Rest it or Roast it?
I’m no food scientist, but I play one online. When it comes to grilling or BBQ, well, every expert within miles starts coming out of the woodwork to provide their tried and true way of cooking when you have a question. The variations on these experts can range dramatically. One issue that divides the purists is whether to cook meat right out of the icebox or let it come to room temperature first.
Rest It
The Rest It method is to set the meat out of the icebox for 30 minutes or as long as 2 hours. This allows the internal temperature of the cut to come to room temperature. A room temp piece of meat means less time to cook and less fuel to burn. The time to rest will depend on the density of the meat and size of the cut. An 8 oz. beef filet will need less time than a whole packer brisket. I would never let chicken or fish sit out any longer than it takes me to prep and season it. This is for food safety reasons.
Roast It
The contrary method is to pull the meat straight from the icebox, fully seasoned or not, and place it on the grill cold. For BBQ, this has some sense to it if you want that pink smoke ring. Now I fully believe that smoke ring has little to nothing to do with the quality of the BBQ. A 1/32 inch smoke ring means as much to me as a 1/4 inch ring. However, it presents well and some people do use it as a measure of a good cook. When you skip the resting stage and go straight to the smoker, the meat will take more time to cook. In turn, the smoke ring, which is thought to be developed until the internal temperature of 140 degrees, has more time to develop.
Both methods have their own inherent logic. Everyone will and should believe what makes sense to them from a logical sense and from experience. Personally, I subscribe to the Rest It school of thought when it comes to grilling red meat. Since the heat is higher and direct with grilling, using a room temp piece of meat means I won’t be as likely to overcook the outside as the inside comes to my desired doneness. The Roast It method makes sense for my larger cuts of meat like ribs, brisket, and pork shoulders that I plan to smoke low and slow. That smoke needs to penetrate the meat for that classic BBQ flavor. The longer it takes to reach the 140 internal temperature, the more smoke flavor I achieve.
Decide for youself: Rest it or Roast it?
Heh, I let my chicken rest too. As long as you’re using fire or a hot oven, ain’t nothing going to live through that. If it does? I figure it deserves to live.
I’ve noticed that when I don’t allow the meat to rest for indoor kitchen cooking the meat tends to “seize” up and is less tender. This would be at the regular cooking temperatures of 325 to 500. However, I’ve had to toss something in to the smoker pretty cold and it seems to come out just fine. Takes a little longer, but what the hell, eh? Have a few more beers, that’s an easy one.
Biggles