Resting meat: how long and why

Meat fresh off the barbecue, out of the pan or out of the oven isn't quite ready yet. Let it rest for a few minutes before you cut into it. That gives you juicier meat, and the internal temperature still rises a little in that time.

Why should meat rest?

While cooking, the muscle fibres contract and the moisture inside is under pressure. Cut it straight away and a good part of it runs out onto the board. After a short rest the meat has cooled slightly, the fibres have relaxed a bit and the juices have thickened, so most of it stays in the meat.

How much does the internal temperature still rise?

The outside of the meat is much hotter than the centre. While it rests, that heat keeps moving inwards; this is called carryover cooking. The larger the piece and the hotter you cooked it, the more it still rises:

• Steak, pork chop or chicken breast: about 2 to 3°C.
• Roast beef, rolled roast or côte de boeuf: 4 to 6°C, sometimes more from a hot oven.
• Thin fish fillets or prawns: hardly at all; take them off the heat once they're done.

So take the meat off the heat a little before the target temperature. If you want a steak at 55°C, pull it at 52 or 53°C. Don't count on carryover for poultry and minced meat: those must already be cooked all the way through.

How long should meat rest?

As a rule of thumb: thin cuts a few minutes, large pieces ten to twenty minutes. Brisket and pulled pork can rest wrapped for an hour or more; they only get more tender. Below is the resting time per cut, as rated best by our visitors:

To cover or not?

Put the meat on a board or rack, not in the hot pan or dish: it keeps cooking from below in there. A large piece can be covered loosely with foil so it doesn't cool down too fast. Don't wrap it tightly: a crisp crust turns soft and the temperature rises further than you want. A steak with a nice crust can simply rest uncovered.

You'll find the temperatures themselves in the internal temperature chart for meat and fish.