they cook, and they won't be dry at all.
- frumper 3y ago
  My wife grew up eating overcooked pork chops, and not liking them, but a pork chop at 145 feels uncooked to her. Academically she says she knows it is safe, but that still won't allow her to eat it.
RajT88 3y ago
It can be pretty inconsistent. Pork chops with almost no fat can be easy to overcook (PSA: you can cook pork rare now), to pork belly which leaves half an inch of rendered fat in the pan. I try and split the difference by keeping the fat and cooking the chops in it. It works OK.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]