Many people love eating pork because it’s high in protein and it is a versatile meat. It’s also cheap compared to other types of meat. It’s amazing how appetizing the parts of pork can be.
However, pork smelling is not a good sign. Fresh pork should not smell. There must be something either in the packaging or in storage. It is not safe to consume smelling meat because it is hazardous to your health.
If your pork smells like eggs, these are the reasons: packaging, storage, boar taint, vacuum packaging, and smelly environment.
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Reasons Pork Smells like Eggs
Packaging
If used in the packaging, plastic and something industrial can make your pork smell.
If not properly packaged, the mixture of bacteria and oxygen causes a rotten egg-like smell. It would help if you aired it before cooking to ensure the pork is not rotten.
To achieve the best results, buy pork that is freshly packaged.
Storage
Meat that has not been preserved well can go bad quickly. You should not keep your pork in the refrigerator for too long because it can be inedible.
If you are not planning to consume pork immediately, purchase it, keep it in the freezer to avoid attracting the smell, and speed up the rotting process.
The Smell from Non-castrated Pigs
When non-castrated male pigs get to puberty, they produce a smell. This offensive odor is commonly known as boar taint. If the pig is slaughtered during puberty, its pork may smell.
However, you can differentiate pork from non-castrated pigs from rotten pork because it smells during cooking while rotten pork smells even before cooking.
Vacuum packaged pork
Many people throw away vacuum-packaged pork, mistaking it for rotten pork. This is because there is a smell that comes out of the container when opening the container.
Remove the pork from the container, thoroughly rinse it, air it for half an hour, check again whether the smell is gone, and then cook.
Smelly Environment
Fresh, unpackaged meat can attract the smell from the environment.
If the store or butchery is in such an environment, there is a high likelihood that everything in that area, including meat, will have the smell.
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How should you remove the smell from your pork?
- Rinse your pork thoroughly.
If the smell results from packaging, rinsing your pork in running water thoroughly will eliminate the smell.
- Soak the Pork in Water, Salt, and Vinegar
Cut your pork into small pieces, wash it, then soak it in water, salt, and vinegar solution for 5 hours. Cutting the pork into smaller pieces will speed up the penetration of the solution for faster results.
- Boil
Boil your pork thoroughly, draining the water three to four times. This will efface the multiplication of bacteria if any.
- Soaking in Milk
Pork from non-castrated pigs should be soaked in milk for a day. During the day, change the milk four times to get the best results.
- Freezing
Wrap your pork in polythene food paper and place it in the freezing chamber for three to four months. This method works if you are not in a hurry to consume your meat.
- Adding spices to your meat
To curb the smell, add these spices: garlic, fresh ginger, chili, and black ground pepper to your dish as it cooks.
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How should I know fresh pork?
Fresh pork should not smell like rotten eggs.
You should just be sniffing the smell of metallic odor when you buy it. The metallic smell indicates fresh blood. You should also detect the smell of fresh pork fat.
- Expiry Date
Before you leave the store, check on the expiration date label. Most people overlook this due to hasty purchases hence leading to buying expired pork.
- Label
Check for a stamp from the health officials.
This will confirm that the health officers inspected the pork before it was processed.
- Note the Size When Purchasing
Fresh pork should shrink up to 40% as it cooks. You should note this carefully as it continues to boil whether it has shrunk.
Do not cook in haste; this is a process that needs patience so that you will note the difference before and after cooking.
- Color of the Pork
Fresh pork should be pink. The light shade of pink shows that the pork will fade out quickly if overcooked. The result is not delicious. However, it’s not a bad sign.
A deep shade of pink in meat means that the meat will keep a lot of moisture. Thus, very delicious when cooked.
Conclusion
As we have discussed above, different factors contribute to pork smell.
Most of the causes can be controlled and or eliminated. Carefully investigate why the pork is smelling to avoid throwing away your meat unceremoniously.
Watch out for rotten pork. This is because the repercussions that come with it cannot be reversed.
