[red potato]

Last night I cooked a pork loin in my pressure cooker. It finished cooking a little after 1130. But I had to wait for it to naturally release the pressure. Totally forgot about it and went to bed! So when Me kitties woke me up for breakfast at 6 I saw it was still in the cooker but the cooker automatically goes to keep warm mode after cooking... Took out the pork and checked temp. 160*. It should still be good yes?

 

[chefwriter]

Yes.

 

[phatch]

Probably dry, but that temp should be OK.

 

[phaedrus]

Yeah, it's fine.  If it held hot in an unopened pressure cooker it will be safe.  The intense heat and pressure would have pasteurized it at the very least.  Heck, you've basically canned it!  Until you open the lid you essentially have canned pork.  It might be dry but it should make good BBQ or something.

 

[mike9]

And that's why they invented BBQ sauce.

 

[luc_h]

I agree with everybody in this thread but not for the same reason probably.

@Phaedrus pointed out that your pork is basically canned, that is not entirely true because cans are sealed containers but the pressure cooker is not but rather a controlled pressure release container. Once the pressure cooker it completely cooled to room temperature (as I suspect happened sometime early am), air can flow freely both ways through the weighted pressure release opening and introduce bacteria and potentially contaminate the meat again.

I believe that there is no problem with your pork because the time it stayed at below 60C/140F is most probably less than 6hrs i.e. under pressure @ 11:30pm and wake up at 6:00am is only 6 1/2hours and the pork started hot in a hot container. 6hrs of cooling is considered adequate for food safety.

Additional info:

Not that anybody suggested this here but, a pressure cooker would not be a safe container to store meat at room temperature like a can does. Additionally, canning uses higher temperatures and pressure than home pressure cookers which means one should not use a pressure cooker for canning at home particularly low acid foods like meat. Canning should be done with an autoclave a pressure canner.

Luc H.

 

[chefwriter]

Not to change the topic but a little clarification perhaps. 

     You are right that a pressure cooker is not a pressure canner. I don't know quite how you mean autoclave to be interpreted but there are pressure canners intended for home use. High acid foods are typically canned using the water bath method, low acid foods such as meats are done in a pressure canner. Many people in the US can various meats and other low acid foods at home using a pressure canner . We may be using different terms for the same device. 

 

[luc_h]

We may be using different terms for the same device.

yes autoclave is the same as pressure canner.

http://www.canningpantry.com/all-american-steam-autoclave-sterilizers.html

Luc H.

 

[chefwriter]

Actually Luc, the link you posted states emphatically that the autoclave is Not to be used for canning. 

 

[luc_h]

Autoclave is the term used in French (I thought it was also used in English). I looked at the picture instead of actually reading through the description.

Now I wonder why they would say why an autoclave should not be used for canning? If anything a medical autoclave would be overkill for canning although both instrument do the same i.e. sterilize what's inside.

even this discussion thread link cannot explain the difference and why... can't find any explanation for it.

https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=10&f=19&t=650054

the only thing I can come up with is the cooking tables (instructions) are probably because when sterilizing there are different times for when sterilizing dry instruments versus wet.

In any case, to avoid confusion I have edited my original post to reflect the correct terminology.

Luc H.