Does Basting Work? | TESTED

A friend recently asked me if basting works, or is it just something chefs do to play with their food? And if it does work, what’s the best technique? Today we’re going to put basting to the test to separate fact from fiction. After a bunch of testing, I might have to change my religion when it comes to basting. NOTE: Since this wasn’t made clear enough in the video: Although it takes about an extra 90 seconds to cook the unbasted steak to a temperature (105°F) where it will end up reaching 128 °F after resting, this doesn’t make it slower. The extra cooking time shortens the required resting time compared to the basted steak, and so both steaks end up at ~128 °F within ~47 seconds of each other on average. This is why I argue that basting doesn’t appreciably speed cooking. PRODUCT LINKS Combustion Predictive Thermometer: FIND ME HERE Combustion Inc: ​ Twitter: Instagram: PAST WORK ChefSteps: ​ ChefSteps Joule: ​ Modernist Cuisine: ​ The Fat Duck: TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 1:40 Faster and More Even? 4:16 Juicier? 4:30 A Surprising Result! 5:00 Flavor? 5:54 Conclusion CREDITS Fallow Restaurant, Cooking Restaurant Quality Steaks: