2. 145ºF is the recommended doneness temp for lean pork. However, you should take the loins out 5-10ºF before that temp as the interior temperature will continue to rise from carry-over cooking.
Exactly what I was going to point out until I reached reading your post. I did some roast pork a couple weeks ago and for some reason the continued warming increased much more than I expected, and the pork was disappointingly dry. Coincidentally I'm having a roast, stuffed pork chop tonight and I'm definitely removing it at 135ºF, maybe even 130ºF.
Personally for something like brining, table or kosher salt both work equally well. , IMO.
You just have to get the salt/water ratios right, as they are very different for table vs. kosher salt.
Salt is salt is salt, NaCL, sodium chloride. In solution there is absolutely NO difference in different types of salt, except such as "gourmet" or "specialty" salts which are chosen for their unusual impurities, or flavored salt.
Interestingly (or not, you decide) ALL salt is sea salt! Unless it came in on a meteorite all salt has its ultimate source as an ocean, whether a prehistoric ocean that became folded into the layers of the Earth's crust and mined, or of course what is usually called sea salt which is evaporated salt water from an ocean.
But admittedly I'm being picky, picky. "Sea salt" usually refers to salt made by filling a basin from the ocean, then closing the channel and waiting until the sun evaporates the water.
I have a conundrum regarding salt from dry lakes such as found in Death Valley and similar dry lakes in the Owens Valley and other locales. I suspect it is geologic salt eroded from the mountains around the valley enclosing the lake that was dissolved by rain and snow melt and eventually deposited in a basin with no outlets.
What is it stuffed with?
This can affect the necessary cooking time...
I'm wondering the same myself. My tonight's pork chop is stuffed... I think I'll stick the thermometer in the meat and cook as I described above.
If you wish to be doubly careful you could possibly nuke the stuffing to 145ºF, which is the FDA's generally accepted food serving safety standard. However, actual food safety in the real world depends not only on temperature but time at that temperature too.
For example, I use my Sous Vide ("water oven") to cook steaks to a done temperature of 120ºF, way below the 145ºF, but the cooking cycle is 3-4 hours, and temperature over time kills bacteria as well as a short exposure to 145ºF.