steak on wooden plate with rosemary sprigs

Why You Should Always Rest a Meat After Cooking

When you finish cooking a fantastic and juicy piece of meat, it becomes very tempting to bite into it as soon as it comes out of the grill, oven or pan. But it would be a mistake to do so, since you would be depriving yourself of an irresistible taste, incredible tenderness and unmatched juiciness!

To render justice to your meat and make these three qualities possible, you should let it sit for a while.

Why rest a meat?

During the cooking part, a particular phenomenon is observed. The meat contracts or "stresses", and the juices are then directed towards the center of the cut. It is therefore necessary to leave a resting time so that these juices are redistributed in the meat’s entirety and let it be reabsorbed by it. Thus, when you cut the meat, the juices won’t go out and it’ll remain very juicy and delicious.

Also, a slight rest allows the meat to relax and get rid of this ‘’stress’’. Then, it becomes more tender.

How much time do we need to let it rest?

For small individual pieces, such as steaks, bavettes, chicken breasts, etc., it's about 3 to 5 minutes. For roasts or other larger pieces, you can let it sit for a good 15 minutes.

But if you want an easier trick, the simple math is to let rest a minute per 100g.

How do we rest a meat?

For best results, prepare a hot plate, leaving it in the oven for a few minutes. Then put the meat on this plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep the heat inside. Let rest.

*Warning! Once cooked and wrapped in foil, the meat’s internal temperature will rise a few degrees, even if it’s not cooking anymore.

So, in order not to spoil the desired internal temperature, consider it and get the meat out a few minutes before it attains the temperature you wish. Use a meat thermometer.

To best help you, check out our infographic, the Maillard’s meat internal temperatures guide:

Article: Maillard's Meat Internal Temperature Guide