What’s the secret to a juicy steak? Resting. It’s one of the most overlooked, must-do steps in cooking a great steak. Ironically, it’s also the easiest step that requires no work on the chef’s part.  All meat needs to rest. Let’s talk about why and how long should steak rest.

Have you ever cut into a steak and had juices fill your plate? If yes, you know first-hand why it’s important to rest steak.

Letting steak rest is the biggest secret to having a juicy steak. All meat needs to rest.

Why does steak need to rest?

Meat is a muscle and it has two main parts – protein and water.

When meat is raw, it’s about 70-75% water. If you’ve ever cut into raw meat before, you know that you barely lose any liquid.

When steak is cooked, the muscle fibers contract because of the increased temperature. Then, the water is squeezed out of the fibers and the liquid moves towards the center of the steak.

If you cut meat before it rests, the juice goes directly on your plate because the juices haven’t had a chance to be reabsorbed by the meat yet.

However, if you give the steak a chance to rest a little after moving it from the heat, the fibers relax and widen. This lets the juice and moisture to redistribute throughout the meat. As a side note, the process of fibers widening and then relaxing also explains why you can judge if a steak is done by touching it with your finger or with tongs — the firmer the meat, the more done it is.

Knowing how to cook ground beef is something every home cook needs to know because it’s a staple in so many recipes. In this post, we’ll start at the beginning about what is ground beef, and work our way to how to cook ground beef and easy ground beef recipes.

How often do you cook with ground beef?

Once a week? Twice a week? More?

It’s a staple in so many home kitchens, and for good reason too.

What is ground beef?

Ground beef is chopped-up beef that only comes from primal cuts and trimmings. It’s often called hamburger because of the juicy burgers we all love.

However, if you asked a butcher or meat aficionado, they’ll say that technically there’s a difference between hamburger and ground beef. All ground beef can only be made using meat, trimmings and fat from primal cuts (there’s no additional fat added), but hamburger can add fat to reach the appropriate fat content, if desired.