![\"Plate](\"images\/20081118-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI felt like cooking this evening–or more specifically like eating a hot, real meal this evening. And since my roommate (who doesn’t eat pork) is out of town, I made myself some pork.<\/p>\n
I added a twice-baked potato that has been sitting in the freezer for a while–and some peas, which I absolutely love. Then the spirit struck me and I decided to whip up some instant pistachio pudding to go with it all.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t until I’d finished reheating the potato and peas, whipping the pistachio pudding, and pan-frying the pork that I realized I was eating all p<\/i>‘s. Pork. Potato. Peas. Pistachio Pudding.<\/p>\n
Introducing, dinner. Brought to you by the letter P<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A quick note on pork: When I was young, I thought I didn’t like pork. After all, I was used to dry pork chops that required half a cup of applesauce per bite to make them palatable. (Not a bash on my mom’s cooking–she really is an excellent cook. It’s just the pork chops.) But then Mom started buying these picnic roasts–and I loved them. They were moist, tender, flavorful. They were great. Okay, so it wasn’t all pork that I disliked. Just chops. Then I discovered the quick read food thermometer. This is honestly the best kitchen tool since the electric carving knife (bread slicer, that is). I cook the meat to an internal temp of 155 F–and it’s moist and tender and has great flavor. Amazing, isn’t it? If you’ve never owned a kitchen thermometer, go get one. It’s pretty much the best thing you can do. Now you don’t have to burn your meat to a crisp to make sure that it’s done. Just check the internal temp real quick and pull it off the heat while it’s still good.<\/p>\n
And just for the record, the internal temps for foods are as follows:<\/p>\n