What it is.
Resting means leaving food alone for a while before the next step. Cooked meat rests before you cut it. Dough and batter rest before you roll or cook them.
Some dishes also rest off the heat so they can finish cooking or thicken.
Why it works.
Meat keeps cooking after it leaves the heat, because the hot outside keeps warming the cooler middle. Resting lets the heat even out. As the meat cools a little, less juice runs out when you slice it.
Dough rests for a different reason. The flour soaks up the liquid, and the stretchy gluten in it relaxes. Rested dough rolls out easily and does not spring back.
Batter rests so the flour, oats or seeds can soak up liquid and thicken. Rice rests in the closed pot so the last steam finishes the grains.
What to look for.
- A steak or a chicken breast: about 5 minutes.
- A whole chicken or a big roast: about 15 minutes or more.
- Dough that shrinks back when rolled needs more rest.
Common mistakes.
- The crust went soft.
- Cover the meat loosely with foil, or not at all. Wrapped tight, it steams.
- Juice ran all over the board.
- Wait a few more minutes before you cut.
- The food went cold.
- Rest it somewhere warm, like near the stove, and keep big roasts to their time.
- The dough keeps springing back.
- Cover it and leave it for 10 more minutes, then try again.
