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Contamination Prevention | Cooking Safety | Proper Storage When working with pork it is essential that the meat is handled and stored properly to ensure safety. You cannot see the harmful bacteria on the meat so you must handle it as if it is present.

This type of ham can be a butt or shank portion or it could be a whole or half leg that has the hip, thigh and/or shank bone remaining as part of the ham.

Pork production today has drastically changed to produce much leaner meat than what it did 25 years ago. Better breeding and feeding of the hogs and a grading system that stimulates the meat packers to trim more of the external fat than they did in the past has resulted in leaner meat.

Also known as boned ham, this whole cured ham is a cut of pork that has had the hip, thigh, and shank bones removed, as well as most of the fat before it is rolled, molded, and packaged.

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A precooked ham that has been pre-sliced by spiral cutting in order to make it convenient for serving the ham slices.

Checking Doneness When checking doneness it can be accomplished in basically the same manner for whatever cooking method you are using. There are several methods that can be used, but some are more accurate than others.

Tips on Selecting Cuts | Terms | Description of Cuts | Inspection and GradingRead the Label | Look and Feel | Quantity to Buy | Purchasing in Quantity When shopping for pork there are several things that you need to consider so that you will be assured of purchasing the correct quantity, quality and type of pork to satisfy your needs.

Pork is the meat from the carcass of a pig. The carcass is generally split into two sides of pork, each consisting of four primal cuts. Each primal consists of subprimal cuts that are divided into several specific market ready cuts.

Pork cooking times and temperatures are extremely important when cooking pork. The optimum flavor and tenderness of various cuts of pork can be consistently achieved when care is taken to follow the recommended pork cooking time and temperature guidelines.

Pork Steaks Steaks are individual cuts that are generally sliced from cuts that are used as roasts. They are most often sliced from roasts such as blade Boston roast, center loin roast, sirloin roast, and the fresh ham roast.

Pork Roasts Generally a larger cut that is used to serve several people. Roasts can range in size from as small as 2 lbs. up to 20 lbs. or more. They are available from almost all the primal cuts and vary in tenderness and leanness, depending on the cut they are taken from.

Use the charts below to help determine how much to buy of the foods listed below when preparing a meal or a recipe for a specific number of people. Pasta Buying Guide | Rice Buying Guide | Egg Buying Guide | Meat Buying Guides Pasta Buying Guide The quantities in the chart below are approximates only.

Pork today is leaner than ever before, decreasing the amount of fat in diets and resulting in health benefits for all ages. But, leaner pork also affects the way pork should be cooked.