A chef tells us the one thing you should always do to meat before serving it

Leanna Garfield/Tech Insider

When you slide a juicy slab of ribs or a roast chicken out of the oven, it's tempting to serve and eat right away.

But trained chef Daniel Norton told Tech Insider something every cook should do before the meat hits the table: Let it sit.

Resting meat before you serve it is critical, he says, because heat and juices continue to flow through food even after you take it out of the oven.

Norton works as the culinary manager for Innit, a smart-kitchen startup that uses data to help people cook more efficiently. In the company's test kitchen, Norton uses advanced sensors, which track the temperature and humidity of turkey, chicken, and ribs.

After testing various cooking methods and examining the data, he's learned the optimal resting time for each type of protein: Three minutes for a rack of ribs, 10 for a whole chicken, and 25 for and a whole turkey.

So if you want an evenly-cooked, tender piece of meat, be patient and wait it out.

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