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Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

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

#62

So I just let it sit on a cutting board for five minutes before I slice it or I put it in an ice bath like a molecular gastronomist weirdo and slice it 4 minutes earlier?

Unless you get some enjoyment from being a weirdo, don't do the weirdo molecular gastronomist crap. I mean, it may be fun to figure out how to make water gravy, but if you try that with my hamburger steak you're getting tossed out like DJ Jazzy Jeff.

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

#63
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be shocked if you could win a rib competition with sous vide ribs. I've done them a bunch of times. They're fine. They're not revelatory.

I mean it's not unheard of: https://kbindependent.org/2023/04/17/after-sous-vide-controv...

Yeah, I acknowledge that low-temp is banned in a lot of competition BBQ. Weird! But ok!

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

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much all rib cooking competitions ban it.

Weird. Most cooking is about temperature control. Funny thing to ban the technique which is so effective.

That a sous vide rack of ribs could win a competition to me speaks to the artificiality of competition BBQ.

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

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much all rib cooking competitions ban it.

Weird. Most cooking is about temperature control. Funny thing to ban the technique which is so effective.

I wonder if it's banned simply because it doesn't feel enough like BBQ. Similar to why FIA banned CVTs in racing. It's kind of arbitrary but also I get it. Racing and BBQ have culture behind them, and dare I say 'vibes' that their practitioners will want to retain.

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

#66
post #6

Yeah makes sense, fits with how I was taught working in serious kitchens too. People will have different justifications for it or models for how it works but professional cooks generally take resting pretty seriously especially for bigger pieces of meat. I don't really like the article title though, the rule seems pretty much correct? > Carryover cooking is greatly underestimated in both its speed and degree, and thi…

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).

> the Meathead folks

Meathead is a singular dude who runs amazingribs.com. Wrote a good book too [1].

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Meathead-Science-Great-Barbecue-Grill...

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

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the article concluded that resting meat does not influence juiciness. In the blind test the author ran, the tasters could not identify a difference in juiciness between rested and unrested meat.

Do you cook steak? I do, multiple times a week (my kids love it). If you cut it right away, you end up with a pool of meat juice. If you wait a few minutes, you don't. I call bullshit. Resting the meat keeps the juice inside. This is objectively the case, whether or not some blind taste test agrees. (I'm not even sure why a blind test is relevant here...)

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

#68
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird. Most cooking is about temperature control. Funny thing to ban the technique which is so effective.

That a sous vide rack of ribs could win a competition to me speaks to the artificiality of competition BBQ.

Yes? It lowers the degree of difficulty tremendously.

And most people, even bbq judges, probably can’t taste the difference between a sous vide with smoke finish and a full smoker preparation.

But bbq competitions are about making the best ribs the same way car racing is about going around an oval the fastest. Equipment rules matter more than bare outcomes.

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

#69
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That a sous vide rack of ribs could win a competition to me speaks to the artificiality of competition BBQ.

Yes? It lowers the degree of difficulty tremendously. And most people, even bbq judges, probably can’t taste the difference between a sous vide with smoke finish and a full smoker preparation. But bbq competitions are about making the best ribs the same way car racing is about going around an oval the fastest. Equipment rules matter more than bare outcomes.

I get what you're saying but I don't just mean that it's unsporting or defeats the purpose of the conversation, but rather that it suggests the outcomes are judged on a rubric that doesn't capture what makes extremely good BBQ good, but rather basic textural and visual things. Like, Green Street in Chicago is, IIRC, combi-cooked before it's smoked; it's also just OK.

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

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Chris Young's video, the suggestion is to stop carry over cooking by slicing the meat when the internal temperature reaches the target temperature. A corollary to that is that if the meat is closer to target temperature when it leaves the pan, you should rest the meat for less time. I don't think this is part of the conventional wisdom.

Which is a bizarre suggestion. You don't slice individual portions of meat before serving. If I order a pork chop or a ribeye at a restaurant, I'd be horrified if it came pre-sliced. And for something like an entire roast, you want to slice shortly before serving so it doesn't get too cold. Just account for carry-over cooking and cook it less initially, or sous vide.

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