“Eat your dinner quick before it gets cold!” is what we’ve all been indoctrinated with growing up—which is why it seems counter-intuitive when you’re told that your steak or roast needs to be left alone to rest before you cut into it.

When you put your meat on the grill, the muscles contract and firm up, pushing and squeezing the liquid away from the heat. When you remove it off the grill, the muscles unclench and the juices are slowly redistributed. If you slice in without resting your meat, the delicious juices will spill out onto your chopping board and waste all your effort.

Resting also allows your meat to finish cooking from the residue heat—which is why it’s important you remove your meat from the grill just before it’s done. How do you know? Check the meat’s inner temperature with an instant read thermometer!

Is it done?

How do experts know when it’s time to take their steak off the grill? Learn all their tricks in under 5 minutes in the video below.

For example, if you’re aiming for a medium rare steak with an ideal temperature of about 57 °C, take it off the grill a few degrees before it hits the mark and rest it for a few minutes. Or you can adopt the rule that some chefs use—a minute’s resting for every 100g of meat. For roasts like our chicken with lemon and garlic oil, remove from the grill at 73°C and then rest for approximately 20 minutes.

How do you rest meat? For steak or smaller cuts of meat, place it on a warm plate (just microwave it!) and loosely cover with foil to prevent it from getting cold too quickly. For roasts, forgo the foil and just put it on your serving board or plate and wait the required amount of time before cutting in. Patience is key!