Page 28 - August 2021 Barbecue News Magazine

mostly because of dripping and evapora- tion. If the water was somehow pushed into and trapped inside ex- panding balloons, then, when the fibers cool during resting, they would shrink, not expand, and would expel more liquid, not less. In other words, this theory just doesn't hold water.
Several cooks have
done tests to docu-
ment the impact of
resting. Most have
been flawed in design
and I discuss their
shortcomings in detail
on AmazingRibs.com. The best tests have been conducted by Dr. Blonder.
First he salted two identical 13.5 ounce ribeyes about an hour before cooking, cooked them to 125°F, rare. The meat temp rose to 145°F from carryover cooking, to medium well. He cut them into strips, collected the juices and weighed them. The "not rested" steak expelled about one ounce by weight. Within five minutes, juices started emerg- ing from the "rested steak" which sat for 30 minutes before Blonder cut it up and weighed the juices. The total was about 15% less than the not rested steak. An insignificant difference. To make sure his data was correct, Blonder re- peated his tests. Same results. And remember, Blonder did something most adults don't do. He sliced up the meat all at once. Most of us cut it one bite at a time. So by this measure alone, resting meat has no significant benefit.
After his experiments on steaks, Dr. Blonder turned his at-
tention to pork loin roasts. As with the steaks, he salted the meat a few hours be- fore cooking. He then cooked them, remov- ing them at 140°F in- ternal temp, just below the USDA recom- mended temp. One sat three minutes and then he cut it into 3/8" slices. The other rested 20 minutes before slic- ing. After slicing, he waited five minutes and collected the juices and weighed them. Three ounces came out of the un- rested meat compared to two ounces from the
rested meat, a diff of only one ounce from a 33 ounce roast.
At SeriousEats.com, the brilliant chef J. Kenji López-Alt tested the resting theory and found that the greatest spillage came during the first five minutes, and the weight loss from an unrested steak was only 6% greater than a steak rested for 5 minutes. By the time you move the steaks from the grill to the plates to the dining table, pile on the beans and potatoes, the meat has had its five minutes.
Another factor to consider: Many of us pour the meat juices over the meat after carving. So Blonder tested what happens and poured all three ounces from his unrested steak on top of the slices. The meat drank up about an ounce of juices, precisely the difference between the rested and unrested meat!
Here's the capper: The resting meat was steaming hot, and moisture evaporated as it rested. He measured the loss, about 1/2 an ounce. He tented one of the sliced steaks with
foil, and it lost almost 3/4 an ounce. That's 75% of the dif- ference between the rested and unrested meats. The un- rested, untented meat lost nothing to evaporation because slicing cools the meat so rapidly.
Let's forget all the science and just think about how we eat. Let's be conservative and say finished meat is about 60% water after drip loss, purge, and cooking. That means that, in a 10-ounce steak, six ounces are liquid. That's 3/4 of a cup. Let's say we pull our nice big, juicy, medium rare steak off the grill and cut into it. Out come the juices, perhaps a tablespoon or two out of 3/4 cup. Do you let those juices sit on the plate and waste away? Heck no. You mop them up with the meat on your fork! Nothing is lost!
BarbecueNews.com - 28
AUGUST 2021