Rest That Meat
It's the only way
For the last 20+ years, TV Chefs and food experts alike have been chanting the same steak cooking mantra of sear your meat to “lock in” the juices. This is either a universal misconception or outright bullshit, either way, it’s completely false. Having said that getting a good sear on your delicious Ribeye or New York steak is key to achieving amazing flavor and great texture but not necessarily the way to retain moisture.
A good steak is amazing but a great steak is better, in my experience, a great steak is achieved by letting your meat sit out of the fridge for a couple of hours until it gets to around room temperature, applying a good amount of salt and pepper and yes searing that chunk of cow for an equal amount of time on each side until the internal temperature makes you feel safe enough to eat it. I like mine medium rare, which is an internal temperature around 135 degrees Fahrenheit or 57.2 degrees Celsius if you are not a red-blooded cow-eating American. But searing to “lock in the juices”, I don’t think so.
Most importantly rest your meat. You can put the hardest cast iron sear on your steak that you possibly can and if you cut into your meat immediately after taking it off the heat, those locked-in juices will run out of there faster than a raging river. Resting is the only thing you can do to keep your meat juicy.
Most TV Chefs or food experts will tell you to rest a steak for at least 5 minutes or a roast for at least 15 minutes. Rest your meat for as long as you cooked it. If you cooked that steak for 5 minutes on each side, then rest it for 10 minutes, the same goes for a roast that you cooked for an hour or more if it has cooked for an hour then it needs to rest for an hour.
When I give this piece of advice to inexperienced meat cooks they usually look at me sideways or ask me, “Is it still hot”? Well if you are asking me if it is piping hot the answer is no it is not piping hot but it is a nice warm edible temperature and it’s perfectly tender and juicy. When your meat is piping hot out of the oven or just off of the grill yes it tastes good but if you rest it you will be able to taste the more nuanced flavors of your meat and it will taste even better.
I have cooked a thanksgiving turkey for 3 hours and I have rested that bird for 3 hours after cooking which does make that a 6-hour cooking process but it’s completely worth it and that turkey was still nice and warm on the inside.
Putting a good sear on a great steak gives you that contrast in texture from crispy outside to soft inside as well as a very flavorful crust, and contrast is what cooking great food is all about.
Cook the best meat that you possibly can and let it rest. You will not be disappointed.