One of the most versatile types of meat, pork is economical, tender if cooked correctly, and oozing with flavour. It is often thought of as a particularly fatty type of meat but modern breeding, rearing and butchering has today made pork a low-fat, healthy meat. Furthermore, the fat it does contain is less saturated than that found in other meats.
Pork is high in protein, an excellent source of iron, zinc and B vitamins and tastes wonderful too – so get some pork on your fork.
Availability
All year round.
Choose the best
Look for firm, pale pink flesh, damp but not oily in texture. Avoid pork with yellow coloured fat and go for the white stuff instead. Bones should be red tinged. Rough flesh and white bones indicate the animal is older and the meat less tender than it should be.
Prepare it
Trim excess fat from the meat when preparing it for cooking.
Cook it
Most cuts of pork can be roasted, baked or grilled. Other popular methods include pan-frying, stir-frying, stewing and griddling. Hocks and trotters should be boiled to soften the connective tissues and can then be stuffed and roasted.