How do I stop a joint drying out?

A dry joint is nearly always overcooked rather than badly cooked, and overcooking happens because the timing chart cannot know how thick your particular piece of meat is.

Safety

What you'll need

• Probe thermometer, ideally instant-read
• Roasting tin with a rack
• Foil and a warm place to rest

Step by step

1. Cook to temperature, not to time.The single change that fixes this. Charts assume a shape and an oven; a probe measures your joint. A thermometer costs very little and it is the difference between guessing and knowing.
2. Learn the target temperatures.Beef and lamb: about 52°C rare, 57°C medium-rare, 63°C medium. Pork about 63°C. Poultry and any rolled or minced product must reach 75°C throughout — that one is not negotiable.
3. Take it out early for carryover.A large joint keeps cooking after it leaves the oven and rises another 3 to 7°C. Pull it that much below your target or it arrives at the table overdone.
4. Probe in the right place.Thickest part, away from bone and away from fat. Bone conducts heat and gives a falsely high reading; fat gives a falsely low one.
5. Start with the meat closer to room temperature.Half an hour to an hour out of the fridge for a large joint. A fridge-cold centre means the outside overcooks while the middle catches up.
6. Sear, then cook low.High heat for the first 20 minutes for colour, then down to 160 to 170°C. A sustained high temperature squeezes moisture out of the outer layers, which is where dryness comes from.
7. Use the fat you have.Cook fat side up so it bastes as it renders. On a very lean joint, a layer of fat tied on, or bacon over the top, does the same job.
8. Do not carve into it to check.Every cut lets juice out. The probe exists so you do not have to.
9. Rest it properly.10 minutes for a small joint, 20 to 30 for a large one. The muscle fibres relax and reabsorb moisture, so carving straight away pours the juice onto the board.
10. Rest it loosely, not sealed.Foil laid over rather than wrapped tight. Sealed, it steams and the crust you built goes soft.
11. Match the cut to the method.Lean cuts want fast roasting to a lower temperature. Tough collagen-rich cuts want long slow cooking. Slow-roasting a lean joint is a reliable way to dry it out.
12. Consider brining a lean joint.A few hours in a salt solution helps lean pork and poultry hold moisture. It genuinely works and it needs planning ahead.
13. Carve across the grain.It shortens the fibres and makes the meat eat as more tender. Carving along the grain makes even a well-cooked joint seem tough and stringy.
14. Use the resting juices.Into the gravy. They are the moisture that left the meat, and putting them back is the last chance to recover some of it.

Tips

• A probe thermometer is the fix. Everything else here is secondary to cooking by temperature.
• Pull it 3 to 7°C early. Carryover cooking is why joints arrive overdone despite a correct reading.
• Rest it loosely covered. Wrapped tight it steams and the crust softens.

Common mistakes

• Roasting by time alone — Timing charts assume a joint shape and an oven temperature that are not yours. A thick joint and a thin one of the same weight cook completely differently.
• Carving straight out of the oven — The fibres are still contracted and the juice runs out onto the board. Resting lets it reabsorb, and it is the difference between moist and dry.

If it doesn't work