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Sear the pork, then bake it. Braise the pork. Smoke the pork. Stew the pork or use a slow-cooker. Let the meat rest after cooking. Cut the meat against the grain.
When it comes to cooking pork, a wide variety of cooking methods can give juicy, tender results as long as they're carried out properly. For instance, with thin cuts of pork like pork chops or sirloin cutlets, you may want to quickly cook the meat with high surface heat to give it a crisp, savory exterior, then transfer the pork to less-intense dry heat to finish cooking it. For instance, you might sear your pork in a hot pan on the stove (or on the grill), then transfer your pork to the oven (or move it to a cooler area of the grill and close the lid) for the rest of its cooking time. The indirect heat is vital to keeping your pork tender and juicy. While searing is great for giving your pork a delicious exterior "crust", using direct heat to cook your pork completely can easily lead to a tough, over-cooked piece of meat. Indirect heat from an oven or a closed grill, however, gradually cooks the entire piece of meat, leading to a tender, evenly-cooked final product. Since direct heat (like a hot pan) cooks the outside of your meat much quicker than it cooks the inside, you'll generally only need to cook for a minute or two per side to give your entire piece of meat a good searing. However, indirect heat (like from an oven) will take a longer time to cook your pork usually about 20 minutes per pound. One sure-fire way to get a moist, tender piece of pork is to braise it. Braising is a slow, high-moisture cooking method that involves placing the meat in a mixture of liquid (and sometimes solid) ingredients and allowing it to simmer in the mixture for hours. Braising produces extremely moist, tender, and flavorful meat, so it's often the preferred method for cooking somewhat tougher cuts of pork, like shoulder cuts and country-style ribs. In addition, the liquid used for braising can be used as a sauce or gravy, which is handy for pork dishes served with rice or a similar side dish. Though braising times for different pork cuts can vary, in general, you'll want to braise pork for about 30 minutes or so per pound (longer for tough meat or meat with lots of connective tissue). Often, braising recipes call for the meat to be seared or sauteed briefly before braising to give the meat a crispy exterior. Smoking is a very gradual, low-heat cooking method used to give many traditional barbecue dishes a distinct "smoky" flavor. There are a variety of ways to smoke meat, but, in general, most smoking processes involve burning special types of wood (like mesquite) in a closed container so that the meat is slowly cooked from the indirect heat. Over time, the wood gradually transfers its scent and flavor to the meat, leading to pork that's not only moist and juicy, but also has a unique taste that's hard to replicate with other cooking methods. Since smoking can be expensive and time-consuming, it's usually reserved for big pieces of meat that require long cooking times (like brisket, pork shoulder roasts, etc.) and social events like barbecues and cookouts. Smoking is a delicate art form for which many professionals use specialized equipment which can be quite expensive. However, it can also be accomplished with an ordinary barbecue grill. See How to Smoke Meat for a comprehensive guide to smoking meat. Using the gradual, moist heat of a stew pot, pressure cooker, or slow cooker can give you pork so tender that you don't need a knife to eat it. Stewing generally involves cooking the meat for long periods of time at low heat while it's submerged in a mixture of liquid and solid ingredients. Often, the meat in the stew is cut into small pieces so that every spoonful contains meat. As with braising, this type of cooking is great for softening up tough pieces of pork or cuts with lots of connective tissue (like shoulder cuts and country-style ribs). Stewing times for pork can vary but are generally comparable to braising times. Slow cookers (like crock pots, etc.) are especially convenient for stewing. Often, with these types of tools, all you need to do is put your ingredients in the cooker, turn it on, and let it cook for several hours without any extra work from you. Note, however, that if you're using vegetables in your stew, these should be added late in the cooking process, as they cook much faster than pork. If you're trying to get your pork as tender and juicy as possible, don't stop your work when the meat's done! One of the most important, but often overlooked practices in keeping meat moist and tender is the rest period. Regardless of the method you use to cook your pork, after removing it from the heat, let it sit undisturbed for about 10 minutes. You may want to cover it with a piece of foil to help keep it warm. Once the meat has had time to rest, it's ready to be enjoyed! Cutting the meat without letting it rest first makes the meat less moist and tender. When you cook a piece of meat like pork, a great deal of the meat's internal moisture is "squeezed" out of the proteins that make up the meat. Giving the meat a short rest after cooking give the proteins time to re-absorb this moisture. This is why if you cut into a piece of meat that's hot off the grill, you'll see lots of juice immediately run out of the meat, but if you give it a chance to rest first, less juice spills out. If you're trying to get exceptionally tender pork, you should even take the way you cut it into account. To produce the most tender results possible, you'll want to cut the pork in thin slices against the grain of the meat. You'll know you're cutting against the grain if you see the cross-sections of individual fibers in the meat when examining it closely after cutting. Cutting against the grain breaks the muscle fibers into smaller sections one last time before the meat is eaten. You'll never be sorry you took this small extra precaution! With extra-tender cooking methods like braising and stewing, your meat will generally be so soft that you won't need to bother with cutting against the grain. However, for big, thick cuts of pork that have been cooked on the grill or in the oven, you will want to cut against the grain to get your pork as tender as possible before serving it this is why, at catered events where a large roast is on the menu, the staffer serving it will almost always make thin, diagonal cuts against the meat's grain.