"Resting meat"
 

...that phrase had always made me wonder....and I have been cooking for a very long time....I have tried doing that on several large family type dinners....and you know what.....that 30minute rest cooled the meat/poultry down too much, even covered with foil......I like to eat hot food not " barely warm......what's the secret? This is not done in restaurants......I know they warm the plates in some places, maybe I should do that - put the dishes in the oven when I remove the meat during that resting time!!!! Can you picture that? I cannot.

I agree totally. Resting the meat makes it room temperature. I like meat hot not tepid.

For big dinners like Thanksgiving, I "rest" the meat by default. After I take out the meat, there is too much last minute stuff to do, so I just set the meat aside. Baking the rolls, making the gravy.....

Count me in too! I will let is sit about 10 minutes because it is easier to cut then, but anything longer just makes it too cold for us. The other thing I found is it makes the beef overdone to my taste. I like mine rare and it seems to take it beyond medium rare to medium - Yuck!

Me too Monika. I think the resting times are exaggerated. Its just not realistic to rest meat for 30 minutes. Ten or fifteen is more like it

For a turkey or something, cover with foil and let rest 15 minutes while you do the gravy. That lets the juices redistribute deeper into the meat, making it moister. You shouldn't lose that much heat over 15 minutes.
For a steak done from medium down, resting it is the difference between a bloody plate and a nice presentation as well as being more juicy and tender. Same thing with roasts.
As to the beef being overdone, always take it out 10 degrees lower than you want it to finish. The temperature will go up another 10 degrees from carry over cooking, sitting on the counter before it starts to go down again.

I'm new to this board and a new quilter so I can't help out much there, but been a chef for decades!

Watson

I let it rest 5 to 10 mins. It shouldn't take all that long to let the juices stop bubbling around in there!

Gosh, resting doesn't mean taking a nap, it just means putting your feet up for 5-15 minutes.
I never rest my steaks, for instance, longer than about 10. Longer than that and they do cool, but more importantly, all the juices leak out.

Jan in VA

Watson. ---- first, love your avatar..what a magnificent looking horse...second,makes sense, thank you and all others who feel and do the same as me/I ( which is grammatically correct?).. I know someone who is going to a culinary school......and that sounds so interesting......