Definition, use, and examples of the word resting.
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I’m Jenn de la Vega and this is your culinary word of the day.
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Today’s word is resting.
It is spelled...R-E-S-T-I-N-G
According to Recipetips.com resting is allowing meat that is finished cooking to set or "rest" for a period of time to allow the juices to be reabsorbed by the flesh, preventing the juices from leaking when the meat is cut.
Resting is also a term used to describe the process of letting pastry dough set for a period of time to prevent shrinkage. The ball of dough should be wrapped in plastic and placed in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. This will allow the elasticity, which was built up during mixing, to relax.
In the Washington Post, C and Y Sagon write,
“Give that meat a rest. Start slicing right after cooking ends, and [...] you'll get -- a big pool of juice on the plate and meat that tastes dry and tough.
There's a scientific reason for this. As meat cooks, the protein fibers tighten and contract, squeezing out the juices. The blast of heat on the surface of the meat, meanwhile, drives this liquid toward the center. When you slice into that pork roast right out of the oven or that flank steak just off the grill, all those juices pooled in the center come pouring out.”
Kelly Vaughan of Martha Stewart Living continues,
Regardless of whether you're using a bone-in or boneless cut, [Martha] says that you should let the meat rest for half the time that it cooked for: "If it took 20 minutes to cook a rib-eye, it should rest for 10 minutes." This rule doesn't just apply to red meat though; from pork chops to poultry, all meat should rest once it's done cooking. As a good rule of thumb, any thick cut of meat such as pork chops or lamb shoulder should rest for between 10-15 minutes. Let the meat rest in a warm area, such as the top of the stove. Don't cover smaller cuts with aluminum foil, which will trap the heat and accelerate the cooking process.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt for Serious Eats asks,
“What about for larger cuts of meat, say a whole roasted pork loin, or a prime rib? Well, the same principles apply here too. The main difference is they need to rest for longer. How long? Well there are various rules of thumb: five minutes per inch of thickness, ten minutes per pound, half of the total cooking time, etc.
By far the easiest and most foolproof way to test if your meat has rested long enough is the same way you can tell if your meat is cooked properly: with a thermometer.
Ideally, no matter how well-done you've cooked your meat, you want to allow it to cool down until the very center has reached 120°F (49°C). At this stage, the muscle fibers have relaxed enough that you should have no problem with losing juices.”
Greg Blonder of Genuine Ideas shares some final tips,
If the final temperature is below 130F, collagen barely shrinks and there is no difference between resting and not resting.
If the final temperature is above 145F, the rested meat will exude more juices than the non-rested, but resting meat merely shifts when and where the juices are exuded- the total loss is about the same if you allow the juices to be reabsorbed.
Don't waste the juices! Incorporate them into a sauce or sop them up on the plate.
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I’m Jenn de la Vega and this has been your culinary word of the day.
Next time on Culinary Word of the day, another type of leftover.
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