When Anthony Bourdain isn't writing a best-selling cookbook or traveling the world to explore foreign cuisines and cultures on his CNN show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, the former chef is handing out life-saving cooking advice. This time, it's all about meat — and just in time for cookout season!
In a new video from Tech Insider, Bourdain says the success or failure of a steak is determined by one crucial but often overlooked moment in the cooking process. He's talking about the "magical moment following its removal from the heat," when you transfer the steak to a cutting board. "It should rest on the board, meaning sit there at room temperature for five to seven minutes, at which point, stay away from it," Bourdain says in the video.
More From House Beautiful
The steak continues to cook in these crucial moments, he explains, and it must be left alone to ensure perfect distribution of the juices inside. "That's why if you cut into a steak too quickly off the barbecue, you get this sort of bullseye pattern, instead of what it should be: a gentle graduation from red to various hues of pink to the outer crust," Bourdain says. "All the difference in the world between a good steak and a totally messed up steak is going on in that period of time that you're just doing nothing."
"Don't wrap it in foil, don't cover it, don't poke it, don't prod it, don't even look at it. Just let it sit there. Leave it alone, and you will be rewarded," he adds.
If you're more excited than ever for summer cookouts now, you're not alone — check out our best tips for grilling and our all-time favorite BBQ sauces for more ways to take your meat to the next level.
[h/t Wide Open Country
