Letting it rest..?

PoppasGrill

I have seen this phrase used quite a bit in discussions, and I understand that it means letting your cook set off the grill for a little while ( different times for different cuts ), but am not seeing why you should do this.
Will someone try to explain this to me, please ?

smokeyw

It allows the juices to redistribute themselves throughout the meat. If you don't do this, the juices will simply run out when you cut into the meat.

Eggcelsior

Meat is a muscle. Applying heat to the muscle causes the protein strands in the muscle to tighter and shrink, forcing fluid from the muscle(hence, why cooked meat weighs less than uncooked). Or, why a medium rare steak is juicier than a well done one. Anyhow, as the muscle heats up, this fluid moves away from the heat source(towards the middle of the meat). Once heat is removed and carryover cooking stops, the fluid will redistribute around the protein strands as it rests. If you cut into the muscle right away, it is still tightly bound from the heat and the fluids will be squeezed out of the meat and all over your plate/cutting board/etc. Resting the meat will allow the protein strands to relax leading to redistribution and upon chewing, a juicier bite.

kl8ton

That is one misconception I had as a beginner.  "Quick cut it up and eat it while it is fresh off the grill before it gets cold!"  Well that may be true for  burgers or wings coming off the egg or a fried egg coming off of of the blackstone, it is not true for larger cuts.  Brisket, pork shoulder, whole turkey, whole chicken, roasts, etc, all retain heat for quite  a long time after they are pulled.  Do not think that letting a larger cut of meat rest for a while means it will be cold when you eat it.  Many times, you will still want to be wearing some heat resistant gloves and it is still too hot to touch when carving/slicing.

johnnyp

What they said^

PoppasGrill

Thank you all.
Question answered and understood.

GATraveller

This article will answer all your questions and then some. 

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_resting_meat.html