How to Cook Lamb

Don't ignore the crucial last step! Let it rest.

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Many recipe-users casually gloss over and disregard that common last phrase "let rest for 15 minutes" and then wonder why their meal was not all they hoped for. This is actually a very important part of the process and will make the difference between an even-hued and tender roast and a tough, dry piece of meat with a small red center surrounded by a large grey-brown border. Keep in mind, there are several significant events taking place in the minutes after a piece of meat has left the oven.

First off, it's still cooking! Remember, the reading you get from your meat thermometer is taken from the coolest part of a steak or roast — the layers of meat closer to the surface are a great deal hotter, and they continue to radiate heat towards the center. The internal temperature of a roast rises about ten degrees after it leaves the oven. Those ten degrees could well be the difference between tender, juicy meat and something dry and disappointing.
Second, during cooking, intense heat drives most of the juices toward the center of the meat. A 10- to 15-minute rest should be enough time to allow those juices to be reabsorbed and redistributed more evenly.
A final tip: Choose a well-sharpened knife for carving. After waiting all that extra time, the last thing you want is to squeeze out those wonderful juices by sawing away with a blunt knife.