Pink is the new white

The sous chef at the country club where I work competed in the Taste of Elegance competition sponsored by the National Pork Board. He was nice enough to inform me yesterday that the new slogan they are trying to promote for pork is "pink is the new white." My guess is their goal is to stop people from overcooking their pork. Pork has to reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit for it to be safe to eat. When it reaches this temperature it will still be pink and tender inside. This goes against everything your mom told you about cooking pork and checking for it to be white, but taste wise you won't be disappointed.

Beef sales have been dropping and pork and chicken sales have been going up. This is good news for the pig people who were crying over the drop in price because of that ominously named swine flu. Pork prices are still pretty low, which is probably why people are eating more of it. The key is temperature. If you don't temp your meat, you are probably eating meat that is either being undercooked or overcooked. So listen to the pork people and make pink the new white.

I was helping to prepare for our July 4th celebration at work last night by husking what felt like 1500 ears of corn. All of that corn husking made me realize that it truly was not yet corn season. The ears of corn were not bad looking, but they just weren't beautiful. Many fruits and veggies are in season now. My mom just made a raspberry custard out of the black raspberries in our yard. My cousin texted me yesterday to tell me that the berry farm near our house was just starting to pick blueberries. It's important not to jump ahead of the season. Just because it's summer does not mean that everything is just automatically fresh and in season. Look for where the fruits and veggies are coming from and make sure you're checking out your local farmers markets for fresh produce.

We're serving around 800 at the country club for the 4th, so I'm getting ready for a lot of busyness. I hope your picnics are much smaller and a tad bit more relaxing.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily