Whole Ribeye Primal - Storage Question

bclarksicle · August 2012

So I just pulled the trigger on a whole ribeye primal, and I'm curious how to store it.

I would prefer to cut the primal into steaks, rather than roast the entire thing. This is mostly going to be used for my wife and me, so I'll probably be cooking 1-2 steaks at a time (it's a 6 lb primal).

I've followed many of the dry-aging threads on this forum, so I intend to dry-age for a while...but once I'm ready to cook it, what's the best strategy? Just cut off what I need and continue to refrigerate? Slice it all into steaks immediately and refrigerate, or (dare I say) freeze? We eat steak pretty frequently, so once we start cooking it, I expect to go through it rather quickly.

btw, for those who are into grass-fed, I used the code 'paleo4u' to get 15% off at us wellness meats http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok

chuff · August 2012

So, what you're saying is that you bought a 6 lb bone in rib roast, right? If you want to eat it in individual steaks I would go ahead and cut it down now. 6 lb is not that big, so I'm guessing 3 bones?

lousubcap · August 2012

stike has forgotten more about dry aging than the rest of us will ever know. I'm sure he will be along-try the search function here or with google and big green egg in the header and hopefully his extensive post of several weeks ago will turn up.

AleBrewer · August 2012

I don't see any ribs in the picture at the link provided. But, it doesn't say Boneless either.

Six pounds isn't that big, and it's already been frozen, so I would be hesitant to freeze it again.

I would dry age it, and then cut it up and enjoy!

stike · August 2012

unwrap. rinse. toss it in the fridge on a rack over a cookie sheet. wait.
cut off steaks as desired. and for god's sake don't trim!
28 days is minimum ante for dry aging in my book.

if you want, you can slice and vac-pack then freeze the steaks all at once. or lop off steaks as you need them. the exposed end will dry faster, where you cut the steak from. that's ok. you may not want to eat it purely for texture's sake.

the rest of the steak, the exterior and fat layer, will oxidze and stiffen. that's ok. that's what drying is supposed to do. it condenses the flavor. it will also soften and form a nice crust when you cook it.

you can leave it in the cryo too, which would be wet aging. or wet age for a couple weeks, then dry age for another two. that will give you 28 days of aging, and 14 of drying.

"dry aging" actually means "drying, and aging". those are two separate things and can be independently controlled to a degree. you can age for tenderness and new flavors, and then add drying to it, to additionally condense the fat (beef) flavor,

if you are surrounded by people who think meat should be bright red and pretty, you may not have an easy time getting them to eat it. most folks love the phrase "dry aged beef", but flinch when they are actually faced with it

stike · August 2012

...if you haven't had dry aged beef, i would advise buying one and cooking it, before spending time and money on an experiment. many folks are thrown by the look/feel/taste. like i always used to say, if you opened your fridge and saw this, and your wife asked 'is it safe to eat?" would you feel confident telling her 'yes'?

it's a bandwagon that many jump on, and which a good potion jump right back off of

)

nolaegghead · August 2012

"Dry aging" sounds so much more appetizing than "partial enzymatic decomposed and dehydrated bovine flesh"....D'oh! I did it again!

stike · August 2012

i tried to argue that it was basically controlled decomposition once, but the dude argued that in order for it to be decomposition, flies and insects needed to be involved. >sigh<

you're right though, we're doing no more or less than simply letting it rot. the enzymes break flavorless proteins into shorter amino acids, which contribute new flavors and make the meat more tender.

cheese is rotten milk, in a sense. aged beef is decomposing beef. good stuff.
your great granddad likely never had anything but aged beef. and they just called it 'beef'.

the best steak in the grocer's case is the one whose sell-by date is past, and is sitting there all brown and un-photogenic. wisdom. it has a little wisdom. the upstart fresh red beef is ignorant and has no taste by comparison. as in life, and with people

)

nolaegghead · August 2012

As a guy that loves stinky cheese, fish oil, sardines, kimchi and other unpopular flavored foods...it's only natural I like the taste of dry aged beef. And I do. Something genetic?...maybe my ancestors survived eating that stuff and it gave us an evolutionary advantage. Or maybe we were just crappy hunters but good gatherers.

I agree wif ya on the grocer's case.

Most of the toxins/pathogens that cause food poisoning aren't going to taste bad - IMHO if it's infected with some bad mojo, it happened when it was fresh.

bclarksicle · August 2012

awesome, thanks for the info. I love dry aged beef (and fish sauce, kimchi, and other unpopular flavored foods

), I've just never actually dry aged it myself. Great info, thanks.

Whole Ribeye Primal - Storage Question

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