Proof Resting Doesn't Keep Meat Juicy 

people this guy is just trying to sell you some shit ass thermometer

He wrote modernist cuisine - he's a very influential chef and very recognize in his field ​@@idoncae

and seeing this comment, i am now gonna go and buy the book. This is the kinda guy you need to support!

@@Enhancedlies I don't know, maybe we're meant to cancel this guy because of his side hustle on this video we chose to watch? Spread the h8 or something? This room's a little hard to read.

​@@idoncaeLiterally 90% of all RU-vidrs are selling something, and usually more than one thing. It accounts for his efforts, but doesn't in itself render his opinions useless or baseless.

It is in the summary card around 6:53. Both steaks lose about 11 to 12% of their raw weight during the cooking. Then another 6% after slicing. All steaks started between 4C and 5C, and were flipped every 30 seconds, pan stabilized at 350F, oil brushed on each surface for the first few flips to keep thermal contact as constant as possible. Changing flips, or pan temp, or steak thickness, or starting temp will shift these numbers around a bit because the overcooked section becomes thicker or thinner.

the legend

Maybe we will see a crossover/collab video one day? A ateak cookoff? Think of the clicks!

I've been waiting for this comment. Now I'd like to know if Kenji will look to give this a shot as well to add another data point to this issue.

You guys are goats ❤

I always aim for 115 and rest for 5-10 and it hits the perfect doneness.

Exactly, it reducies the overcooking of the outside and the improved moutfeel from having less overcooked outer meat is what people call 'Juiciness', it was always about the mouthfeel of the meat not it's literally moisture content.

I've been resting my meat my entire life and I seldom get overcooked steaks...so I'm not sure how it's supposedly a complicated problem, that can only be solved with a complicated thermometer and also not resting your meat 😂. I mean, just cook it 10 degrees less than your desired range, then let the resting finish the cooking. It's not true that it's extremely difficult to cook medium rare, with the resting method.

Yeah this video to me doesn't seem like an argument for not resting, but for not overcooling before resting.

or you just cook it at slower speeds

the scientific approach is great until you have idiots doing pseudo science with low sample rates. only idiots rested steaks in the first place

Brave?

@@emmgeevideo You don't even know. Cooking RU-vid is dogmatic and ruthless. Violations of orthodoxy will be dealt with swiftly and viciously.

@@emmgeevideo Agreed…it’s not that serious or “brave “

His “scientific approach” is somehow severely lacking in real world applicability. I’ve cooked a lot of steaks and the ones I didn’t rest have never been as good as the ones I’ve rested.

willy wonka, is it you???

​@@junkrider132More like Christopher Walken with those extra commas.

@@christophejergales7852 im 90% sure its Woodrow Wilson. Maybe William Wiggle. Could be Woody Woodpecker. Im going deep into the rabbit hole soon

Grateful for this content and youtube. Genius video ❤

You were 4 15 years ago

Ehhh it’s a bit different because this is saving you time. Adams seasoning method is just another way to do it.

This isn't just spazzy weirdness like Adam, but is actually giving you good advice and telling you to save the time and effort of resting as a whole. Telling you to do less work.

ok adam.

I'd say it's wildly different. One was made out to get views and has been proven to be inferior, the other has science backing it

That cutting board thing was as stupid as resting.

Retested without the paper towel and it makes no difference to the outcome. The paper towel absorb ~2g of juice from the bottom of the steak during the rest, that’s about 10 droplets of juice. And even without the paper towel, that 2g was not reabsorbed.

@@ChrisYoungCooks Better is to have the protein wrapped in butcher paper or foil. I rest my BBQ brisket, wrapped, overnight at 130 degrees.

@@JohnWarner-lu8rq steaks are not the same as barbecue, and a 10 minute rest cannot be compared to the several hours barbecue meat is rested.

@@dwaynesykes694 I'm well aware of that.

Yeah if you have no temp gradient in the food, and it's already been in that temp for long enough that all the chemistry that's gonna happen at that temp has happened, then there won't be any carryover cooking.

Sous vide equally distributes heat throughout the meat as it cooks. In the same way that flipping the steak 30 times instead of 1 offers a better heat distribution. You'd have to be specific by what you mean with "all these issues", but I assume you mean the concern of carryover cooking. Based on this video, sous vide would actually be more at risk of that than the other methods because you have additional retained heat, on top of needing to cook it a second time now to produce a crust.

@@oncewasblind4292 how would you be more at risk? The issue is carryover cooking, which only happens when the outside is a higher temp than the center, which is one of the things sous vide eliminates (mostly) and the reason it's considered a "fool proof" cooking method. But resting a sous vide steak is another thing I hear suggested a lot, partly to let it dry, but also presumably for the temperature to drop before giving it a final crust, and again what are the concerns with carryover cooking and/or resting and how do they differ?

Sous vide and resting are used for the exact same reason - to reduce temperature the gradient and leave a perfect edge to edge inside with a thin crust. Both methods are perfectly sound and that's why they're used by ANY serious chef. Chris is not a serious chef, he's a thermometer salesman.

@@oyuyuy Did you even watch the video?

it's low-key become one of my favorite parts of the video. flawless execution of practical effects is always so great.

It's ridiculously well done (the visual, not the steak)

How does he even do that?

​@@steaming_mangos cuts a pan in half lol

What appears to be missing on this subjject is the fact that "juices" is used as an all inclusive term to describe what is actually a combination of myoglobin and liquified fat. The " water" juice may leak out in both the rested and non rested steak, but resting gives the fully rendered fat time to cool into a viscous state that ,while not hard fat is still not liquified to the point of leaking out. He is correct that meat " juice" ( water, myoglobin, lean flavor components) has to reach fridge temps to gel,, interstitial fat does not need to be that cool to reach a state where it will stay in the meat- Also, using a filet ( leanest cut) for this contributes to the illusion that no more is coming out of the non rested steak. Try cutting open a perfectly smoked brisket without resting- you will end up with a puddle of fat and beef jerky!! LOL! good intentions , but all the worlds great chef are speaking from having done uncountable reps , to my mind ,that eperience ,, wghile not always scientifically correct by description , is more reliable than any eperiment with lurking variables un considered.

@@martinkey399 when resting on a rack both drip, that is how you can tell it is cooked since they separate, raw meat leaks pink liquid but cooked meat it clear with separate red myoglobin drip

Just cook with a hotter pan and none of this testing matters

And you didn't understand the video. No matter if you rest it or not your going to lose nearly the same amount of juice unless you refrigerate it first. So unless you like cold steaks it's pointless.

@@davidpowers9178 no one said anything about juice in this thread. He didn't cook the traditional steak properly. So all of these experiments are irrelevant.

@@justthebrttrk Right, I did find it odd that if you are trying to disprove an old adage, why not cook it in the traditional way. That would make the test more accurate. But I suspect his results are still correct despite his unorthodox technique. But I haven't done the necessary experiments so who knows.

@@justthebrttrk yes you did. You implied it when you said none of the tests matter.

I take it with a grain of salt, because in a couple of years it'll change.

Have u tried to eat and compare rested and unrested meat? I dont need a youtube video or a ***** thermometer to know, that rested meat has better texture and taste. Just my fingers, mouth and experience. To not rest your steak definitely dont improve your cooking, my friend.

Medium well? Lol.

You undershoot it

u didn’t use a thermometer and discover how ridiculous carry over cooking is?

I’ve never rested a steak and it’s been bad.

@@gugion🤣

Agree!

In my experience Thermapen make good laser thermometer but bad meat probes

Same, I was shocked that I was getting 25 degrees carryover. Now I will be able to sear for longer but not overcook it while serving. Blessed

@anthonyisensee, why not reverse sear? You reduce your risk of over cooking via carryover.

Yup, I have another video explaining the physics behind that. It was a phenomenon first documents by Harold McGee and some colleagues back in the 90s.

And those juices can be used for great sauces!

Get Baked and rest, ChatGPT thinks you want to Netflix and chill 420 style

Definitely can be, but a lot of the total carryover will depend on the thickness and fat composition of the cut- Chris’ method in the video still works if you slice at, or just before, your desired final temperature so more heat quickly escapes.

Cooking temperature makes a big difference. I cook steaks on a ripping on charcoal grill really fast. My carryover is 5-8 degrees consistently. When I slow roast something in the oven for a long time the carryover is always more.

I've noticed this even just using instant reads, pulling it at 125 then temping 145 right before I slice it up (I generally serve steak sliced rather than in chunks). And it's definitely way, way worse if you wrap it in foil.

Just cook at a higher temperature. Your crust will be better and the carryover will be more in line with the 10 degree wisdom he's trying to disprove here.

Try Chris' salmon recipe. 30 degrees of carry over, easily!

Amazing. I do exactly the same thing and wondered if anyone else was on board!

I presear then sv; a quick post sear, slice and eat! Works quite well.

Sous vide takes forever. I can not always predict what I want to eat in a few hours, let alone the day before. Better just use the reverse sear method if you have time. I think I learned a lot from this video.

@@vinquinnThat's the beauty of sv...it's very flexible to fit anyone's schedule.

I wonder how many micro plastics enter the steak from boiling it in plastic bags. Not to mention the hormone altering chemicals leaching into the meat.

Thanks for being a customer. Glad you’re finding these videos valuable.

Yup, that was always the main purpose but it does make it juicier too and his data actually shows just that, "cooking looses" are lower when resting which makes sense since it's cooked for a shorter time. Additionally, the paper towels ruined any chance of testing 'juice reabsorption' anyway. You'd need quite a bit of evidence if you wanted to prove that practically 'every chef since forever' is wrong about resting and this video definitely didn't have that. It was just a thermometer commercial.

@@stpyramids That's literally exactly what the theory is. "When meat is cooked, the heat causes the proteins in the muscle fibers to contract, which squeezes out moisture. Allowing the meat to rest for a few minutes after cooking allows these muscle fibers to relax and reabsorb some of the expelled moisture."

@@oyuyuy Yea, he's literally cutting it and then putting it on paper towels... of course it absorbs the same fkn amount

In life everywhere. The Deaf follow the blind.

And both domains are just infested with (talented) guys spouting their broscience as hard facts with nothing to back it up other than you're stupid for thinking they're wrong.

Adam Ragusea does a great video comparing the internet gym and cooking worlds and it’s quite fascinating. You might like that one.

No more used my steaks as a sponge! They always seemed to makes things messier.

I mean, it’s not too surprising that time elapsed from the moment of slicing directly impacts how much juice has the opportunity to flow out, right? Cutting a steak open and then letting it sit while cut is going to release juice based on time and heat in the meat, so if you just eat the sliced one sooner without waiting for the juice to come out, well, you’ll keep in in!

He's not being genuine. Of course the steak has to be cooked properly with resting in mind. You don't just over heat the thing and expect resting it to save your poorly cooked steak. 😂 It's pretty clit baity.

Yes, like you, I have also seen that video, which to me seems more accurate and intuitive than this one. Messing with the paper towel, why? I will do my own experiment from now on.

i like more juice on the plate to dip my steak into.

The point of this video is to sell you his thermometer product. Disregard the whole thing and carry on as usual.

THANK YOU . HOLY SH*T THANK YOU! Japanese Chef for over 25 years here...and i was looking for this comment.!!! this guy made up a problem that never "existed" because of his misunderstanding of WHY we rest our steaks and what the "juiciness" really means. ALL about the tension of the fibers.!

what does that even mean? Like how do the muscle fibers get in tension if the meat shrinks when it cooks

@dexterdrake1734 the shrinking IS the tensioning expressed.

I love how you don't explain *_ANYTHING_* about what you mean here. What about the tension of muscle fibers? From what I'm gathering, you're saying that you can tell what the temp of the steak is just by watching it cook, which makes sense. But if that's what you're saying, that's something that takes *_YEARS_* of trial and error to get right.

@@GenOceanWolf_tWo_TookieTaliban Again, holy shit, please explain what you mean by "the tension of the fibers"? Because both of you are holding back information that seems to be something that has been learned, yet you're not even fucking telling us what it actually is. If you're gonna be vague as shit like this, why even comment? Do you want to feel better about yourself for your "better knowledge" to the people in the comment section?

I'm can't see how you'd get the same internal temperature gradient and have them both reach the same end-point if you pan-roast one with resting and one without.

Because it’s a pain to pull a steak out of the pan and immediately start slicing while getting the rest of the meal ready. Having 2 or 3 minutes to get organized is useful in the real world.

Because cooking it until the core is done will leave the rest of it overcooked. And that's the point of resting, it leaves a larger chunk of the steak perfectly cooked.

Which is probably why the resting theory is taught in culinary schools. You gotta have time to plate and the food rests under a heat lamp while the server runs around. ​@ChrisYoungCooks

​@@oyuyuy this doesn't apply as much if you use an even steak, and flip every 30 seconds right?

@@nile7999 No, that will make it spread temperature more evenly. And it's easier to not burn it too. It's a balance between heating it quickly enough to build a crust and evenly enough to cook it through though. That's why sous vide and reverse sear works so well, it removes that balancing act.

It would be nice to see some more data from good sources.

It is super flawed. You can see him cutting the rested steak and putting it on a paper towel afterwards, effectively absorbing all the juice that would've been inside the steak when you cut it and put it in your mouth

​@@MrGrimdek how would it be in ur mouth if it leaked out? paper towels dont suck moisture out of the steak.

@@atif1538 imagine you cut a sponge (stay with me) into 10 slices and put it on a paper towel. Would water be absorbed quicker than if it was kept as a whole sponge? I'm stating that cutting the steak and putting it on paper towels absolutely ruins the experiment. You cut the steak and then eat it. You don't cut it, dry it, then eat it.

@@MrGrimdek ah so its about the cutting, yea it would be good to see a comparison between non cut steaks.

You shouldn't trust a thermometer salesman over centuries of excellent chefs

​@@oyuyuypeople believed some really dumb stuff even 100 years ago, much less centuries ago, and still believe some really dumb stuff today. within the past few years we have learned from another RU-vid creator that the English translation of Le Guide Culinaire incorrectly added hollandaise to the list of mother sauces, after 100+ years. things are lost over time and through human error, and the scientific approach is to absorb that new data, add it to the "data" of centuries of anecdotes, and attempt to get closer to the "truth", if there is such a thing. this is pretty sound data, and the next step is replication. it's obvious you have an issue with the data presented here, and the fact that someone is both presenting data and also a product in the same video. you've left many comments to that effect. however if you want to add to the science, please publish your own experimental results, and refrain from further armchair criticism of someone whose credentials doubtless outstrip your own by magnitudes

Except he uses a super flawed method by cutting the steaks and putting them on paper towels. Draws it all out of the cross sections.

@Bordendanny No, it tenses up during cooking, not after. I suggest YOU test your statement and then decide whether it has any relevance to juiciness.

@@bobdickson188 You misinterpreted my comment. The theory is that meat is fully tensed after cooking. It does in fact tense during cooking, but that's not my point. If resting does let the meat relax and make it more tender, than resting is valid. Which is the opposite of what the take away is here. I have tested this theory many times with several cuts of meat and to me, it does make a difference. Don't be an ass.

100% agree. Resting is a myth and Chris has well and truly busted it.

Helen, have you ever tried ChefSteps' 7-day dry aged chicken recipe? That chicken skin is so crispy that I call it "glass" chicken, because that is what it looks like. Chris also has a video on prolonged dry aging to get permanently crispy skin

":roasted at 450F" is WHY

Me too! I think there is a good chance, I recall Kenji has mentioned in a prior video he either knows Chris and/or follows his work.

He most likely isnt going to. Realistically he could watch this video and have some criticism. He isn't going to make a response video for that becasue it would then be a drama thing and X vs X

@@FalconGamingDH When I say response, I don't mean dispute. I mean a collaborative building of and dissemination of knowledge.

​@@FalconGamingDH If there is a response it's not going to be the style you may be used to in you tube, and would probably be a sidebar on a normal video. You wouldn't be able to tell it's a response by the title of the video. It's not going to be the old Ethan K vs Adam R takedowns.

@@UTeewb lol I'm not thinking takedown video. Even a light rebuttal or disagreement is probably more than would happen. There's only negatives to going down that route

You get about 1.5grams pulled off the bottom surface during resting by the paper towels, if you run the math that’s not enough to appreciably change the results. Moreover, there’s always a puddle of juice under the steak when it rests on the plain cutting board, juices aren’t getting reabsorbed.

You are absolutely correct about this. There is no reason I can think of to use paper towels. You are adding an additional element that may skew the outcome. Put the damn things on two wire racks with bowls underneath to catch the juice.

​@ChrisYoungCooks you're not factoring in how two individual paper towels might be effecting two individual steaks. I have seen this experiment done exactly the way you did it with no paper towels. The rested steak maintained far more juice. It wasn't even close. This needs to be put to rest and sorry to say your test doesn't quite do that. No paper towels!

Completely flawed experiment. Paper towels after cutting makes it exactly the same

​@@MrGrimdekExactly, I don't eat paper towels.

The idea that it keeps meat juicier has to be one of the biggest bits of received wisdom around why we rest meat. So if you’re not going to call it a myth when you have a rigorous set of data disproving it, then I think definition of a myth becomes meaningless. Many folks know and say that “searing seals in the juices” is a myth. But no one is saying that searing is useless. Same here: it’s a myth that it keeps meat juicier, but it’s not useless. Letting something rest while you finish organizing the rest of the meal has value.

​@@ChrisYoungCooks ​ hmmm idk my answer would be a very simple "no". There are some great crits being posted in the comments but they're getting buried because only the supportive ones are getting hearts. I hope your audience has the media literacy to recognize the "everyone is wrong, and the path to truth is to buy my product" subtext.

@@internetshaquille it’s like Detroit in here

​@@internetshaquilleI'm really happy I saw your comment because it's the only critical one I found and I think it's worth it to see. I also own these thermometers so there may be bias here and I want to get that out of the way. (One is broken and I need to open a support case today too). So for me I think this is enough to call it a myth, but I would love to see a video from you to give the other side as I love the content both of you create. I also think that Chris isn't exactly saying you need to buy his thermometers to get great results; this channel IS a vehicle for sales, but I think he strikes the right balance overall, and I do think by the mid point in the video he makes a case for his product by talking about predictive temperatures, by the end he talks about using the same legacy, 'take the steak out of the pan 10 degrees under target' which you can do with any thermometer. The key takeaway for me was - constant flipping is the superior method - resting doesn't make a material difference to the juiciness - resting too long could result in a colder, less enjoyable steak - stop the carry over cooking by slicing I might be biased here as a product owner, or that I'm the kind of person who likes techy things to help my cooking, which is why I wanted to call my potential biases out. I love how you present cooking information that doesn't require people to have expensive things and if you're thinking Chris still missed the mark here, I'd love to see a video why, but I found everything here to be very informative and not unfairly positioning his product or saying people need it.

I mean, that’s such a weird criticism to suggest this is all about selling a product: one that i even say is optional and that you can just use a thermometer. I fund my channel by selling a product I make and disclose my bias. I have a long track record of quality work in the culinary world, and I’ve happily admitted numerous times over a 20 year career when experimental evidence changes my mind about a belief. I’m certainly not going to trash my reputation for a quick buck. Moreover, there are other good scientists like Dr. Greg Blonder and Dave Arnold who have reached very similar conclusions. Even Harold McGee tells me he thinks this is probably correct and my results match his suspicions. So far the primary criticism of this research is the paper towel theory. I’ve already re-run the experiment today and the paper towel makes no difference to the result. It isn’t sucking juices out from the bottom of a resting steak that would be transported.

I think there is some truth in this idea.

The theoretical 'perfect steak' would have a thin crust and a perfectly even, medium rare inside. That can only be achieved with a quick and hot sear combined with a rest or a sous vide. That's why restaurants do it. It's also quick which is a bonus, particularly for restaurants.

@@oyuyuy I suspect the time variable regarding how long it takes to achieve medium rare inside the steak is an important component as well. This aspect does not seem to receive much attention, but at least subjectively, I think there's a difference. Would be interesting to cook a steak extremely quickly and evenly via a (resistance-heated) needle array and compare the results to sous vide.

As far as cooking over a flame, Escoffier says to serve spit roasted meat ASAP and doesn't mention resting at all. So at least in that time it wasn't considered a common practice for that preparation.

Imagine cutting your rested steak, then putting it on paper towels, and being surprised that mouth juice is absorbed after that from the cross sections!

​@@MrGrimdektroll

@@cdub42 not at all. The method is CLEARLY flawed. Once you cut it and redry it the entire experiment is negated.

there is delicious and there is michelin delicious. If you're happy with your meat and don't want to improve, why'd you click on a meat perfecting video?

@@nile7999 Oh I don't know. Entertainment? 🤦 Also, I'm free to watch whatever the hell I want to watch. Just like you are.

He was by my studio the day I was filming this. I showed him my data. I suspect he’ll be retesting himself at some point.

resting is for big pieces of meat and not for steaks in the first place

I watch cooking RU-vid and I hear ad nauseum, let your meat rest before you cut otherwise the juices will flow out

I assume it's been his plan since desiging his thermometer and the predictive ability has been mentioned as a "to come" feature from the start.

Very good point.

This is the obvious rebuttal. Who hasn’t cut into a still hot steak and watched all the juice spill out? This is such a contrived experiment

Paper towels are not going to have enough capillary action to pull moisture out. You’re grasping at straws.

@@ChrisYoungCooksand if they did, the sliced steak would’ve lost even less juice on a plate, reinforcing your results in the first place.

@@Ak3rn0watch the video again. The steaks don’t rest on paper towels, the rest on a wire rack raised above a tray. The paper towel is only used after slicing to mop up the juices that leaked out and any drippings that easily come off the surface of the slices.

Nevertheless, it's a great video, as always! Thank you, Chris! What remains uncompromised are the quality of the video, the excellence of the thermometer, and the value of critical thinking and science.

@@stpyramids it was a stack of them, so I think it still had the “sucking power” :)