Cooking your Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished Pork - Grass-fed pork is best when it has just reached well done, but not overcooked.

Tips for Cooking Your Grass-Fed Pork

1. The main reason for tough grass-fed pork is overcooking.
   The easiest way to prevent overcooking is to use a good cooking thermometer (not a meat thermometer). A meat thermometer is not terrible accurate, and it is left in the meat while it cooks. A chef’s thermometer has a small dial and is used to periodically check the internal temperature. I strongly prefer the digital thermometers (about $25), but the dial ones ($8-15) will work as well. You want to measure the temperature in the thickest part of the meat

   Here is the most important part! Meat continues to cook even after it has been removed from the heat source, therefore, you want to stop cooking the meat just before it has reached the desired doneness; it will finish cooking on its own from the residual heat.
   
   Here is the recommended final temperature for pork. Remove them from the heat source 5-10 degrees prior to achieving the desired temperature and allow them to finish cooking via residual heat.
   
   Pork
   Medium well – 140 degrees
   Well – 150 degrees

2. Stovetop cooking is great for chops... including grass-fed steak! You have more control over the temperature than on the grill.
3. If you use a thermometer to test for doneness, watch the thermometer carefully. Since grass-fed pork cooks so quickly, your pork can go from perfectly cooked to overcooked in less than a minute.
4. If roasting, reduce the temperature of your grain-fed pork recipes by 50 degrees. This usually means around 275 degrees for roasting, or at the lowest heat setting in a crock pot. The cooking time will still be the same or slightly shorter, even at the lower temperature. Again, watch your meat thermometer and don't overcook your meat. Use moisture from sauces to add to the moisture when cooking your roast.
5. Never use a microwave to thaw your grass-fed pork.
6. If time allows, bring your grass-fed meat to room temperature before cooking
7. Always pre-heat your oven, pan or grill before cooking grass-fed pork.
8. When grilling roasts, sear the meat quickly over a high heat on each side to seal in its natural juices and then reduce the heat to a medium or low to finish the cooking process. Also, baste to add moisture throughout the grilling process. Don't forget grass-fed pork requires at least 30% less cooking time so don't leave your steaks unattended.
9. When roasting, sear the pork to lock in the juices: You can do this by pan searing on top of the stove or by placing the roast in a HOT oven (450 degrees), then drop the dial to your baking temp as soon as the oven door is closed. Save your leftovers... roasted grass-fed pork slices make good, healthy, luncheon meats instead of processed "lunch-meats".

Sausage
Remember that sausage is also grassfed! It is going to cook very quickly with little shrinkage and little excess fat. If you want to make gravy, you may need to add some oil to the skillet in order to have enough drippings.

Bacon
Because our bacon does not contain nitrates or nitrites, it is cured with a pure salt cure. It is going to be quite salty. Bacon is best cooked slowly over medium heat, turning often. If the bacon is too salty for your tastes, you can try soaking it in cold water from 1 hour to overnight prior to cooking. Pat the pieces dry with a paper towel (to minimize grease popping) and then fry as usual. The bacon also fried very well in the oven at 400 degrees, turning once.

Country Ham
Here is a hint for cooking instruction for country ham. Country ham IS a cured product, so it does not HAVE to be cooked (think of “prosciutto”). Remember though that once you cut into the ham, it does become a perishable product.