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Handbook

Resting meat after cooking

Why you do not cut a steak right away, and what carryover cooking is.

After leaving the heat, the inside of a cut RISES another 3-5°C (up to 8°C in a large roasted bird): the outer layers are hotter than the centre and keep feeding heat inward. This is carryover cooking, and you plan for it: pull the meat a few degrees BEFORE the target temperature.

  • Steaks rest 5 minutes under foil; large cuts and whole birds — 10-20 minutes.
  • Resting lets the juices thicken and redistribute: a steak cut immediately loses them to the board.
  • Foil goes on loosely: a tightly wrapped hot cut keeps cooking and softens the crust.