Wild Pork

[Tad Houston]

Just wondering what the safe temperature for wild pork is. One meat thermometer says 185 for fresh pork and the other one says 160. I dont want to cook any longer than i have to, as not to dry out the meat. Also i just learned about brining- what a great thing to do to wild pork! Tender and juicy!  Thanks-Tad

[Dana3of5]

OH YEAH!!!  That is one of the first things I thought about when I read about brining on Alton Brown's show "Good Eats"...wild pork,  mmmmmm.  I haven't tried it yet with the wild pig, but it works great with venison and poor cuts of beef and pork.

As for temps, 160 is for hams and 170 for the other cuts of pork according to my handy dandy digital thermometer.

I brine just about all cuts of meat for a little while just to get in the moisture and flavor enhancers.

Did you get that from the post in this forum?

[Tad Houston]

I got the idea from a friend of mine who showed a whole artical about brining. I gather that it changes the stucture of the meat in a moleculer way that absorbes moisture and locks it in. All i know is trhat it works! Another thing i tried with the back strap after brining was vacume marinading it. I used my Foodsaver vacume packer with the canister and just tumbled the meat around it there. Also worked great! Wild pork never tasted so good!