Dry aged rib eye...myself

mukl · January 2009

Seen a lot of posts of people buying dry aged beef from a store. I decided to take it one step further and dry age a couple of steaks myself. If anyone is considering doing this, I have some notes at the bottom of the page.

Picked up a couple of rib eyes, put them in the refrigerator for a week and let them do their thing.

Day 1

Day 6: On this day, I bought a fresh one for comparison.

Day 6 close up

Here's the finished product. The dry aged steaks were very dark and didn't have grill marks. The steak at the bottom was the fresh steak and thanks to my cast iron grate, I got good marks. They say appearance is important...in this case, the fresh steak looks better.

Another view...again, fresh steak on the right.

First cut into a steak that I will refer to as dry aged #1. I cooked a total of 16 minutes. 4 minutes a side with 4 flips at 450 degrees

This is a pic of dry aged #2 and the fresh steak. These were cooked 4 minutes a side with 4 flips at 450 degrees. Then for 5 more minutes after the temp came down to 350.

So, what did I learn?
Appearance: The dry aged steaks were very dark on the outside and didn't have grill marks. The fresh steak had great grill marks. Note, while I was doing this cook, the Travel channel was doing a show about great steakhouses of America. I highly recommend you watch it. It was interesting to compare.

Texture: A quick note on smell, the dry aged steaks smelt very rich. Less appealing than the regular steak. The outside of the dry aged steaks was actually tough. Dry aged #1, I was able to get a decent medium rare. The inside had good texture, but it didn't melt in your mouth like the fresh steak did. The overdone one (oops), dry aged #2 was definetely tougher. The fresh steak was the most tender.

Taste: Note that I only put EVOO, salt, and pepper on these steaks because I wanted to compare the flavor of the meat. The dry aged #1, at medium rare, was good...very rich taste. Dry aged #2 was just too done for me. The fresh steak was bright, beautiful, and the most juicy.

Overall, if you do this, TRex is a must. This way, the outside won't become too overdone and you have to like meat at medium rare. You MUST over-season the outside of the dry steak. The seasonings stick even less to the harder surface.

Next time, I'm only going to do a 3 day dry and definetely Trex.

That is if I even do this again. I have great patience for slow cooks...like ribs and PP. But for steak...I am usually so hungry, I want it right now. So I am going to stick with 1 to 1.5" steaks, rib eyes, even a filet from time to time. Get the Montreal or Cow Lick on them, cook them fast and hot...like 500 for 4 or so minutes a side. Then get them in my belly.

If you want to replicate the 50 dollar filet or 48 dollar rib eye at a Morton's or something like that...I haven't figured out how to do that. But, I like my egged steaks just as much and without the high price tag. From now on...I'm going to eat anything but steak at restaurants, I think that's a good way to try different things and then I won't feel bad eating steaks at home (Doctor says too much red meat).

Mike

Big'un · January 2009

I'm no expert, by a long shot, but I thought you were supposed to age the entire primal, and then cut it into steaks. The aged steak that Hungryman shared with me at eggfest was fantastic! Infact the most tender, juiciest steak I have ever had.
I think it's really cool that you tried this. I wish I knew more about it. Too much with the temp and humidity for me right now. BTW, Stike seems to be an authority on aging meats. Hopefully, he will chime in.(nudge,nudge).

mukl · January 2009

You're right about the "usual" dry aging process.

I did this because I was just chatting with the butcher and he said this is what he does with his steaks. Thought I'd give it a try.

Again, I doubt I'll ever do this again since now a days you can get "the usual" dry aged beef about anywhere.

stan · January 2009

I age most of the beef that I cook and love it. I usually get a whole ribeye or loin from Costco, then cut off a roast or some huge steaks. I've found that the outside can be a bit tough/leathery in places but the flavor is fantastic. The steak dries when aging and the flavors intensify. The key seems to be to have allow air to circulate around the whole piece of meat. I place the roast or steaks on racks in my spare fridge.

Beanie-Bean · January 2009

Excellent work, Mike! I appreciate the in-depth analysis and comparison. Can't afford to buy the dry-aged meat around here...but the local meat counter has some great prime and select cuts more often than I'd expect.

Yup, the dry-aging lends a different, more concentrated flavor to the beef, but I'm just as happy cooking a nice, fresh cut!

Cheers,

stike · January 2009

just a note....

steaks aren't ever aged for a couple of the reasons you noted. they expose large protions of flesh to the air (the cut sides) and it does things differently than when the primal is aged.

any steak which is sold as a dry-aged steak is cut from a primal which has been aged. always buy a roast, or the whole primal if you can, as it will have a protective layer of fat around it. this fat meters the amount of drying. when you expose the cut sides, you vastly increase the drying, and can end up with something that is more dehydrated (or even freezer burnt) than aged.

the drying is important, but it needs to take place slowly thru the fat layer, so that the enzyme breakdown had enough time to occur before the meat dries out.

next time try aging the primal and cutting the steaks from it at go time.

note that the sides of these steaks (45 days) are still red, and grill nicely.

stike · January 2009

vacuum seal them and wet age them, if you want to age steaks. they won't condense, and the fat will stay wet, but you'll get similar enzyme action in the meat itself.

don't wet age in the foam package you get from the store, that membrane is permeable.

SmokeRing · January 2009

Yep, good job on the eggperiment and sharing the info.

mukl wrote:

From now on...I'm going to eat anything but steak at restaurants, I think that's a good way to try different things and then I won't feel bad eating steaks at home (Doctor says too much red meat).
Mike

I've never had a dry aged steak that I know of, but I quit eating steaks out a long time ago. I was always disappointed in the ones the restaurants served me and couldn't justify the high price. If I catch ribeyes on sale (even at todays prices) I can get 4 to 5 nice ribeyes for $50 and I can cook them just the way I like'em.

stike · January 2009

i love dry aged, but a choice (un-aged) steak at home off the egg is still better (to me) than a 21-day aged one cooked on an infrared grill at even the best steak house.

the best of both worlds is dry aged at home on the BGE. still pricey, but usually one steak will serve two. americans really need to get over the idea that each person should have an inch-and-a-half thick porterhouse on his plate.... hahaha

fishlessman · January 2009

mmmmm.....porterhouse, maybe one should cut back on the amount of portuguese "rotten" cake. this had to be a 5000 calorie meal

stike · January 2009

well. sure, SOME folks can eat that much. i don't think you sit on your barcalounger all day, do you?

my "job" has me in a chair all day. if i ate like that i'd be a little larger than i am now, i think.

Fidel · January 2009

I have seen a documentary film on a large dry aging facility and after they dry the primals they have to shave away the ends to expose new meat that is suitable for consumption.

stike · January 2009

-expletives deleted-

GulfCoastBBQ · February 2009

This entire thread should be deleted or used as a tutorial of what not to do with beef. The number one rule of dry aging is to NEVER age individual steaks. You are lucky you didn't get extremely sick!

Dry aged rib eye...myself

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