Why You Don't Need To Let Tuna Steaks Rest After Cooking

Some of a recipe's most important steps can be inactive. Letting a protein rise to room temperature before cooking and later letting it rest are exemplar bookends. But all mains are not created equal, and what might work for a beef steak could be irrelevant, at best, for the tuna variety.

Resting can actually cause your tuna steaks to "cook" for too long. Unlike, say, a T-bone or a porterhouse, which you typically need to rest for at least five minutes to lock in its juiciness, fish is, literally, a different animal. You want it to be moist, yes, and flaky, for sure, but seafood isn't usually as focused on wrangling myoglobin, the protein that joins water to make up that more poetically dubbed juice. A tuna steak can be a particularly finicky thing, as your primary focus should be, instead, on keeping it from overheating. 

While the beautiful marbling in a cut of beef steak will make it a little more forgiving within a degree or two, overdo a lean slab of tuna and you'll end up with the textural equivalent of a classroom eraser. And, because of carryover cooking, those precious moments when your painstakingly prepared foodstuffs advance in doneness even when removed from heat, resting can actually tip your tuna steak well over its ideal rare temperature.

Instead of resting your tuna steak, you should slice, serve, and eat it! You want your tuna steaks barely seared, so long as you abide by the FDA's recommendation that they be brought to an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit. And, even if you accept the potential risks and settle around that medium-rare mark, closer to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, that unavoidable carryover heat will kick your tuna's temp up a tick. That's why it's best to stop a little before your desired finish and plate as soon as possible. Like its photonegative sashimi form, tuna steak is best consumed immediately.

If this all sounds like a lot of work for what should be a quick dinner, fair. A meat thermometer like the ThermoWorks ThermoPop 2 can make all the temperature calls for you. But you'll still have to work fast since you're only firing your tuna steaks for a few minutes on each side. Be prepared to pierce them early and often for the most helpful read. Provided you're working with consistently sized tuna steaks, it won't take too long before you can eyeball it and leave the electronics to the tough stuff like big roasted turkeys.