> Young offers a different and credible explanation for the juice loss observed by many. It's not caused by whether or not meat is rested, but by the internal temperature of the meat at the moment it's sliced. According to Young, it comes down to vapor pressure: The hotter the meat, the more energy the internal moisture has, leading to higher vapor pressure that pushes liquid outward when the meat is cut.
So... you want to rest to bring the temperature down before slicing. The rule about resting isn't wrong in practice, it just had an incorrect explanation as to why it works.
> But my 1.5-inch-thick chops completely defied this: Even when I pulled one a full 15°F before hitting its target temperature of 140°F, it had reached 140°F and threatened to surpass it in under three minutes. Follow the conventional resting advice, and in many cases, you're going to blow right past your target temp.
This article is conflating different things. Obviously, don't overcook your protein. The best way to guarantee this is with sous vide. But in any case, the conclusion isn't to avoid resting. It's to pull the meat earlier to avoid overcooking, and then rest for the reason explained at the start of this comment.
They are contradictions. Let me be clearer, citing the end:
> The bottom line is this: It's a good idea to pull meat early from the pan or oven and let it rest, but only long enough to give it the time to slide up via carryover cooking to the target internal temperature, which you need to track closely.
Wrong. You need to let it slide up and then slide back down. The target internal temperature is for doneness. It's too high for slicing, very often.
> What resting is not: a fixed amount of time for the meat to sit, which risks it overcooking and losing its crust. Once again, it's all about temperature, not time.
This is a strawman. You've always rested meat until the temperature came down. The reason it takes time is because time is what brings the temperature down. The fix is not to not rest, it is to not overcook in the first place.
>Wrong. You need to let it slide up and then slide back down.
This is correct. Pulling the meat early means it will continue to cook while resting until the temperature comes down. It may slide up, but what you absolutely shouldn’t do is pull it early, wait 5 Mississippi, then cut into it. It needs to cool down at least 20 degrees C. 50 degree F. Still hot but won’t burn your fingers if touched. Put on some latex gloves, and cut away…
The article makes (or at least repeats uncritically) the same point about letting temperature come down. Ctrl-F "vapor pressure". It's just not in that exact sentence you picked out (where it's arguably still implied, since you're not going to eat meat still at cooking temperature). As for the second point: it's not a strawman. The version I heard years ago was the one about needing time for chemical changes that soak up the juice in the muscle fibers or whatever, not plain temperature.
What does that mean? Why is a particular temperature better or worse for slicing?
If it's juice retention, that is, lower temp = more retention, then the article seems to agree with this, but argues that juice retention isn't particularly important when it comes to final taste.
So... you want to rest to bring the temperature down before slicing. The rule about resting isn't wrong in practice, it just had an incorrect explanation as to why it works.
> But my 1.5-inch-thick chops completely defied this: Even when I pulled one a full 15°F before hitting its target temperature of 140°F, it had reached 140°F and threatened to surpass it in under three minutes. Follow the conventional resting advice, and in many cases, you're going to blow right past your target temp.
This article is conflating different things. Obviously, don't overcook your protein. The best way to guarantee this is with sous vide. But in any case, the conclusion isn't to avoid resting. It's to pull the meat earlier to avoid overcooking, and then rest for the reason explained at the start of this comment.