Store

Cooking encyclopedia Food science

Carryover cooking

Also called residual cooking

Food keeps cooking after it leaves the heat, and large pieces keep going a long way.

What it is

When a roast comes out of the oven its outside is far hotter than its centre. Heat keeps moving inward until the piece evens out, and the centre can climb several degrees on the bench.

Why it works

Heat moves from hot to cold; the oven only supplied the gradient. How far the centre rises depends on how big the piece is and how hot the oven was โ€” a thin steak might gain a couple of degrees, a large joint from a hot oven five to eight.

When to use it

Every roast, joint, whole bird and thick steak.

What goes wrong

Cooking to the final target in the oven and overshooting on the bench; carving to check, which loses the juice that resting was holding.

Meridian cooking encyclopedia โ€” Watchman Productions

More on this shelf

  • Brining and salt What salt does to meat beyond seasoning it.
  • Caramelisation The breakdown of sugar by heat alone into colour, aroma and bitterness.
  • Collagen and gelatin Why tough cuts become tender and rich with long, moist cooking.
  • Fermentation Controlled microbial transformation of food, and the conditions that keep it controlled.
  • Gluten development How two wheat proteins become the elastic network that holds bread together.
  • How heat sets protein Why an egg becomes solid, fish flakes, and meat goes from translucent to opaque.
  • Smoke point The temperature at which a fat starts to break down visibly, and why it matters less than it is said to.
  • Starch gelatinisation The swelling and bursting of starch granules in hot water, which thickens sauces and cooks grains.
  • The Maillard reaction The reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that browns food and creates hundreds of new flavour compounds.