Pork is one of the common foods in the Vietnamese diet, but not everyone knows how to choose and handle pork properly. To ensure safe and delicious pork meat, it is important to pay attention to the color, moisture, and smell of the meat. Fresh pork usually has a light pink color, not grey or dark red. When touched, the meat should be elastic and not sticky or have a strange smell.
Good quality pork will have a light pink color, and the fat will be white. (Illustrative image)
In addition, the fat of the pork should be white, and avoid choosing pork with yellow or overly white fat.
2. Cleaning toxins from pork meat
After purchasing pork, it needs to be cleaned to remove toxins and impurities. Some common methods include washing the meat under cold water, soaking the meat in diluted saltwater, or using other ingredients such as ginger and lime to reduce the gamey smell of the meat.
Some people choose to blanch the meat in boiling water to remove bacteria and clean the pork before cooking. However, according to food safety experts and research, this method is not only ineffective but can also increase the risk of retaining toxins in the meat.
Blanching pork in boiling water is a mistake and should be avoided. (Illustrative image)
According to information from the online newspaper Sức khỏe Đời sống, when pork is blanched in boiling water, protein changes occur, causing the meat to contract and become tougher. During the contraction process, the meat may hold onto dirty chemicals and residual growth hormones that cannot be expelled.
In addition, blanching meat cannot completely eliminate harmful bacteria, as most harmful bacteria are only destroyed at temperatures higher than the boiling point of water. At the same time, this method also cannot remove sediment in the muscle tissue or residual growth promoters and antibiotics.
Furthermore, blanching pork in boiling water also leads to a significant loss of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals in the meat. Therefore, to ensure both flavor and safety and the nutritional value of the meat, homemakers should apply other processing methods such as soaking the meat in diluted saltwater or using natural antibacterial vegetables to clean the meat.
3. Using diluted saltwater to remove impurities from pork meat
Using diluted saltwater to clean pork is a simple yet highly effective technique that many homemakers prefer. When the pork is soaked in diluted saltwater, the solution cleans the surface of the meat, removes coagulated blood and impurities adhering to the meat. At the same time, the salt solution softens the muscle tissues, significantly reducing the distinctive gamey smell of pork without compromising the nutritional content of the meat.
Soaking the meat in diluted saltwater helps clean the meat and enhance its aroma. (Illustrative image)
Diluted saltwater has natural antibacterial properties that help limit the growth of bacteria on the meat during processing. When soaking the meat in saltwater, salt ions attach to the bacteria and dirt through the permeation process, thereby quickly and effectively removing them from the meat.
In addition, salt also helps reduce harmful substances that may be present in the meat due to the farming process, such as antibiotics or growth-promoting agents. The diluted saltwater solution not only helps remove some of these substances but also helps minimize the risk of bacterial contamination from undercooked pork.
Furthermore, soaking the meat in diluted saltwater also enhances the flavor of the meat, making it tender and more delicious when cooked. This technique also helps the meat absorb a small amount of salt, thus balancing the taste and maintaining the appropriate moisture content of the meat without drying it out after cooking.
In conclusion, the use of diluted saltwater is not only a safe method for preparing pork but also improves the quality and flavor of the dish, ensuring the health of consumers.
According to Đời sống pháp luật