Overall the steak is cooling (as the outside air is cooler). At the centre of the steak the temperature will go up first (as heat from the outside of the steak which has been in contact with the pan transfers in) then down again.

Unless I’m mistaken (and that’s quite possible!), this should be trivial to test. Sous vide some meat for an overly long time to a precise temperature, then cut each piece at set intervals.

If you sous vide for a long time, the entirety of the steak will be at the same temperature, while pan searing cooks the outside to a higher temperature than the inside, which results in the core temperature going up a few degrees during resting.

Yes exactly. It all has to do with the thermal conductivity of the meat. Meat tends to be a fairly good insulator which means it takes a long time for heat to conduct through a thick piece of meat (such as a large roast or a pork shoulder). This means that cooking at a temperature above your target internal temp (most conventional cooking methods, not sous vide) will produce a fairly steep thermal gradient between the outside of the meat and the core. Resting the meat allows heat to flow down the gradient to bring the overall temperature closer towards equilibrium.

Another important effect during cooking is the breakdown of collagen fibres (present in tough connective tissues which make some cuts of meat very tough to chew). This occurs in the presence of moisture at temperatures above 170F. When collagen breaks down the meat tenderizes and the collagen itself turns into gelatine which absorbs moisture and retains it within the meat. A gelatine-rich cut of slow-cooked meat (such as oxtail) can be very sticky and packed with flavour. This is one case where food can taste juicier with longer cooking times.

This is not a very quick test because you can hold sous vide food up to 4 hours at the target temp. So you will need to account for that 4 hour gap in all the testing before it starts to break down.

It's not wrong, it's incomplete. It will briefly bring the temperature up as everything stabilizes but then it will start going back down. How quickly is entirely dependent on the environment it's in as well. Keep it in a warming oven? It's gonna a be a much slower process than sitting on a cool countertop.

"It's not even wrong." — Wolfgang Pauli

"It's not evenly cooked." -- Wolfgang Puck

That is indeed exactly what the article says — I’m not certain GP is right on this.

Kenji’s original tests seem to confound this as well: every 2.5min of slicing produces steadily less juice, despite the fact that the steak’s internal temp should be rising for some of that time.

“Internal” temperatures are measured near a single point. Some internal, watery, parts will be hotter than other internal, watery, parts. On average, the temperature goes down over time even if it increases in some local parts.

So the average pressure will decrease.

(Yes, for an ideal cavity, pressure is equal everywhere, but for meat which contains highly tortured paths and a three-phase state mixture for the vapors to escape from - there can be different pressures in different areas especially once there’s any flow at all)

"I was always under the impression that if you pull your meat at let's say 128"

Please state units. In en_GB (at least) "pulling your meat" is ... ambiguous.

ambiguous? I'll take the compliment, but there is no "us"

In steak/chop sized pieces, carry-over cooking of the center finishes very quickly. If you get a really fast probe thermometer like a thermapen, you can watch it in real time. The entire piece will have cooled sufficiently after common resting times (e.g. 10 minutes.)

Off topic, and please forgive the way my mind works, but having read your comment I couldn't help thinking that the interpretive ambiguity would be resolved if the unit stated was "pulls" per minute (128 ppm while vigorous, is still plausible).

Wow. Now I have to go back and watch Silicon Valley season 1. Thanks for the reminder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxsPLXX1QLI

"128 ppm while vigorous, is still plausible"

That's ~2.1Hz - Pretty normal. Perhaps get some soothing balm on hand, just in case 8)

what if I am feeding the geese? how do I disambiguate that one?

Well, yes, as soon as you take meat off the heat, temperature continues to raise for some time, but it starts dropping off during the rest period.

I cook til 125F, take it off, let it rest, cut. I have a probe that measures it in multiple points, allowing it to more accurately estimate core and surface temperature.

There are so many cases like this in cooking because no one bothered to actually test validate science as long as it produced claimed results (i.e. juicy steak in this case)

Note the article explained: "leading to an overall cooling even as the center warmed", that's what I think you are missing above. If the internal temp comes up to 132, but the exterior drops to 95...