Letting Steak Rest
Steakhouse Mysteries Solved: Why do you let steak rest?
Have you ever gotten a really good cut of steak, cooked it to what you thought would be perfect and then been less than thrilled with the juiciness of the meat on your finished plate?
The problem could be that you’re not letting your steak rest prior to cutting and placing on your dinner plate. Although it seems like a small detail – and an extremely easy one to miss when you’re hungry and ready to start dinner – it can mean the difference between an average meal and an exceptional one.
In truth, this is one of those trade secret tricks that set steakhouse meals apart from their in-home counterparts. However, if you learn the trick, you can have steakhouse quality meals right at home without the steakhouse prices. Your family, your guests and your own palate will thank you!
Resting isn’t even something tricky – all you have to do is allow your steak to sit in a warm place for 5-10 minutes prior to any cutting. Cutting the meat even includes any small cuts or minute incisions you want to make to make sure the meat is done the way you want. Don’t cut it at all – just be patient and let it rest so the juices can work their way back into the fibers before you cut. Otherwise, cutting too early means all those natural, delicious juices of your meat end up on the cutting board, rather than where they belong.
So what is resting, really? Basically, it’s giving the juices of your meat the opportunity to work back into the fibers before the meat is cut. In the raw meat, moisture is stored in the fibers, but as the temperature rises during cooking, this moisture is let out. It’s held in the steak temporarily by the seared exterior, but when you cut into it, those juices are let out completely. Resting allows the juices to be incorporated back into the fibers of the steak as the temperature naturally decreases once the meat is removed from the grill. It doesn’t take much to make a phenomenal impact on your finished meat.
