Resting a steak is usually a trivial matter: wrap in foil and stick in the oven at 50. But what if the oven isn’t available? Like when I’m cooking oven chips.
Please share your techniques with me.
Put steaks on chopping board. Overturn steak pan on top of steaks. Rest three minutes. Perfection.
^
Similar to above, put on plate (ideally warmed in oven) cover in foil.
Apparently my cooking education is lacking - what is the point of resting steaks?
For juiciness! If you don’t rest a steak, the minute you cut it all the juices will run out. Resting the steak allows the juices to be reabsorbed into the meat, resulting in lovely juicey pieces of steak.
Mmm…steak…
Jamie Oliver has a good explanation. When meat is cooking, it tenses up - it is muscle after all. By allowing it to rest, the muscle relaxes and reabsorbs all the liquid into the muscle fibres, meaning the steak is both juicier and more tender. This is true for ALL meat, not just steaks.
If you don’t think it makes a difference, do a comparison test. You’ll be amazed at the difference.
To the OP, I wouldn’t ever rest meat in the oven as I wouldn’t want to over cook it. I always just leave it on the side, covered in foil (for large roasted joints, I would also cover with tea towels, as I would be resting the meat for c.30 mins).
Well, so much for hot-from-the-oven-to-the-table. How did I get to be nearly 60 and not know this?? :smack:
If you have the oven at 50, this doesn’t happen.
Won’t they get cold?
This I do, and it works very well. I used to use a tea cosy but I lost it and haven’t replaced it.
I’ve never rested meat in the oven. Just place them on a plate or tray and tent with foil.
Same here. Never rested meat in oven. Never even heard of anyone resting meat in the oven. But the ovens I’ve worked with have never had a setting as low as 120F (about 50C). Some may have a “warm” setting (which doesn’t seem to correspond to a defined temperature, but from what I can find online is usually about 150F, although some have as high as 200F).
In five minutes? No, they shouldn’t get cold.
The steak is usually the last thing I cook. I let it rest under a foil tent while I set the table with all the other foods, wash up from grilling, etc… Long enough to be effective, not long enough to cool down too much.
For small pieces of meat, I’ll often rest in a warm oven (heat to lowest setting and turn off before placing meat inside), on the counter under foil (but not in winter because it will get cold) or, if the oven is in use and it’s wintertime, I’ll put it in the microwave (mine is large, it’s insulated, and no, don’t turn it on). When covering with foil, make sure there is room for steam to escape or you will make the crust soggy.
For larger pieces of meat and especially BBQ, I’ll use what is called a faux Cambro, aka a cooler. I wet a tea towel, nuke it for 20 seconds, carefully place in the bottom of the cooler, then you can put a plate or disposable aluminum container on top and close the cooler. I can keep BBQ at safe temperatures for ~1 hour like that.
ETA: I’ll rest in the oven in the winter because my kitchen is COLD, except by the stove, and that is prime real estate when cooking. My lowest is 170F, so I’ll heat the plates (both serving and dinner), then turn it off. When I open to retrieve the plates, then replace the resting meat, the oven will drop in temp to about 120F, and won’t overcook anything.
Yeah, with big cuts like pork shoulder or whe brisket, I’ll do what you do in a Coleman cooler, especially if I have to hold the meat for 1-2 hours.
Just putting foil over it will do the trick for shorter periods of time.
Yep, the tea towel only comes out for long rests.
Anyone remember heated hostess trolleys? My 86yr old mother has always sworn by them, and last year I buckled and bought an old one on eBay for pennies. I’ve stuck it in the utility out of sight from friends who would mock me for turning into a 1950s housewife, but when I hold my annual multi-course sit down dinner for 16, it’s a goddamn life saver.
Same here. I’ve heard of resting a roast but never steak. Must try it. Is it really necessary to rest the steaks for 30 minutes, though?
5 minutes or so also works fine for me.
Resting steak is a myth.
Well, I say that having only read that single link about it, but I usually find it’s safe to place my bet on the “myth” side of things like this, and the writer(s?) of the article seem to know what they’re talking about. They have a science advisor and everything.