What's the point of resting meat before cutting it?
What's the point of resting meat before cutting it?
Letting cooked meat rest before you cut into it can be patience-trying for the hungry carnivore. But it's worth it for a number of reasons.
High heat makes muscle proteins in the meat contract, pushing juices toward the center. If you allow your meat to relax -- anywhere from 5 minutes for a steak to around 40 for a turkey -- liquid that has been pushed out of tightened meat cells is able to circulate and be reabsorbed, making the meat more tender. This also means the juice will stay in the meat, not run all over your cutting board or plate. It also helps even out the temperature of the meat.
Remove your cooked meat and place it on a wooden cutting board (or, as some chefs insist, on a wire rack above a plate to capture juices, which allows air to circulate on its underside, preventing it from becoming soggy). You can also loosely tent the meat with foil; again, be careful not to wrap it too tightly, lest you lock in the moisture and lose your crisp crust.
Note: The internal temperature of meat rises while it rests, due to the residual heat from the oven. So invest in a digital, instant-read meat thermometer and get in the habit of pulling your meat out before it's done to your liking.
Recipe: Roast Leg Of Lamb With Garlic And Rosemary (Cookthink)
Reference: Does searing meat really seal in moisture? (Cookthink)
Reference: Do I need a digital, instant-read meat thermometer? (Cookthink)
Pork tenderloins are usually sold either two to a package (at around 12 ounces each) or as a single cut of 1-2 pounds. If a tenderloin is uniform in thickness, it’s ready to cook. But often, one end is smaller than the other. If you cook it that way, the small end will be too done by the time the thickest part is just right.
Here’s how to keep that from happening:Cut off 12 inches or so of butcher’s twine, and put the thin end of the tenderloin in front of you.Fold the thin end back on itself so that the entire length of the tenderloin is uniformly thick.Slide the butcher’s twine underneath the tenderloin, and tie the folded thin end with a simple loop and surgeon’s knot.Cut off the excess string with kitchen shears, and you're ready to go.
Cooking pork is fraught with pitfalls. Fry a chop too fast or cook it too long and it will petrify. Though the National Pork Board advises serving pork while still pink (about 154F), some home cooks blanch at the very thought of blushing pork, even though its well-done alternative has all the sensual appeal of sawdust.
The problems arise from the nature of pork and the ways that nature is changing. Of all the commonly eaten meats, pork has the densest muscle fiber and the lowest moisture content (about 50 percent as opposed to chicken at 65 percent), which means it has a tendency to dehydrate more during cooking.
In the past pork was always cooked to 170F, or well-done. At that internal temperature the only thing that saved it from being hopelessly dry was the fact that its hefty fat content, which melted into the meat during cooking, made up for its lack of moisture.
But in recent years there has been a concerted and successful push by pork producers to lower the fat levels of pork (the other white meat), with the result that the nutritional numbers on pork look better than ever, but its tendency towards dryness has been laid bare. A growth in interest in heritage breeds of pork, like Berkshire and Yorkshire, that have substantial marbling and flavor, attempts to counteract pork’s march towards desiccation.
When heated, meat protein contracts, forcing any water held in the muscle fiber outward. The hotter the flame, the more the fibers tighten. Traditionally cooking meat means searing the surface at very high temperatures. For moist meats, like beef, which can be served rare, the dried surface and moist interior adds sensory charm, but for pork, the effect is opposite.
Because pork is dense, heat does not pass through it easily. Consequently, when cooking temperatures are very high the surface of the meat gets excessively hot before enough heat can penetrate through to the interior. By the time the meat is fully cooked most of the moisture is gone.
The obvious solution is to slow down the cooking. Pork should be browned briefly, and then the temperature should be lowered to allow the rest of the cooking to take place as gently as possible. Heat transference is helped by adding liquid, which tenderizes meat fibers more efficiently than dry heat while continually adding moisture.
