Resting meat

Why

Once the meat leaves the oven or pan, heat keeps travelling from the hot surface towards the centre, so the core temperature goes on rising for several minutes – by a few degrees in a large roast, barely at all in a thin slice. At the same time the meat cools and firms up a little and its juices thicken slightly, so less of them runs onto the board when you carve. The popular idea that the juices are 'reabsorbed into the fibres' is overstated, though: resting does noticeably reduce how much juice runs out when you carve, but it can't give back the water the meat already lost while cooking, so the difference in juiciness on the plate tends to be smaller than claimed. Resting pays off mainly for large roasts and whole birds, where carryover cooking is real and worth planning for; with thin cuts and anything breaded or fried it does more harm than good, as the food cools and the crust goes soft.

How to do it

• Take a large roast or whole chicken out a few degrees before your target temperature, rest it for 10–20 minutes, and for poultry check that the core has reached at least 74 °C.
• Rest a steak for just a few minutes, and serve thin slices and schnitzels straight away.
• Tent the meat loosely with foil; wrapped tightly, it steams and the crust turns soft.
• Carve across the grain with a sharp knife so you don't squeeze out juice unnecessarily.
• Pour any juice that collects on the board over the meat or stir it into the sauce.

If it goes wrong

If you cut too early and the juice floods the board, no harm done: pour it into the sauce or over the slices on the plate. Resting can't save overcooked meat; next time take it off the heat sooner and allow for carryover cooking.