厨房的奥秘是每周探索烹饪和食物周围的奇怪之处。它们可能是不应该在不应该失败的食谱，来自不同来源的建议，或者只是怪异的。如果发生在厨房中，您不确定为什么要发送tweet to The Food Geek或者emailto brian@thefoodgeek.com找出正在发生的事情。

A while back, I asked people about cooking techniques or steps that they have been told to do but weren’t really sure why.Molly Fultonresponded with:

Hi, Molly,

There are two reasons why meat needs to rest after cooking. The first is because, just because you’ve taken the meat away from the heat, does not mean that it’s done cooking. It’s going to heat up some more, then start cooling down. Why?

If you remember back to mykitten and elephant metaphorabout temperature, when heat is transferred into molecules, they start to vibrate and otherwise move. Some molecules move easily (the kitten types), and some not so easily (the elephants). Meat doesn’t transfer heat well, and so it’s made of metaphorical elephants. When elephants start running, they don’t stop quickly, so when the meat heats up, it keeps going even after you’ve removed the heat. Eventually it figures out what’s going and slows down, and that’s when the meat reaches its peak temperature then cools down. You want to let it cook all the way, so that’s the first reason to let the meat rest.

第二个原因不是那么简单。除了隐喻性象素外，肉还由许多紧密编织的蛋白质等。在寒冷的温度下，它们非常强，因此它们不太可能移动或破裂。但是，当您烹饪它们时，它们会失去许多结构完整性。他们伸出来，变得脆弱，易于破裂。同样，胶原蛋白是结缔组织，将根据肉类的类型或多或少地通过链编织而成，从固体到液体。

When the meat cools back down again, the collagen starts firming up, and the various strands start regaining some, but not all, of their strength back. If you cut too soon, and with too dull a knife, you will break the already loosened strands, and the liquids will pour out of the meat easily. If you wait for the strands to gain back some strength, the various strands will be able to withstand some of the damage you’re inflicting, and thus you’ll retain a lot more liquid.

休息多长时间？好吧，一位厨师告诉我，她每磅8分钟休息了她的肉，她教别人也这样做。哈罗德·麦吉（Harold McGee）关于食物和烹饪that a chef told him to rest for as long as you cooked the meat. These are probably not bad suggestions, but you may want to eat sometime before midnight, so you’ll want to wait at least 8-10 minutes for something small like a steak and 20 minutes for something like a roast. If you already have your probe thermometer in, go ahead and cool it to 120°F.

These times and temperatures may vary by type and cut of meat (I’d be surprised if it didn’t), but I haven’t found a good source exploring the cooling process nearly as well as I’ve found sources exploring the heating process, so I’m not sure what those differences would be. Still, we’re not talking about your entire dish being ruined, we’re only trying to preserve as much moisture as possible. Use the guidelines above. If you try something on the low-end of the resting time, and you see a bunch of juice running out of your meat, you probably need to rest it longer. On the other hand, if you bit into it and it’s juicy and tasty, then you’re fine. The important thing is to understand what’s happening so you can use your judgement properly.