Resting steaks befor eating and keeping them hot

Tier1Terrier · September 2015

Im totally new to charcoal grilling and have never really been that much of an expert with gas grilling when it comes to cooking to the proper doneness. I've always just guesstimated grill times for steaks & burgers based on their outside appearance, take them off the grill, and pray that I got it right. Many times, they would be under cooked and I'd discover that when cutting into them - so I'd have to throw it back on for a little more time. Or worse, over cooked.

My biggest challenge has always been the timing of the cook to eating, and I always found myself trying to eat as quickly as possible after removing from grill to retain the steaks heat. I'm quickly learning that there is a better way to do this. I've got my instant read Thermapen arriving tomorrow and plan to cook my first steaks on my new BGE on Saturday.

So my question is, how do you balance the time between the cook and the eat to keep the steaks just right? How long do you let the steaks (say, 1" thick filet or ribeye) rest and how precisely do you leave them to rest so they don't lose too much heat before eating? Do you wrap the steaks individually in foil or do you put cover them up in an aluminum drip pan? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question, but I seriously have always had trouble with this and any help would be appreciated.

BizGreenEgg · September 2015

10-15 minutes on the rest. Don't wrap them because they will continue to cook with the radiated heat being reflected back into the steaks. It's best to put them on a warm plate. A cold plate will suck the heat right from them. A slightly warm plate and steaks with a surface temperature much higher than the measured internal temp (assuming rare-medium) will still be warm after a 10 minute rest.

swordsmn · September 2015

I had the kids stand by the grill, paws at their cheeks like a beggin puppy and then I hand them a steak and say, get to it you ratty little deductions..

Seriously, I get your dilemma.. Noone in my family cares about hot food like I do.
I pre-place the sides on a plate and rush the steak to my wife asap.
Stuffs never that hot though

fishlessman · September 2015

wrapping or covering a steak ruins the crust. never place on a cold plate as it seems to suck the juices out, use a wire rack instead for resting. i try to have everything ready on the table when the steaks come off, placed on a rack over a big plate and brought to the table, a couple minutes rest is plenty for me. dont wrap or cover steaks, poultry, roasts, it really peaves those off that have a need to wrap, its almost like a ritual on the holidays, you want me to wrap that for you...NOOOOOOO

XLentEGG · September 2015

Here is how I do steak .... I build a fire In one half of the egg, and let it get no less than 550* trying for 700 * . Once I'm stabilized I thow on a half circle cast iron grate to get hot . I then sear the steak on both sides . Once the searing is done I move them over to the other side of the egg and put a probe into the thinnest steak . I close the egg and as soon as the temp hits about 550 or better again I close the bottom and put the rain cap on top and let the steaks dwell in the heat until the thinnest is medium rare by temp. I then plate them and cover them for five Minutes minimum before serving.

jimithing · September 2015

I give them 5ish minutes. Always uncovered. Usually in my microwave because it's small in space and will hold the heat in.

You should also read this article about how to tell the temp of your meat by feel. It's a good starting point for you. I wouldn't start poking steak with a thermometer and letting all the juice out. At this point I can tell reasonably well how done a steak is by how much the tongs are pushing into the meat when I move it around on the grill. But that's years of using the same tongs and always cooking the same cuts of meat - tenderloin for the wife and ribeye for me.

Chicken is a different story. Poke it all you want with the thermometer. Undercooked chicken has the potential to make people sick.

nolaegghead · September 2015

Bah. Poking a hole in a steak won't make it dry. That's an old wives tale.

Acn · September 2015

I'm with @fishlessman - I do wire rack over a cutting board or plate. 5 to 10 minutes is the usual rest time for us, just while finishing up sides and having the kid set the table.

jimithing · September 2015

nolaegghead said:

Bah. Poking a hole in a steak won't make it dry. That's an old wives tale.

If you're talking about 1 hole then I would agree. A steak isn't a water balloon. However, the OP is pretty new to this and I'm envisioning repeated checking in multiple spots.

500 · September 2015

Same as Fishless, except I will loosely tent the steaks with foil. Something I've been doing lately is to pre-salt the steaks at least an hour ahead of cook time. Just kosher salt at first, on a rack over a plate on the counter, letting them come up to room temp, an hour before the cook. Just before grilling, season with rub and/or cracked black pepper, but this time delete the salt in the final season. The salt you put on before has been drawn into the meat and the steak will have melted that and brought some moisture to the surface. Now, through like an osmosis, your steak is salted on the inside already. I also cook direct at around 500*-550*, turning and rotating often for as much crust as possible. Pull off at 125* IT. Reverse sear for large cuts.

Theophan · September 2015

nolaegghead said:

Bah. Poking a hole in a steak won't make it dry. That's an old wives tale.

I've read an article or two where people rigorously tested this and @nolaegghhead is right on the money. Pressing on a burger truly might push out a fair bit of moisture, but probing a steak won't. If the OP cooks two steaks, pokes only one of them several times with his shiny new Thermapen, there will be no difference between the two steaks (assuming they are otherwise the same) when cooked. It's crucial to get them cooked right, so I'd encourage him to poke away!

What's less clear even to me than it might be is what internal temp to shoot for. Thicker steaks tend to rise more in temp while resting than thinner steaks, so they need a lower internal temp to pull at. I tend to pull around 120-125 for most steaks (for medium rare), but I don't cook steak that often, and it's been a while. What would you experts recommend?

nolaegghead · September 2015

In a burger, the fat holds in the juice. When you squeeze it, it makes the burger less juicy.

The only way to dry out a steak it to overcook it. As far as holes in it, many steaks, including most of Costcos are tenderized with a jaccard. Juice runs out when you cut it, unless you stuff the whole steak in your mouth and chew it you're going to lose some juice.

A steak is like a bundle of tiny water balloons. Not one big balloon that can be "popped".

You do lose a little juice every time you poke it, but cooking it right is much more important to the perceived "juiciness" than the imperceptible amount of juice that squirts through the hole of your thermometer.

I would pull at 120F for MR and 130 for Medium.

Food science through empirical testing has come a long way, baby.

northGAcock · September 2015

nolaegghead said:

imperceptible

D@mn.....I'll have to go look that word up. Not sure I will find it in the ol Southern Dictionary.

Toxarch · September 2015

I don't rest steaks anymore. I put the steaks on warm plates ready for sides. By the time people make their plates and sit down to eat, the steak has rested enough. But that's only when grilling. When doing a reverse sear, there's no need to rest the steak at all.

cookingdude555 · September 2015

Too many tv shows and the Internet telling us to rest them. I like my steak hot. I eat it when it's done. It's really good that way.

nth78 · September 2015

Our oven has a "warm" setting. I've used it for some food, but not steaks. I'm wondering how it would work. I'm like a previous poster that loves their food hot while everyone else prefers it cooled down a little

Jupiter Jim · September 2015

I poke my steaks to check temp and when they are at 130 I take them to the table, plate with the sides and we eat. YUM! I'm simple and somewhat lazy but always enjoy my steaks. Back when I first got my BGE I was reading all the post, trying many of the methods that others were sharing and even recipes, guess what many I did not care for but many I loved. Now after 9 years of Egging I'm still reading and trying new ideas but more often than not I'm going with simple and easy. My recommendation is keep reading and trying new ways, recipes and you will find what rocks your Egging world, this group has so much to offer! it's all the right way just not for all.

jtcBoynton · September 2015

nth78 said:

Our oven has a "warm" setting. I've used it for some food, but not steaks. I'm wondering how it would work. I'm like a previous poster that loves their food hot while everyone else prefers it cooled down a little

What temp is your oven's warm setting? My oven has a warm function, but the minimum is 145º, which is way too warm for steaks.

SmokeyPitt · September 2015

jtcBoynton said:

nth78 said:

Our oven has a "warm" setting. I've used it for some food, but not steaks. I'm wondering how it would work. I'm like a previous poster that loves their food hot while everyone else prefers it cooled down a little

What temp is your oven's warm setting? My oven has a warm function, but the minimum is 145º, which is way too warm for steaks.

If I need to hold steaks for more than 10-15 minutes I just turn on my oven for a few minutes then turn it off and put the steaks in. If the oven happens to be in use another trick I have found is that my oven throws out a lot of heat out of the top. I set food on a plate on the stove top (with no burners on) and use a big piece of foil to make a make shift warming oven.

nolaegghead · September 2015

SmokeyPitt said:

jtcBoynton said:

nth78 said:

Our oven has a "warm" setting. I've used it for some food, but not steaks. I'm wondering how it would work. I'm like a previous poster that loves their food hot while everyone else prefers it cooled down a little

What temp is your oven's warm setting? My oven has a warm function, but the minimum is 145º, which is way too warm for steaks.

If I need to hold steaks for more than 10-15 minutes I just turn on my oven for a few minutes then turn it off and put the steaks in. If the oven happens to be in use another trick I have found is that my oven throws out a lot of heat out of the top. I set food on a plate on the stove top (with no burners on) and use a big piece of foil to make a make shift warming oven.

This is good advice.

nth78 · September 2015

jtcBoynton said:

nth78 said:

Our oven has a "warm" setting. I've used it for some food, but not steaks. I'm wondering how it would work. I'm like a previous poster that loves their food hot while everyone else prefers it cooled down a little

What temp is your oven's warm setting? My oven has a warm function, but the minimum is 145º, which is way too warm for steaks.

Not sure. When you click warm you can't adjust it.

jtcBoynton · September 2015

My guess that warm is going to be over 140º. You can turn it on to warm for a bit and then shut it off to create a warm area, but not overheat the steaks. Use a probe thermometer to let it get up to 130º and then turn off.

nolaegghead · September 2015

It's going to take a long time to overcook a steak in a 150F oven.

SmokingPiney · September 2015

Steaks are a quick cook, so I try to have all of my sides done and ready to serve before I put the meat to the fire. Let them rest about 5 minutes with a pat of butter and dinner is served.

jtcBoynton · September 2015

nolaegghead said:

It's going to take a long time to overcook a steak in a 150F oven.

Very true if you are cooking a steak at 150º. But putting a cooked steak into a 150º oven as opposed to setting out on the counter at 75º will result in more carryover.

Of course the whole idea of holding a steak in an oven to keep it hot while resting seems counter productive. The whole idea of resting a steak is to let it cool off some before cutting.

northGAcock · September 2015

Way I see it, by the time I have pulled the steaks, taken them inside,opened a bottle of wine, pour me a glass (and maybe others) Get the bread out of the oven, crack open a tater and load it, put dressing on the salad, bless the food, plate the wifs, fill a glass of water,.........the d@mn thing has rested enough. lets eat!

Terrebandit · September 2015

Wire rack in a baking pan. Cover it with foil until you are ready to serve it.

nolaegghead · September 2015

I wouldn't put a steak in the oven unless there's a long delay in serving and that steak has cooled down to 110F or less.

Sweet100s · September 2015

What about sous vide at 120 till dinner is ready ?

Resting steaks befor eating and keeping them hot

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