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Final Report: 100 Day Dry-Aged Rib Eye (LOOONG)

24

Comments

  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    easiest thing in the world. hardest part is convincing the wife to go along with it.

    or doing it whether she is convinced or not. that's my damn fridge, i'll do what i want with it :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i think that one about caps it. from now on i'll begin harvesting around 45 days, and use the plastic to seal the cut end until about 60 days total, when i'll pack and freeze.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Epic write up! I always look forward to your posts like this. They are so informative that I get to learn almost as much as if I had done it myself...except for the eating. I didn't get to eat any of that :pinch:

    Great job!
    Knoxville, TN
    Nibble Me This
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yeah. awful lot of prime sneks in ass choice. they judge it the best they can, but not from a ribeye cut like (i think) they used to. i think it's done on the hoof now, or close after slaughter, based on muscling and other things beyond my capacity to understand :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    You Freak of Nature Mad Man...I can't believe you would eat that rotting dead meat...Are you part Zombie or just mental???

    OK, do you feel better now?

    Very cool post and photos.
    I purchased a rib eye slab from RD this weekend but Lora gave me the look when I started clearing out a spot in the fridge and telling her my plan.
    I ended up steaking it and off to the foodsaver and freezer.
    I see a garage beer fridge in my future.LOL

    Great post, thanks.
    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    Outstanding and thank you for posting.
    Question: on the ends you cut off (jerky)do you cook or eat as is?
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    honestly....? i have no dog, or i would give him that. i sometimes eat it (this is an end cut from a strip loin primal i aged). steak left, end cap right

    on_the_fire-1.jpg

    but it is very dry. when the dried portion wraps the outside of a steak, it softens when cooking, from the melting fat and perhaps from the water still left in the steak itself too.

    but when you cook a whole slab of it from the end, it doesn't soften as much. imagine searing a length of jerky.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    just trying to entertain and inform :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Congratulations stike! :) glad to see you lived to tell us the story.

    I've been waiting for this post for a long, long time. :laugh:

    If you salted the end caps under the plastic wrap, do you think you would wind up with a little bit of bresaola?

    Be sure and post the steak cook and let us know your decision about whether or not you are going to eat the brown piece, or it you're going to 'test' it on someone unsuspecting with a preference from well done, brown meat. :whistle: I bet you a panettone next Christmas (or whenever I make my next batch) that you actually eat the brown one.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    Lora gave me the look when I started clearing out a spot in the fridge and telling her my plan.

    my wife gave me the look, too. but sometimes you just gotta play the "man" card. :laugh:

    you have any pants in that closet of yours? :laugh:

    she was convinced the fridge smelled funny "becuase of your meat in there", but she loved the roast at christmas, and ate the beef the other night too a hundred days later....

    tried to tell her that the smell was actually from some bacon cure i had going at the same time. but you can't tell a woman nuthin. of course, doesn't mean she's right! :evil:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i'll probably end up eating all three. not many people i know WANT to eat it in the first place. most are unsure... :huh: :unsure: even the guys who own BGEs that i know.. most are "conventionally minded" re: meat in the fridge for weeks on end. my buddy at the patriots game ate the inner center of the steak until i shamed him into eating the exterior. he liked it though, unless he was just playing along. you never know.

    that's why i gave fishless a steak at christmas. hell, if someone appreciates it, i don't mind. i'd love to share it. but i ain't gonna be bringing this to an egg fest for free samples, only to have everyone turn their nose up at it :(

    i will eat that brown one one, too, i'm sure. i mean, it's LESS brown that the rest of the steaks, right? hahaha

    bresaola... i will be trying that soon. don't know if i will have it for easter, but i am starting thinking about the menu this year and already have some ideas. maybe i can pull off some bresaola too.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
    For those of us who are uneducated but are always looking to learn more:

    http://mattikaarts.com/blog/charcuterie/bresaola/

    I thought this was a great article.... B):)
  • crghc98
    crghc98 Posts: 1,006
    beat me to it, but I've read that one as well...throwing it in a casing is an interesting idea...I'm not there yet, as I am going to try prosc. and pancetta soon...you guys are way ahead of me as I just got Ruhlman's book a couple weeks ago....
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i would wonder about the casing. generally when you are air-drying anything in a casing (usually ground meat, but any meat stuffed into one would trigger this), you want to ALSO use nitrate cure (#2). when curing whole meat, even for air drying, regular pink salts are fine. but he is advocating sealing the meat in a moist environment with not much free oxygen. chance is maybe low, but botulism is the reason the nitrates are used in addition to nitrites. so that over time the nitrate breaks down and continually fights the microbial action.

    this again plays to the differences between whole and ground meats, and is a good example of "where the microbes are". on the meat, and not much of an issue. until you trap that meat (or grind it) and the bacteria find themselves now moist, free of oxygen (for botulism anyway), and at an ideal temp to grow.

    i would consider skipping the casing. there IS a reason they didn't use a casing to begin with....
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
    Yep when I read that I wonder why he did it that way. He seems to have had several failures (who doesn't) and seems to be trying a "safer" way. Not sure, but I agree with you Jeff, as I would try it without first.
  • What a great post and pics - thanks for sharing. Beef looks incredible, and yes, you did get a find for Choice!!! I bet the steaks are going to be incredible.

    Thanks again.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    there is a tendency to not trust the logic, usually because we don't always understand it, and so we default to something that "feels" right rather than following the hundred-year-old tried and true.

    he says he's doing it to slow the drying, in addition to an 80% humid environment.

    i haven't done it myself, but i'd be wary of using a casing and air-drying for an extended time without nitrates in the cure.

    of course, rolling pancetta and airdrying it begs the same question
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,880
    Thanks for the report, Jeff. Those looked fantastic and I believe you about the taste! I'm starting a rib eye sub-primal this week and I intend to go 60 days with it. Saturday night my wife and I shared a large NY strip that I had aged 35 days and I swear I about cried with joy it was sooooo good!
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i will try to see if there's any diff between this and 60 days. i'm thinking 45-60 days is the sweet spot, and anything beyond that is overkill, or you risk too much drying. we'll see.
    thanks
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    you went 60 days before right? not sure if i am remembering it correctly.

    to be totally truthful, i had intended to slice and seal them at 60 days. just got lazy.

    i should have tried them at 75 days too. just had no time....
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,880
    no 60 days will be a first - my last rib eye was 45 days and it was delightful, but I want to push the envelope another 15 days for the heck of it. Had you weighed the meat at each stage of the game - even after cutting off pieces along the way? I wonder what the percentage of moisture loss was in 100 days.
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i didn't weigh it...
    it was surprisingly light.
    :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    thanks deepsouth...
    kinda pushin it though. not sure 100 days is where it's at. but good to have done it and know, at least.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • crghc98
    crghc98 Posts: 1,006
    agreed, was wondering how he cured...I'm no expert and have only just started to read Ruhlman, and of course the posts you guys have put up....
  • bees
    bees Posts: 335
    Thank you for the detailed post. I'm not sure I'm ready to try it yet(space issues),but we all now have more good info along with the posts by others like RRP. Thanks for taking the time, Randy
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    no problem, glad you found it useful... i understand the space issues, but you can do this in your regular fridge, too. takes up some room if you do a whole 7-bone primal, but you can do a roast-sized chunk too.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • 1) I have had all my shots :)
    2) I will sign a waiver/hold harmless/indemnification/etc. :)

    Thanks for taking the time to post - looks outrageously mightyfine :)

    Makes my wee tenderloin of last night look sophomoric :)
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    how do you know it didn't taste like a bus driver's butt crack? i could be lying to make it sound better than it was. :laugh:

    thanks
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante