ref dry age beef

thegrillster

ref GulfCoastBBQ previous posts about dry aging beef.

I ate my first dry aged beef at a restaurant last night and what a treat. Very flavorful.

I had asked previously about dry aging beef and then freezing it. Some thought this would not be good.

But it is my understanding that aged beef used to be the norm. It would hang for 2 weeks minimum in cooler as a half beef then be butchered and sold.

Didn't people then take this meat and freeze it?

Otherwise you would have to have quite a plan in place for aging then cooking.

So I am still asking about freezing dry aged beef. Seems not a big deal to me.

stike

i replied that it would be no problem.
there's no issue.

keep in mind that dry aging goes as long as 6 or 7 weeks, at relatively normal refrigerator temps. that's before freezing, and after a few days of hanging before that.

even regular grocery store beef is aged a couple days or so. it needs to go through rigor mortise, for one thing.

you wouldn't NEED to freeze it though if you just do what they do now: put a primal in the fridge, age it for three or four weeks, and cut off what you need as you need it. you might want to cover the cut end, but it could stay in the fridge for up to another three weeks, logically.

my point was that you can't go to the store, buy a few steaks, and dry age them for a couple weeks. that won't work.

you need to do at least a large roast-sized chunk, and a primal is even better. choice is manageable, prime is best. that's not just for the return on investment, but the fact that prime generally has a nice layer of fat all around, and that meters the way the moisture is lost, and forms a nice hard waxy pellicle. a cut end, or too much exposed flesh, (like the sides of already cut steaks) would permit the meat to dry out too fast, and too much

many people cannot reconcile the food safety issue, but the USDA guidelines are ONE rule being applied to all types of foods. dry aging is legit, and it is not rocket science.

Luvs to shoot clay

I dry aged a whole Prime Rib Eye for 2 weeks at Christmas last year but cooked it as a prime rib (whole). It was great. I haven't thought of just keeping it in the refrigerator and cutting steaks off as I want them but I am going to try that next. Sounds like a great idea to me. I will be posting some pictures of a whole Prime Rib Eye that I cut up and cooked last night shortly.

stike

i age my roasts, too. this was only a week or so. but enough to make a difference.

Luvs to shoot clay

Looks like it was a great meal!
I saw a program on travel channel yesterday about the best places to eat steak and the great ones all aged their beef, none would say how long.

emilluca

Well if you let it dry too long it is called Jerky....
Again I think aging length is a judgment call just as what to rub on a butt for the best flavor or what wood chips to use to smoke it.
Certainly work out your own plan using beef supplied by the same store. Generally a chain will get beef from the same source and that source gets it's product form the same growers.
I agree if you are going to put the time in to aging PRIME grade should be used to ensure the best outcome.

This is just my opinon based on 30 years in the meat business. I worked as a meat cutter manager in a prior life. Got out because the cold and hard labor was too much, it is a young mans job.
E

stike

anyone selling dry aged beef will tell you on the menu. hahaha it's a point of pride, bragging rights, and maybe a bump in price.

you can get some benefit from a week like that roast i posted, but almost all that benefit is just water loss. the beef is condensed, and more flavorful simply from being "concentrated" in a way.

anyone selling you a dry-aged steak would be usually going at LEAST two weeks, but more likely three ("21-day dry aged" has a nice commercial ring to it).

up here, we can get 45 day (+six weeks) stuff.

the longer it ages, the longer the enzymes in the meat have to break down the muscle, digesting the meat in a way. they produce flavors as they do it, and then again you get even more moisture loss.

the warning not to use a "regular" fridge, because of humidity issues (or lack of humidity,actually) is not one about food safety (that's a temperature issue), but one where going 6 weeks in a HOME fridge would tend to dry it too much. you don't want a hard rock of beef concentrate, hahaha. you want some moisture left. it's just that going too long at home may over-dry it

Luvs to shoot clay

I am really interested in the kind of refrigerator you would use?

Fidel

"hard rock of beef concentrate"

yet another great band name

stike

one that has a handle, hinges, and keeps things cold. hahaha

i.e. any fridge.

ideally? a spare fridge in the basement. less chance of off-flavors from other foods. it's not really a problem if you do it in your day-to-day kitchen fridge. even if your teenage kids stand there looking in the deli drawer for food to eat every twenty seconds, the temps aren't going to swing to the point where it's a problem.

small college dorm fridge, your beer fridge, etc. all good if they can hold 30-36, maybe 38 degrees. get a fridge thermometer and make sure.

Luvs to shoot clay

I misunderstood your post. I used my beer fridge in the garage last time and it seems to work pretty good. I thought you meant that a home refrigerator would not work well.

fishlessman

i believe a week or two is fine for a reg fridge, if your goung for 45 days i think you need to control humidity better