'resting' meat ... such as turkey funnily enough

northernneil

I know you are meant to rest meat after it has come out of the oven but I have never done this. As I am in charge this year do I follow what Gordon "f$£@" Ramsey says yesterday and if you cook it for 3 hours you must let it rest for 3 hours ???

doesnt it just go cold then ?

cakewalk

northernneil wrote:

I know you are meant to rest meat after it has come out of the oven but I have never done this. As I am in charge this year do I follow what Gordon "f$£@" Ramsey says yesterday and if you cook it for 3 hours you must let it rest for 3 hours ???

doesnt it just go cold then ?

No. Meat contains heat very well. I'd recommend resting for at least 30 minutes. An hour is OK for a turkey. It makes the meat much more tender. Should do it for all cooked meat - including steaks.

Place on dish.

Cover in foil.

Leave.

Add juices back to gravy.

Carve.

Get P1ssed.

iainf72

Also, you can pop some tea towels on the foil and it will hold its heat for a lot longer.

Resting the meat makes a big difference.

Ollieda

or stop being a cooking nonce and eat the thing......by the time you've messed around with presents and family your probably going to be too hungry to bother having it sit there for a while!

iainf72

Ollieda wrote:

or stop being a cooking nonce and eat the thing......by the time you've messed around with presents and family your probably going to be too hungry to bother having it sit there for a while!

Why not go the whole hog and just get a microwave dinner for everyone? Food is food, eh?

invincible

or just go out for a ruby

Crapaud

invincible wrote:

or just go out for a ruby

That's what my family used to do. We do like a traditional Chrimbo!

cakewalk

northernneil wrote:

I know you are meant to rest meat after it has come out of the oven but I have never done this. As I am in charge this year do I follow what Gordon "f$£@" Ramsey says yesterday and if you cook it for 3 hours you must let it rest for 3 hours ???

doesnt it just go cold then ?

Just noticed what Ramsey said. Two points.

(1) All TV chefs try and make things complicated/different/weird. If they do not, then, well no TV show. TV chefs are helping to cause the death of cooking.

(2) Is that what he did to his face?

Pokerface

cakewalk wrote:

o. Meat contains heat very well. I'd recommend resting for at least 30 minutes. An hour is OK for a turkey. It makes the meat much more tender. Should do it for all cooked meat - including steaks.

If meat holds heat so well, why is my steak always cold at the restaurant - right after they have taken it off the grill!? :oops:

Homer J

All i know is that to keep the turkey from drying out smear a load of butter over it then cook it upside down. As for waiting another 3 hrs,feck that!

cakewalk

Homer J wrote:

All i know is that to keep the turkey from drying out smear a load of butter over it then cook it upside down. As for waiting another 3 hrs,feck that!

upside down. Top tip.

peterst6906

Best way I've always found is to rest a turkey for 30 minutes, covered in foil and upside down.

Cook it breast-side up, but then rest it breast side down. That will let the meat relax properly and redistribute the juices.

deptfordmarmoset

The only turkey I ever cooked looked pretty much retired to me when I bought it - the damn things can their rest whenever they want, as far as I'm concerned.

verylonglegs

I find turkey a horrible bland meat and one of the christmas traditions I can do without. I'm not a bah humbug type by a long way but it's a decent joint of beef or lamb for me on christmas day. Ramsay...do one!

cakewalk

verylonglegs wrote:

I find turkey a horrible bland meat and one of the christmas traditions I can do without. I'm not a bah humbug type by a long way but it's a decent joint of beef or lamb for me on christmas day. Ramsay...do one!

Totally agree.

iainf72

verylonglegs wrote:

I find turkey a horrible bland meat and one of the christmas traditions I can do without. I'm not a bah humbug type by a long way but it's a decent joint of beef or lamb for me on christmas day. Ramsay...do one!

I'm having beef, but if you cook a turkey well it can be very nice. But it takes a bit of effort really.

Got our forerib of beef today - Need to weigh it tomorrow and figure out the cooking time. Exciting!

fleshtuxedo

Yes rest it (an hour or so) - means you can bang the potatoes in at a silly high heat without worrying about spoiling the bird, and as cakewalk points out, get pissed.

cakewalk

Oh yeah. Get your meat (turkey or whatever) out the fridge the night before. Need it at room temp for start of cooking.

Nuggs

3 hours sounds excessive, 30 mins will be plenty. As well as wrapping in foil, warm plates and the addition of gravy will bring it back up to temp.

LangerDan

iainf72 wrote:

Resting the meat makes a big difference.

A lesson one can apply to many aspects of life....

Pross

My chef brother-in-law was trying to explain how the restaurants get turkey to stay so moist and mentioned something about cooking it in cling film which I would have thought would melt. I think he also mentioned that they bone it and then roll it first but whenever I ask him for cooking tips he just rattles things off so quickly I'm lost within a few words so probably got confused! :oops:

Christmas dinner is the only time of the year we cook for anyone else and one of the few roast dinners we cook all year as neither of us are up to much in the kitchen. However, we somehow seem to do a decent job and have moist meat and nice, crisp veg (unlike the over-cooked slop that the mother-in-law produces and which put the wife off veg!). I think it's been beginners luck so hopefully it will hold again tomorrow We tend to just cook a turkey crown rather than a whole bird as the rest is just a waste in my eyes, does anyone actually like the wing or leg?

guinea

Take turkey out of oven.

Keep it covered in foil.

Raost your potatoes + whatever else you need.

Serve.

SImple.

markos1963

verylonglegs wrote:

I find turkey a horrible bland meat and one of the christmas traditions I can do without. I'm not a bah humbug type by a long way but it's a decent joint of beef or lamb for me on christmas day. Ramsay...do one!

Same here, nice rib of beef for us this Xmas.
Resting the meat also gives you time to use the juices to make a decent gravy and get other parts of the meal done. As others have said cover with foil and a tea towel and 15-30 mins is enough.

Mayniac

verylonglegs wrote:

I find turkey a horrible bland meat and one of the christmas traditions I can do without. I'm not a bah humbug type by a long way but it's a decent joint of beef or lamb for me on christmas day. Ramsay...do one!

To quote my great Aunt Mary: 'If you need Cranberry sauce, bread sauce, stuffing and gravy, it doesn't say much for the meat.'

dombo6

Pross wrote:

My chef brother-in-law was trying to explain how the restaurants get turkey to stay so moist and mentioned something about cooking it in cling film which I would have thought would melt. I think he also mentioned that they bone it and then roll it first but whenever I ask him for cooking tips he just rattles things off so quickly I'm lost within a few words so probably got confused! :oops:

Christmas dinner is the only time of the year we cook for anyone else and one of the few roast dinners we cook all year as neither of us are up to much in the kitchen. However, we somehow seem to do a decent job and have moist meat and nice, crisp veg (unlike the over-cooked slop that the mother-in-law produces and which put the wife off veg!). I think it's been beginners luck so hopefully it will hold again tomorrow We tend to just cook a turkey crown rather than a whole bird as the rest is just a waste in my eyes, does anyone actually like the wing or leg?

Yes, luckily I'm the only one in the family that likes the dark meat especially thigh. also as the one who cooks it I get the chef's treats of heart, liver and neck on hot buttered toast

markos1963

I worked at Bernard Matthews for five years before becoming a train driver, I swore on the day I left I'd never eat another turkey and so far it's been easy to keep my promise. Horrible bland meat( even the top grade stuff)

finchy

iainf72 wrote:

verylonglegs wrote:

I find turkey a horrible bland meat and one of the christmas traditions I can do without. I'm not a bah humbug type by a long way but it's a decent joint of beef or lamb for me on christmas day. Ramsay...do one!

I'm having beef, but if you cook a turkey well it can be very nice. But it takes a bit of effort really.

Got our forerib of beef today - Need to weigh it tomorrow and figure out the cooking time. Exciting!

I get two Christmases this year - my girlfriend wanted to do a traditional Hungarian one and the British one. She's just cooking some salmon as we speak and then somloi galuska for dessert. Yum yum.