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Resting times · Warm board · Loose foil · Carryover heat
Resting Meat: How Long to Rest a Steak, and Why
Rest a thin steak for 3–4 minutes, a skirt steak for 5, a chuletón or tomahawk for 8–10 and a whole loin or rack of ribs for 15–20. The rule of thumb is about half the time the meat spent on the heat, and never more than twenty minutes. Resting lets the juice spread back through the meat, so it stays in the steak and not on the board.
- Half the cooking time, twenty minutes at most
- Warm board, foil laid loosely on top
- The core rises 3–5 °C (5–9 °F) while it rests, so take it off early
The cheapest five minutes in cooking
Resting costs nothing and needs no skill. It is also the step most people skip, out of impatience, with the table laid and everyone watching. Here is what you are waiting for.
What happens inside the meat
Heat makes the fibres contract, and as they tighten they push the juice towards the centre, the coolest part. Cut the steak the moment it leaves the fire and that concentrated juice runs straight out: you cooked it well and left the result on the wood.
As the meat rests, the fibres relax and the juice spreads through the whole piece again. The same steak, cut five minutes later, loses far less on the board and tastes of far more.
How long, cut by cut
| Cut | What it is called in Spain | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Thin frying steak or a thin boneless loin steak | Filete, entrecot fino | 3–4 minutes |
| Skirt steak | Entraña | 5 minutes |
| Thick bone-in rib steak, or the same with the long bone left on | Chuletón, tomahawk | 8–10 minutes |
| Whole loin, or a whole rack of ribs | Lomo entero, costillar | 15–20 minutes |
If your cut is not in the table, use the rule of thumb: roughly half the time it was on the heat, without going past twenty minutes. A skirt steak grilled for eight or nine minutes gets five; a chuletón that spent sixteen to twenty minutes on the barbecue (US: grill) gets eight to ten.
How to rest meat without letting it go cold
- Use something warm. A warmed board or serving dish, never a cold plate straight from the cupboard.
- Cover it loosely with kitchen foil. Lay the foil over the top without tucking it in. Seal it and the crust goes soft in its own steam, and you lose what you worked for on the grill.
- Or use the barbecue itself. If you built the fire in two zones, the gentle side will hold a resting steak well. The set-up is in how to light a charcoal barbecue.
The temperature keeps rising
During the rest the centre of the meat gains between 3 and 5 °C (5–9 °F). So the meat has to come off the heat before it reaches the doneness you want. Wait until the thermometer reads 57 °C (135 °F) on the grill and you will eat the steak at about 62 °C (144 °F): you aimed at medium-rare and served medium.
| You want | In Spanish | Core temperature on the plate | Take it off at about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rare | Poco hecho | 50–52 °C (122–126 °F) | 47 °C (117 °F) |
| Medium-rare | Al punto | 54–57 °C (129–135 °F) | 52 °C (126 °F) |
| Medium | Hecho | 60–63 °C (140–145 °F) | 57 °C (135 °F) |
The full scale, from blue to well done, with the words a Spanish waiter uses, is in our guide to steak doneness temperatures.
Then the slicing
Always slice across the grain. Look at the direction the fibres run and put the knife at right angles to them. The same steak sliced along the grain takes twice the chewing. This matters most with long-fibred cuts, and skirt steak is the clearest example.
And slice thick. Mature beef is cut into strips about a finger and a half wide, not into thin slices. Sliced thin, it is cold before it reaches your mouth and the texture is gone.
With a bone-in steak, first cut the meat away from the bone in one piece, following the curve of the bone, then slice the meat across. The bone goes to the table as well. The whole sequence, from fridge to board, is in how to grill a chuletón.
Cuts that repay the wait
Thick steaks on the bone gain the most from a proper rest: a retinto mature cow chuletón or a T-bone. The two-steak pack of entrecôte needs only a few minutes, and a whole yearling fillet (US: tenderloin), cooked in one piece, wants a rest towards the long end of the scale.
Chuletón (bone-in rib steak), retinto cow, approx. 1 kg
Chuletón Vaca Retinta - MAS VENDIDO57,90€ VAT incl.Add to basketT-bone steak, retinto cow
T-Bone Vaca Retinta Price range: 48,40€ through 50,60€ VAT incl.Choose weight2 retinto cow entrecôte steaks, 650 g
2 Entrecot Vaca Retinta 650 gr (Más vendido)30,90€ VAT incl.Add to basketWhole fillet (tenderloin), retinto yearling beef
Solomillo de añojo retinto Price range: 47,90€ through 50,50€ VAT incl.Choose weight
Resting questions
How long should I rest a steak?
3–4 minutes for a thin steak, 5 for skirt, 8–10 for a chuletón or tomahawk, 15–20 for a whole loin or a rack of ribs. Otherwise, about half the cooking time, up to twenty minutes.
Will the steak go cold?
Not if it rests on a warm board under loosely laid foil, or on the gentle side of a two-zone barbecue. The centre is in fact still getting hotter for the first few minutes.
Should I wrap the meat tightly in foil?
No. Sealed foil traps steam and softens the crust. Lay it over the top and leave the sides open.
Does meat keep cooking while it rests?
Yes, by 3–5 °C (5–9 °F) at the core. For medium-rare, take the steak off at 52 °C (126 °F) and let the rest carry it to 55–57 °C (131–135 °F).
Which way do I slice it afterwards?
Across the grain, with the knife at right angles to the fibres, in strips about a finger and a half wide.