191–200 of 266 posts
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…
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…
microcosm of the story of the interaction of science and engineering over time. Science requires measurement. Engineering requires cost benefit analysis. Rules for resting meat are more like religion than science or engineering…resting meat is a morality play of socially acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Eating without resting is labeled crass because it is the sort of thing a starving peasant might do. That’s ho…
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What is the finished internal temp when you follow this method?
I'm shooting for 54C medium rare but I've never left a thermometer to see the temp rise and fall. The steaks taste good is all I can tell you.
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Unless I’m mistaken (and that’s quite possible!), this should be trivial to test. Sous vide some meat for an overly long time to a precise temperature, then cut each piece at set intervals.
If you sous vide for a long time, the entirety of the steak will be at the same temperature, while pan searing cooks the outside to a higher temperature than the inside, which results in the core temperature going up a few degrees during resting.
Another important effect during cooking is the breakdown of collagen fibres (present in tough connective tissues which make some cuts of meat very tough to chew). This occurs in the presence of moisture at temperatures above 170F. When collagen breaks down the meat tenderizes and the collagen itself turns into gelatine which absorbs moisture and retains it within the meat. A gelatine-rich cut of slow-cooked meat (such as oxtail) can be very sticky and packed with flavour. This is one case where food can taste juicier with longer cooking times.
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Someone that only cares about juiciness at the center, and doesn't care how much is lost from the rest of the meat, sounds pretty unrealistic to me. If you keep pouring in heat until the last moment everything outside the center will be much hotter and lose much more juice.
That depends on the heat applied. Which brings up another good counterexample: knowing this, someone could cook longer at a lower temp to get a juicer edge for the same juiciness center.
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In other words, the real reason to let it rest is to let it finish cooking.
Unless it's already cooked, and this extra time spent resting will overcook it, resulting in the meat becoming drier, however imperceptible.
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"I was always under the impression that if you pull your meat at let's say 128" Please state units. In en_GB (at least) "pulling your meat" is ... ambiguous.
Off topic, and please forgive the way my mind works, but having read your comment I couldn't help thinking that the interpretive ambiguity would be resolved if the unit stated was "pulls" per minute (128 ppm while vigorous, is still plausible).
The article actually doesn't refute the idea of resting meat to retain the juices. In fact, it supports it. It just provides a reason for why this works which is perhaps different than conventional wisdom. Retaining the juices in the meat has to do with the temperature at which the meat is cut. Resting allows the temperature to drop, which creates less pressure, so the juices aren't forced out of the meat nearly as s…
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I wonder whether something similar applies to spirits. I feel absolutely sure that I could tell the difference between, say, a long-aged rum and an unaged one. But if you added food coloring to an unaged one and told me it was aged, would my brain invent oak barrel flavors behind my back? Who knows.
You can always give yourself a blind taste test. Get two (or more) opaque bottles, add the various rums in test, mark the bottom of the container for the type of rum, mix it up and see if you can reliably tell the difference. My assumption is you could because that oak flavor is pretty strong, but who knows. Worst case scenario is you find out you still prefer expense alcohol :)
The article actually doesn't refute the idea of resting meat to retain the juices. In fact, it supports it. It just provides a reason for why this works which is perhaps different than conventional wisdom. Retaining the juices in the meat has to do with the temperature at which the meat is cut. Resting allows the temperature to drop, which creates less pressure, so the juices aren't forced out of the meat nearly as s…