Question: Does piercing meats really cause them to dry out?
Answer: This is one of the oldest debates in cooking and one of the most commonly held myths about cooking meat. If the piece of meat you were cooking was like a water balloon then piercing the meat would cause liquids to escape and dry out food. Meat however is not like a water balloon. Meat is much more like millions of water balloons. A fork piercing into the meat may damage some of those balloons (cells) but not enough to have an effect of the moisture level of the meat. In fact, the most damaging thing you can do to a piece of meat, apart from overcooking, is to freeze it. Freezing destroys cell membranes and causes the cells to loose moisture. A couple of stabs with a fork won't make a big difference, but a few dozen will so keep it to a minimum.
