The Science of resting

Give that meat a break!

You've always heard the phrase: rest your meat after cooking. Expecially everyone who has watched a video on how to cook a steak. Everyone tells you to rest your meat, and pretty much everyone knows that resting your meat benefits the final product. But why?

News flash! When you're buying meat, your not really buying the protein - you're mostly  buying the water in the protein. This is because about 70% of meat is water. Just like the human body is about 60% water. This water is what makes the steak super juicy and full of flavor. And this is why you have to rest your meat. 

The two biggest factors in a juicy piece of meat is relate to muscles fibers and heat. The water inside meat is what is called 'bound water' because the water of the meat is held inside the protein fibers. This is why when you cut into a raw piece of meat the meat juices stay intact. However, when you cut into a cooked piece of meat it's a whole different story.

When heat is applied to protein, it contracts. In this process the bound water in the protein fibers are sqeezed out. That's why when you cook meat the size of the meat shrinks and lets out a bit of water. Cutting into meat at this stage is like opening the cap of a squeezed toothpaste tube - everything will just rocket out. 

This contraction of protein is how chefs are able to touch the meat and deterine its doneness. The more contracted the meat, the more cooked it will be. Fortunately , this process os contraction is reversable. If you let the cooked meat to rest, the water that was squeezed out of the muscle myofibrils will partially return to their original fibers. This lets the moisture to stay in the meat even when cut open and makes the meat feel more juicy and tender. 

Of course you would want to cut right into that slow roasted Sunday roast resis the urge and wait a bit. A juicy reward will be awaiting.