{"id":5353,"date":"2026-11-12T19:13:47","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T19:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?p=5353"},"modified":"2026-11-12T19:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T19:14:14","slug":"let-it-rest-why-and-how-to-rest-chicken-and-steak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?p=5353","title":{"rendered":"Let It Rest: Why and How to Rest Chicken and Steak"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was roasting a chicken this week with a probe in the breast, and the question came up: what temperature do I actually pull it at, and how long can it rest before the skin goes soft? The answer turned out to apply to steak just as much as chicken, so I turned it into an infographic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-scaled.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"991\" height=\"2560\" class=\"wp-image-5352\" src=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-scaled.png\" alt=\"Infographic: why and how to rest roast chicken and steak, with pull temperatures, rest times and a four-step process\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-scaled.png 991w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-116x300.png 116w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-396x1024.png 396w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-768x1984.png 768w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-595x1536.png 595w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/let-it-rest-infographic-793x2048.png 793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 991px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why resting works<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three things happen once the meat leaves the heat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li><strong>Carryover cooking.<\/strong> The outside is far hotter than the centre, and that stored heat keeps moving inward. A whole chicken climbs about 3\u00b0C after it comes out of the oven.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li><strong>The heat evens out.<\/strong> The gap between the edge and the centre closes, so you get the same doneness across the slice.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li><strong>The juices stay put.<\/strong> Straight off the heat they are thin and run out when you cut. A few degrees cooler they thicken and stay in the meat.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The numbers<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\">\r\n<table>\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th>\u00a0<\/th>\r\n<th>Roast chicken<\/th>\r\n<th>Steak, medium-rare<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Pull at<\/td>\r\n<td>72\u00b0C<\/td>\r\n<td>52\u00b0C<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Rests to<\/td>\r\n<td>about 75\u00b0C<\/td>\r\n<td>about 55\u00b0C<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Probe in<\/td>\r\n<td>Thickest part of the breast, away from bone<\/td>\r\n<td>Centre, from the side<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Rest for<\/td>\r\n<td>10-20 minutes<\/td>\r\n<td>5-8 minutes<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Also<\/td>\r\n<td>Thighs are better at 75-80\u00b0C<\/td>\r\n<td>Pull at 49\u00b0C for rare, 57\u00b0C for medium<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The carryover figures are approximate. Bigger pieces cooked in a hotter oven climb more, and a thin steak barely climbs at all, so let the probe decide.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The process<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li><strong>Pull early.<\/strong> Take it off the heat about 3\u00b0C below your target.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li><strong>Get it off the hot metal.<\/strong> Move it to a rack or a warm board. A hot tray keeps cooking the underside.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li><strong>Leave it alone.<\/strong> Uncovered, somewhere warm. Watch the probe peak and level off.<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li><strong>Carve and keep the juices.<\/strong> Slice across the grain and tip whatever is on the board into the gravy.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Keeping it crisp<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was my real worry. Foil is what softens the skin, because it traps steam, so rest the bird uncovered on a rack and keep the gravy off the skin until it is on the plate. If the skin has softened by carving time, 3-4 minutes back in the oven at 220\u00b0C brings it back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is 72\u00b0C safe?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes. Safety is time and temperature together: chicken held at 70\u00b0C for 2 minutes is as safe as chicken that touches 75\u00b0C, and a resting bird stays above 70\u00b0C for far longer than that. Steak is a different case, because on a whole cut the bacteria sit on the surface and the sear deals with them.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why meat needs a rest after cooking, the temperatures to pull chicken and steak at, and how to keep the skin crisp while it rests. <a href=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?p=5353\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking","category-home-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5353"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5356,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions\/5356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}