Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Resting steaks

This might sound dumb but when you rest your steaks, do you cover them up with foil or just leave them on a plate? I use to try to eat my steaks right off my gaser so they'd be nice and hot. Now that I'm using the egg and reading this forum, you guys are always talking about letting the meat rest. Won't the steaks get cold?
Houston, TX

Comments

  • I tent them with foil.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
  • sumoconnell
    sumoconnell Posts: 1,932
    Nah.... it's gooder this way. ;)

    Someone posted that steak's a muscle, when on the grill it is flexed.  If you cut it right off the grill, the juice flies out and the steak is tougher.  Resting lets the muscle relax, juice stays put, and the meat is noticeably more tender.

    I cover with some foil, and the time depends on the thickness and cut of meat.  A one inch ribeye, I do about 5 minutes.  A brisket, I  FTC (wrapped in Foil, a Towel, and placed in a Cooler) for an hour minimum.

    Good luck - it's hard to convince folks to wait if they haven't before. 
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Austin, Texas.  I'm the guy holding a beer.
  • @texanofthenorth thanks! @sumoconell thanks! That makes sense but when you goto a place like Ruth's Chris those steaks come out hot and juicy. That's what I'm trying to replicate.
    Houston, TX
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Resting is necessary to produce a good product. Don't confuse resting with cooling. The steak will actually rise in temp during the rest. You aren't talking about a long period of time for a steak. As TOTN says "loosely tent with foil" don't wrap it.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_resting_meat.html

    Meathead at amazingribs.com has an article(link above) on resting and how it is completely unnecessary. It goes against everything I've ever read but I'm going to cut a steak in half and test it next time. Apparently you cook right to temp and slice immediately to prevent the carryover increase that occurs when resting(which is why you pull 5-10 degrees under final temp).

  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Remember the guy that verbatim quoted Meathead in every post he made?

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 9,797
    Remember the guy that verbatim quoted Meathead in every post he made?

    Yes.  But despite all the arguments he got into, nobody ever said the information he got from Meathead was wrong... He just tended to misapply it on occasion, but wasn't Meathead's fault.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    Yes sir! Hogheaven would be proud. You were right about fun threads, Estebanito!
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    I don't have any beef with Meathead guys. I've been cooking most of my life and radical new science sets of a warning bell in my tiny, imperfect head.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    I'm in the same boat, LS. I just read that article yesterday and it goes against everything ever. From Julia to Heston.

    Don't sell yourself short, good buddy. You're an Egghead. I've seen stuff where Canadian's heads are bigger than their bodies anyway.

    image
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Don"t call me short! I get all crazy about that!

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I don't tent.  I let them rest but I want the outside to cool down - it's the hottest part. 

    Biggest regret I see on this forum is people with thermopens overcooking their steaks.  "I swear I  took it off at 135 now it's medium/medium well".  Well, you tent it and of course all that heat on the outside (more pronounced if you did a reverse sear at nuclear temps) keeps on cooking the inside.  Duh.  Do.  Not.  Tent.  Unless you pull waaaay early.   Rest is fine.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    At the very minimum, let them cool off and if you're not eating for a while, then tent so they're still warm but you at least attempted to arrest the post grill cooking.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    edited October 2013
    And so you should, Imp. (watching re-runs of game of thrones again)
    Steak is so mysterious: we age it two weeks, we age it four weeks or longer, with and without salt; we grill it, pan fry it, put it on a stick or any combination of these techniques; season it before during and after a cook; sear it first, sear it last; hot tub it and sous vide it....etc... 

    The one thing we all seem do is rest it, albeit sometimes for only a few minutes. Doesn't mean we are right, just traditional. Recently I saw a demonstration where the "chef" flipped the steak like every 30 seconds and he suggested serving immediately, no rest. Looked fine, have no idea how it tasted. 
    For any rest I like a heavy platter, warmed to help the meat hold its heat and a tent, foil or pan that allows air to move. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,674
    no tent and rest it on a rack not a cold plate, the plate seems to pull more moisture out. mine usually rest on a plate but its laziness, the rack works better
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    The Modernist Cuisine take on it is that the rest allows some of the proteins which have dissolved to thicken/coagulate. While I really appreciate what Meathead provides at Amazing Ribs, I'm not sure i agree w. everything he recommends. Following Modernist's (and Bourdain's) recommendation, I tent for 5 - 10 mins.

    But I also always have some mashed tater's, and maybe a roll close at hand to sop the juices, so I don't mind if the meat leaks some.

    And, I prefer putting things that aren't any hotter than 120F in my mouth.

    And, if I'm getting all fancy, I heat the plate to around 110.
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    edited October 2013
    no tent and rest it on a rack not a cold plate, the plate seems to pull more moisture out. mine usually rest on a plate but its laziness, the rack works better
    Never thought of this before, good advice, the heavy platter I use most of the time is a Pampered Chef roasting rack that has ribs on the bottom, guess it acts like a rack. Because it is stone ware, once it is warmed with hot water it holds its heat very well.
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    edited October 2013
    I am by no means endorsing Meathead's post about resting meat. I too find it incongruent with anything I have ever been taught or researched. I can appreciate that the science is sound and is not his but Gregory Blonder's - the resident food scientist who in his spare time is a Harvard and MIT-train Phd physicist(interesting parallels with Myrhvold). He found that yes, resting helps the juices coagulate, but the loss compared to not resting is negligible. All in all, I don't think he is saying that resting is necessarily wrong, just rendered moot based on the science of resting vs. not resting.

    All of my work in healthcare is predicated in the idea of "Evidence-Based Practice". Rather than relying on conventional wisdom, I use objective skepticism to formulate opinions on matters. This is why I mentioned Meathead's post to begin with and why I am willing to test his theory out. Ultimately, I don't see myself following his method as I utilize the rest period for other tasks to make sure all the food I am serving is hot and at it's peak(Nothing worse than cold sides because you're waiting for the meat to finish). Whatever works for you.
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    @Eggcelsior - I think that's the key, resting allows the meat to finish cooking and if I understand it correctly, reach a more uniform edge to edge temperature while you finish the other stuff.
    I have devoured a steak right off the grill and not really noticed much difference to the one rested for a few minutes. 

    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • no tent and rest it on a rack not a cold plate, the plate seems to pull more moisture out. mine usually rest on a plate but its laziness, the rack works better
    +1 on the resting rack.  I was taught the reason for putting the meat on a rack instead of a plate is that on a plate, the side of the steak in contact with the plate traps the heat and this keeps the "pores" of the meat open via steaming effect, letting juices drain out.  I've tested this side by side and it does seem to make a difference.
    Knoxville, TN
    Nibble Me This