If you skip resting, you will lose more flavorful juices when the meat is cut. The internal temperature of the meat will always continue to rise a little during the resting period, so you should remove your meat from the oven or grill prior to reaching its target doneness temperature. Otherwise, it will be overcooked.
Allowing the meat to come to room temperature allows for a more even cook all the way through. If your meat is cold when it hits the pan, it can cause the muscle fibres to tense up. Get your steak out ahead of time – about 30-40 minutes is usually ample for a 500g steak.
Resting your steak aims to reduce the amount of juices that you lose when cutting into the meat. If you can rest it long enough, your meat will retain these juices, and you'll bite into the tender, tasty, and incredibly juicy steak.
The “blood” is myoglobin and needs to be reabsorbed by the meat, this process happens during resting. All of the juice that's within the meat redistributes leaving every mouthful tender and juicy. I think the biggest myth with resting is that your food will be cold if you let it rest – this just simply isn't true.
When you cut into a very hot piece of meat, all of the liquid is going to come out. If you rest it, it allows everything to relax and redistribute the juices, which creates a more tender, juicier cut," explains Angie Mar, co-owner and executive chef of The Beatrice Inn in New York City.
Small Meat Cuts Temperature Rise - Smaller meats like hamburgers, chicken breasts, and steak will continue to rise between 3-6 degrees Fahrenheit when resting. Large Meat Cuts Temperature Rise - Larger roasts such as pork tenderloin and turkey can rise between 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit when resting.
You can rest your steaks one minute for every 100 grams. So for a 14 to 16 ounce steak, you should rest it about 5 minutes and you can let it rest as long as 10 minutes (as long as you keep it in a warm place). The meat will continue to cook once it comes off the heat for several minutes.
To properly rest meats after cooking, you must wrap them. After a cut of meat is finished cooking, gently wrap it with aluminum foil in a tent-like fashion. This will keep the meat warm after it reaches its peak internal temperature while resting. Depending on the cut of meat, rest times will vary.
It might not seem like a game-changer, but resting your steaks on a hot plate does prevent heat loss. Stick a heat-proof platter or large plate in the microwave and heat it for about 1 minute. Remember to wear oven mitts when you take the hot plate out! Then, set your cooked steaks on the plate.
Cover Loosely With Foil…
During the resting period, cover meat loosely with aluminum foil to prevent the surface from cooling off too fast. Make sure the meat is on a cutting board with a “gravy groove” or a rimmed baking sheet pan to catch any juices.
Recent experiments and noted food scientist and writer Harold McGee indicate that flipping a steak several times while cooking results in a steak that is ready sooner but also yields better overall results than the single flip method. Flipping your meat constantly also minimizes the desiccation zone or the dry area.
But the reality is that flipping a steak repeatedly during cooking—as often as every 30 seconds or so—will produce a crust that is just as good (provided you start with meat with a good, dry surface, as you always should), give you a more evenly cooked interior, and cook in about 30% less time to boot!
Most big steakhouses broil their steaks, using overhead, infrared broilers that produce incredibly hot temperatures to cook steaks. Don't worry though, you don't need to go out and invest in one, but the principle is the same. You need incredibly high heat in direct contact with the meat.
Take steps to ensure a good crust
"Pat down your meat," says Cervantez. "Dry meat forms the best crust." Juan Carlos Gonzalez, former executive chef of SoBou in New Orleans, likes to add a bit of olive oil as well, which he says helps achieve a better sear or griddle marks.
If you don't have a meat thermometer, there are three visual checks that must done. Pierce the thickest part of the meat with a fork or skewer and check that: The juices run clear. It is piping hot all the way through (it should be steaming)
At least 45 minutes or up to 24 hours before cooking, pat the steaks dry to remove surface moisture that would inhibit browning; sprinkle them with 1½ teaspoons of kosher salt (easier to distribute than table salt) per pound of meat; and let them rest uncovered in the fridge (the cold, dry air helps even more moisture ...
Any restaurant worth its weight will rest any meat after grilling it. In general, you don't take meat straight off the grill and serve it. No matter how busy the restaurant gets, there's generally at least a few minutes between taking the food off the heat, plating it, and then serving it.
If you throw a cold steak on the grill, it won't cook as evenly and will dry out much more easily." So the next time steak is on the menu, don't forget to let it rest before and after cooking.
There is no real significant difference internally in terms of resting time when using foil vs. bare. Bare will rest slightly faster, but not much.
Pretty much any meat coming off of the grill will benefit from a little seasoned butter to jazz up the flavor and moisture. After you mix all ingredients for your resting steak butter in a small bowl, simply “paint” the cutting board with the back of a spoon and place your cooked meat on the butter while it rests.
As a rule of thumb, when cooking steaks that are 1-1/2 inch thick, you want to go by the 3-4 rule. That is, three minutes per side on direct heat, then four minutes per side on indirect heat. That will get your steaks to a beautiful pink medium-rare.
When your raw steak is kept out on the counter, it is left at room temperature. According to the USDA, you should not leave raw steak – or any raw meat – out for more than two hours. If it is a warm day and the ambient temperature is above 90 °F, then the steak shouldn't be kept out for longer than an hour.
Meat is composed of three basic elements: protein, fat, and liquid. The fat contributes flavor while the liquid makes the meat nice and juicy. However, when meat is cooked for too long, all of the fat and liquid render out. Without them, all that's left is a bunch of tough, flavorless protein.