Food and Drink: Why is it important to Food: Why is it important to "rest" meats before cutting into them?

After you cook meat, you need to let it rest so the juice can redistribute and get reabsorbed by the meat. If you cut it up as soon as you take it out of the oven, grill, or pan, the juice will just run out and make the meat dry.

Proteins thicken the juices so they don't flow out of the meat when it's cut. The taste will be better.

Resting meat isn't about storing it. After meat is cooked it should be “rested” for a few minutes (I usually cover it with foil). Resting allows the juices in the meat to spread out and it makes the meat moister.

Added, I see you asked this question before. Just to comment on some of the answers you got: resting isn't about letting the meat go cool. It's about waiting a few minutes after it's finished cooking before serving it. A joint of meat will stay hot for a long time until you cut it into slices (that's what makes it go cold). With something like a steak, I put it on a hot plate to rest and cover it with foil. You can put it in a warm oven if you like so long as it's not hot enough to continue cooking it. With a steak, I certainlywouldn't rest ot for ten minutes but even just two minutes makes a difference.