Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong • Hacker News Board

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#41

Post by tptacek » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:16 PM UTC

giraffe_lady wrote: post #11

tptacek wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that a major point in this article is a pretty serious team of cooks (the Meathead folks are competition BBQ people) arguing against resting (but cooking in such a way that resting doesn't matter).

Yeah I just clicked through and realized I've read that article several times over the years. It's old and quite well known in certain parts of the food world. Now that I know that, is there anything new in this serious eats one? Is it just a verification of the meathead OG?

It's kind of a counterpoint to it! Meathead actively advocates against resting; Gritzer argues for a cooking method that relies on carryover time and thus resting to slice at target temps. Both Meathead and Gritzer agree that moisture retention is not the reason to rest, and since there's a lot of pop science out there (complete with animations and physical models) for why moisture loss demands resting, it seems worth writing about.

Gritzer actually ran a relatively serious tasting experiment for this article, though I'm not sure how much it mattered to the point he's making.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#42

Post by ukshariapatrol » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:16 PM UTC

ackfoobar wrote: post #23

cyberax wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're skilled enough (and if you use a meat thermometer) you can use carry-over cooking to your advantage by removing meat slightly earlier.

Well, a lot earlier. I pull my steak out of the pan when it reaches 45C internally.

[dead]

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#43

Post by kelnos » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:17 PM UTC

happytoexplain wrote: post #10

Highly clickbait title. The conclusion is that you rest meat because it keeps it juicy and lets it finish carry-over cooking. This is already the common wisdom. The only new part is a different explanation for why resting makes it more juicy.

No, the conclusion is that the specific act of resting has no bearing on juiciness. The juice spillage depends on the temperature the meat is when you slice it.

Resting of course does lower the temperature, which reduces juice spillage, but a) that's a secondary effect, and b) blind tasters turned out to not know the difference between meat that lost more or less juice due to cutting at a higher or lower temperature, so it probably doesn't matter.

Carryover cooking is what matters, and we should care much more about what temperature we allow the meat to rise to after removing heat, because we will overcook the meat if we allow it to come to the target temperature (or even within 10-15F of it, depending on meat/cut/thickness) before removing heat. The article advocates for removing heat much earlier than most people probably do.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#44

Post by StillBored » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:18 PM UTC

They should be weighing the final cuts rather than trying to quantify the amount of fluid on the plate. Otherwise they are simply failing to account for the amount of water that is evaporating away. And given how much my food steams while cooling, its not a trivial amount.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#45

Post by pitpatagain » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:21 PM UTC

giraffe_lady wrote: post #11

tptacek wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that a major point in this article is a pretty serious team of cooks (the Meathead folks are competition BBQ people) arguing against resting (but cooking in such a way that resting doesn't matter).

Yeah I just clicked through and realized I've read that article several times over the years. It's old and quite well known in certain parts of the food world. Now that I know that, is there anything new in this serious eats one? Is it just a verification of the meathead OG?

It is not. Much of the SE article is about testing a newer hypothesis that the amount of juice loss on slicing is entirely explained by the temp of the meat at the moment of slicing, and that the various other explanations for what resting does are irrelevant.

The meathead article argues: - Resting doesn't change perceived juiciness the way you think it does. - Meat that you will slice on your plate continues cooking on plate. - Therefore recommends just cook to temp and dive in and don't do any traditional rest.

The Serious Eats article: - Tests the temp at slicing theory. - Says this means that appropriate resting time only has to do with aligning the carryover cook time with the temp you brought it to while cooking with the temp it will be at slicing - Suggests that the real benefit of resting is that it is easier to time and stick the landing with desired temp because of the gradual glide at the end - Therefore recommends: Using a rest, but shorter than traditional, just long enough as appropriate for temp control.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#46

Post by post_break » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:24 PM UTC

Sous Vide taught me resting meet was a farce. There's zero rest time when cooking that way, and it causes the meat, especially steak, to come out perfect every single time. There's a reason why it's pretty much banned in most cooking competitions.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#47

Post by jeffbee » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:25 PM UTC

Well it's great that they are writing down reasons for resting that aren't total nonsense. The old folk wisdom about resting for the juice never survived any amount of critical thinking. But, it's unfortunate that they've still fallen short of learning anything about heat transfer, because they still aren't mentioning anything about the conditions under which the meat rests. The air temperature, the material the meat is resting upon, and the initial temperature, size, and other properties of that material are going to make a large difference in the outcome.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#48

Post by jsbg » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:30 PM UTC

StillBored wrote: post #44

They should be weighing the final cuts rather than trying to quantify the amount of fluid on the plate. Otherwise they are simply failing to account for the amount of water that is evaporating away. And given how much my food steams while cooling, its not a trivial amount.

try reducing a sauce and you'll see how much energy it takes to actually evaporate "not a trivial amount"

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#49

Post by jsbg » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:33 PM UTC

happytoexplain wrote: post #10

Highly clickbait title. The conclusion is that you rest meat because it keeps it juicy and lets it finish carry-over cooking. This is already the common wisdom. The only new part is a different explanation for why resting makes it more juicy.

> The only new part is a different explanation for why resting makes it more juicy.

Even that is not new. I've known this for long enough that I don't remember where I learned it.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#50

Post by tptacek » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 8:36 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #13

This is sort of a neat microcosm of the story of the interaction of science and engineering over time. The original meat resting rules were essentially engineering, when it is forced to run significantly in advance of science, in this case due to lack of sufficiently accurate measurement tools (instant-read themometers that can be left in the meat). They were discovered ad-hoc. They worked. But the theories behind th…

Interesting take, true-ish I think? But Meathead had this right, as I recall from first principles (his writing partner at the time was a physicist), I think without the measurement apparatus.