That tip about resting meat from a line cook in Portland totally backfired on me last weekend
I was working the grill station at a pop-up and this guy with 10 years experience told me to always rest steaks for exactly 5 minutes no matter what. I did it with a thin cut, maybe 8oz, and it came out cold in the middle. Chef was pissed. Should I just ignore that advice for smaller cuts or adjust times based on thickness? Anyone else have a pro tip that didn't work out?
That's a tough break, and I really feel for you. Getting chewed out by a chef over something you thought was solid advice is just the worst. The problem with that "exact 5 minutes" rule is it treats all steaks the same, which they clearly aren't. A thin 8oz cut just doesn't have the thermal mass to hold its heat that long, especially if the kitchen's cold. You're not wrong for trusting a guy with that much experience, but next time I'd just let the steak tell you when it's ready. A good rule I've heard is to rest it for about half the total cook time, and that's worked better for me on all different sizes.
Wait, you actually timed it exactly? I once left a steak on the counter for 20 minutes trying to find my timer app, that was a way different kind of failure.