Trichinosis. Sigh. It is not rational. I make the meat according to my preferences then leave his on heat until it is dry as hell.
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Ohhh, this must kill you every time you have to overcook it!
If this were the 1950s - yeah, I can understand it, because commercial farmers were still feeding meat food waste garbage to their pigs (and some smaller ones still do, but there are strict laws about having to cook that food waste now to a certain degree and for a set amount of time before feeding their pigs).
But now? There are probably 15 case of trichinosis in the U.S. every year.
I remember Mom serving what Iād call now āpork chop hockey pucksā to us back in the 1960s for dinner - usually cooked in a BBQ sauce, so it allowed for some flavor and a tiny bit of tenderness. But I canāt imagine trying to eat one now.
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Having had a terrible chicken texture experience this week, Iām not looking for another one 
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Mine too! Girl. Smh.
Sometimes I canāt take it anymore, and take it out of the oven/off of the stove.
He has no health concerns. More of a texture issue ( I think what he grew up with)
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Ah, OK. I will spare you the department of health fact sheet on it then. 
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Yeah, logic and science have no place in the discussion 
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It does! Prime beef, heritage pork chops, spendy air cooled chicken, carefully researched prep ( 
). Wasted.
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Probably one of the first ābigā words I learned . . . Dad loved pork chops but both he and mom (children of the 1920s) had a healthy fear of trichinosis so the chops had to be cooked to death.
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the CDC hasnāt recorded (at last countā¦) a case of trichinosis traced to commercial pork products in decades - which is why the recommended temp was reduced to 165āF
known trichinosis human infections (almost) all traced to wild game - especial bear - mostly as consumed by native peoples āin the northā - where culture and needs are a bit ādifferentā than styrofoam-plastic wrapped pork chops . . .
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I sous-vide chicken breasts to 142F. Theyāre not pink, but they are very juicy. Any temperature over 140F will kill bacteria in a very short time, Iāve read.
ETA: I see that the article did try 140F sous-vide, with great success.
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. Nope.
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I sous vide chicken at 140f for a couple of hours and turkey breast for maybe 3 hours. Works fine for me and itās not pink. Very moist. Iām fine with 140. I think 136 might be too slimy for me from my experience SV at 140. 140 is an easy number to remember. From the USDA doc,165 is the temp that all pathogens are killed instantly, which would be very USDA given it leaves little doubt, itās the general public and for maximum safety. USDA wouldnāt publish anything unsafe.
i found this from Serious Eats, says 136 is safe for 68.4 minutes. Itās about both temp and time. Serious Eats is my go to on sous vide because Kenji did a lot with it, and you know heās OCD on stuff. He often did 4 or 5 different temps and 4-5 different time durationsā¦and then would show pic and give his take on taste, texture, etc.
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast#:~:text=At%20136Ā°F%20(58,I%20donāt%20recommend%20it.
They pulled their data from the USDA. (page 37) https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/2021-12/Appendix-A.pdf
Pasteurization Time for Chicken With 5% Fat Content (7-log10 lethality)
| Temperature | Time |
|---|---|
| 136Ā°F (58Ā°C) | 68.4 minutes |
| 140Ā°F (60Ā°C) | 27.5 minutes |
| 145Ā°F (63Ā°C) | 9.2 minutes |
| 150Ā°F (66Ā°C) | 2.8 minutes |
| 155Ā°F (68Ā°C) | 47.7 seconds |
| 160Ā°F (71Ā°C) | 14.8 seconds |
| 165Ā°F (74Ā°C) | Instant |
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Amen. Thanks very much for showing how the sliding scale temp/time works.
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correction to the pork temp in post above . . .
recommended temp reduced from 165āF (to 145āF)
My mom was a lousy cook, in part because her mom was a lousy cook, and in part also because of a fear of trichinosis. Any beef or pork was cooked beyond shoe leather.
My foster brotherās MIL is (or claims to be - (*)) deathly afraid of trichinosis and demands that he cook everything to death. Or if he doesnāt, she whines about how heās trying to (a) kill her or (b) starve her.
Brother gets all his pork and beef by buying sides a couple of times a year, so everything is in the deep freeze. Heās shown her stuff from USDA about how trichinosis in cattle and swine canāt live through deep freezing, but thatās not enough and she claims they might be wrong. (Apparently some types, like in bear, can withstand freezing.)
(*) This lady is a real piece of work, manipulative, passive-aggressive, just an all-around bitch. Tried to poison the kids against him when they were young, but they got so they didnāt like her much either, so at least that didnāt work. His FIL is a really nice guy, though, and the only reason they still get invited over for holiday dinners.
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Yeah. I did a quick study on swine-borne trichinosis a couple of years ago due to comments raising concerns on a charcuterie/salumi how-to website.
Specifically with regard to pork, like you said - no cases identified from U.S. commercial sources. They were either all identified as certain to have been wild pig source, or āuncertainā - but damn near certain - wild pig.
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Iām doing a quasi sous-vide experiment right now, because I donāt have the real equipment.
I seasoned two very thick (2.5-inch) pork chops (ca. 1.5 pounds each) for about 6 hours, then put them into their own quart freezer ZipLoc bags (nanoplastics be damned for this experiment).
Then got a pot of water up to 155Ā°F and put the meat pieces in it, and put the whole it into the oven at 160 (had to punk the calibration, but it worked).
So weāll see in another half hour or so (Edit - theyāve been in there about 90 minutes). The oven (I have a separate probe in there) has been amazingly level at this 160 temp. Much less swing than when I map it at 400 or so.
Edit to add - Iām doing this pork experiment specifically because over the years Iāve gotten my family (and my in-laws when they were here) used to the idea of lower final temp pork. So this is for my wife a bit of an entrĆ©e.
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What is the experiment?
To see if he lives?
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My guess is aversion to any pink color whatsoever, even the thing that happens near the bone with fully cooked dark meat. You canāt cure this with facts and science.
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