Carryover cooking (sometimes referred to as resting) is when foods are halted from actively cooking and allowed to equilibrate under their own retained

heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

. Because foods such as meats are typically measured for cooking temperature near the center of mass, stopping cooking at a given central temperature means that the outer layers of the food will be at higher temperature than that measured. Heat therefore will continue to migrate inwards from the surface, and the food will cook further even after being removed from the source of heat. Carryover cooking is often used as a finishing step in preparation of foods that are

roast Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...

ed or grilled, and should be accounted for in recipes as it can increase the internal temperature of foods by

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

s between 5 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit (3–14°C). The larger and denser the object being heated, the greater the amount of temperature increase due to carryover cooking. Resting, when used as a synonym for carryover cooking, also refers to the process of allowing the liquids in meats to redistribute through the food over a 5- to 20-minute period. This allows for a more flavorful and juicy finished product, in contrast to immediately cutting meat and allowing the still mobile juices to be lost from the meat before redistribution.

Physics

Because larger objects have a lower

surface-area-to-volume ratio The surface-area-to-volume ratio, also called the surface-to-volume ratio and variously denoted sa/vol or SA:V, is the amount of surface area per unit volume of an object or collection of objects. SA:V is an important concept in science and engin ...

, they are more able to retain heat. This heat retention translates to a uniform temperature increase throughout the food as the heat dissipates to cooler areas. Additionally, foods with a higher water content are more subject to carry over cooking as water has a higher

heat capacity Heat capacity or thermal capacity is a physical property of matter, defined as the amount of heat to be supplied to an object to produce a unit change in its temperature. The SI unit of heat capacity is joule per kelvin (J/K). Heat cap ...

and will have more heat to distribute throughout the food item.

References

Cooking techniques {{cooking-stub