Post-oven rest: fish too?

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 19:46:10 +0000 (UTC), Irving Kimura
<[email protected]> wrote:

>In recipes I've often seen the advice to let roasted beef (or pork, lamb, etc.) rest a few minutes
>after it comes out of the oven before cutting or carving, the reason being that this gives time for
>the juices (mostly water) in the meat to re-equilibrate, thus reducing their loss when the meat is
>finally cut. I have seen similar advice for poultry too, but never for "roasted" (i.e. baked) fish.
>How come? It seems to me that the moisture-retention rationale would apply to fish flesh as much as
>it does to beef flesh...
>
>Irv

Someone who actually knows what he or she is talking about will chime in here, but I'll take a guess
in the meantime.

I'm thinking that baked fish flakes when it's cooked, so the moisture is going to drain away
rather than move to another place in the meat, and so would not be available to migrate at the end
of the cooking.

FWIW I rarely bake whole fish, but I do like to wrap fillets, either in parchment paper or spring
roll skins (my favorite, because you get to eat the wrapper). Either way keeps the moisture and
added flavors right where I want them.

David

x-no-archive: yes

IMO, letting fish sit *briefly* has its merits but perhaps not for the same reason as with meat.
With some fish, you need to take it out just before it's done, or it will continue cooking once you
plate it. If you let it sit on a warmed platter it will come to the perfect temperature.

Naomi D.

Irving Kimura <[email protected]> writes:

>n recipes I've often seen the advice to let roasted beef (or pork, lamb, etc.) rest a few minutes
>after it comes out of the oven before cutting or carving, the reason being that this gives time for
>the juices (mostly water) in the meat to re-equilibrate, thus reducing their loss when the meat is
>finally cut. I have seen similar advice for poultry too, but never for "roasted" (i.e. baked) fish.
>How come? It seems to me that the moisture-retention rationale would apply to fish flesh as much as
>it does to beef flesh...

What makes you think fish flesh reacts differently? It does not. Fish needs to rest a bit too.
Certainly a salmon steak should rest as long as a porterhouse steak. But size matters... were it a
thicker example, say a baked whole stuffed grouper it should be permitted to rest the same as a
stuffed tom turkey. Another point to consider; generally the flavor of fish is more delicate than
say beef, therefore fish should definitely not be eaten piping hot, in fact no food can be fully
appreciated eaten piping hot. Then again it's quite common that certain folks wolf down steaming hot
pizza fresh from the oven... then all one savors is suffering a burnt palate for the next three
days... anyone does that more than once, those are the folks with their taste in their ass.

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