Late start on the Christmas Roast

Darby_Crenshaw

The rind does slow moisture loss

the commando method loses more weight up front than the Umai bags, but once the rind is thick enough, drying slows enough that in comparison, the Umai bags are drying faster. They both end up around the same point (water loss) at 45-60 days IIRC. 

Source: Info from the dry-bag folks a while back, via a mutual friend

nolaegghead

At what percentage weight loss should I start to be concerned?   I plan on harvesting this rotten meat for baby-jesus birthday.  (Or a day before)

Darby_Crenshaw

You might aim for the solstice instead. 

Anyway. I never weigh. I eat this sh!t at a hundred days sometimes. 

You'll probably find a quick sprint to 15-20% weight (water) loss. That's a good thing. It tends to slow from there

you're fine. I'm just curious about the whole deboned side. We'll see. 

nolaegghead

I'll lop off a steak on the solstice and make a call on $170 failed experiment or xmass dinner.

Darby_Crenshaw

Won't be a fail. 

Just interested in the diff. 

You were 170?  Mine was 166. Funny the price is the same 1500-ish miles away

nolaegghead

MelSharples

I recently did a boneless rib and there is a difference. Will definitely go bone in from now on. The added exposed area dried out to a similar texture as the ends and when cooked did not loosen up like the fat does on the cap. Still extremely edible though...

nolaegghead

I would have gone bone-in had I seen them.  Like David Vitter in a bordello..

Darby_Crenshaw

Exactly mel

fat just condenses, and most of the exposed sides of the thing are fat or are protected by the rib bones. 

The only exposed flesh is the ends typically. But when you slice off the bones invariably you are down to res meat, and i can imagine that will become jerky like the ends do

blind99

So what cut of meat do you recommend for a first-time steak aging run?

Darby_Crenshaw

you can age pretty much any whole muscle sub primal.  i do rib eyes usually

i frankly find fresh (un-aged) rib eyes too fatty and floppy. aging firms them up and gives them more flavor than just the fat does.

you can age a strip loin too, but the biggest bang for the buck is a rib eye at 45 days.

you can't really dry age a lone steak. too much exposed surface area.  it would dry too quickly and be a piece of shoeleather before it aged any amount. if you ant to dry it for a day before grilling, that will help with the browning/searing, but no extra flavor will be developed.

you need to buy the whole thing, usually seven bones.  although you can age a roast cut from that, but just be aware that in either case, the exposed flesh ends will become like heels on a loaf of bread, and you trim those off.  [no need to trim the rest of the exterior, some say that is the best part].   cutting a quarter to half inch off the ends of a whole seven bone rib eye will not be a big deal.  but cutting that much off a three bone roast will be noticeable, and the greater surface area might cause drying of the whole thing to be a little quick.

blind99

I got a 3 bone piece, cut with meat hanging over either end, a bit over 10 lbs. Wife raised her eyebrows but we are looking forward to some awesome steaks at the end of the month. 

bgebrent

Down on this in a couple weeks so it's at 45 days on my birthday.  Happy birthday to me.

Darby_Crenshaw

@blind99  you might try it as the christmas roast

anything 'new' like this is gonna cause wives, guests, etc. to have a million questions and wrinkle their nose (unless they trust you, or have had the stuff before).  so you might wanna hold off and enjoy this yourself for new year's steaks or something. that way if you like it but the wife doesn't, you can freeze the rest for yourself.

is that up on a little rack or anything? you want air under it if you can.

blind99

I asked my wife if she wanted to serve it as a roast for Christmas Eve dinner. She said heck no we're having steaks!  New Year's Eve is exactly what we were thinking. 

Ive got it resting bone side down but I'll see if I can find a little rack and get some more air under it. 

Thanks for for all the advice!  The butcher said he had never had anyone come in asking for meat to do this with. When I asked him what he thought about it he said he "great idea - it's exactly what I do just a smaller scale"

Darby_Crenshaw

Quick pic to update progress on the roast now two weeks in. 

Before pic


And after (or during, i suppose)

bgebrent

That looks well on its way to amazing!

Conway_Twitty

Sir, your photoshop skills are admirable.

jaydub58

Stike?  Stike?  Real Stike??
Wow, about 4 years ago when  I first got onto the :"old forum" Stike was very, very active.
I was just searching for BGE knowledge and Stike was a true fountain of same.
Having him back and active just means, to me......................Christmas came early this year!

blind99

Thanks to you I have something similar in process:

Darby_Crenshaw

ah. from the big end!  nice, blind99.  is it your first time? have you had this stuff before?  sometimes it can be a bit like offering blue cheese to people who like kraft american slices.  "what do you mean you have had it in your fridge since the beginning of November?" etc.  hahaha


@jaydub58 found me out!

blind99

yessir, first time aging beef at home.  I've eaten 28 day and longer aged steaks.  There's a place in town that does some pretty long ages, can't remember exact age but in the 45-56 day range.  Personally I thought 28-35 was just great.

The butcher pulled out the whole roast and let me pick exactly what I wanted.  So I told him I wanted 3 bones from the big end, with all of the meat on either side of the end bones.  Came out to almost 11 pounds.

What are your thoughts/recommendations on trimming?

Darby_Crenshaw

trimming is for people who don't like aged beef, or don't understand what 'dry'aging is, but just want to say they have done it

sorry. That's the purist in me. 

Treat it like a loaf of bread. Cut off the heels, they are too dry ( but still safe and still edible). 

But keep the crust of the bread loaf and just slice the cooked roast (or steaks) as you would a slice of bread. Just as with bread, the exterior is the best part (assuming you are an adult and not a grade schooler).

the exterior, the rind, when you inspect it on a steak or before cooking as a roast, will NOT seem outwardly appealing to you. It's dry, hard, brown

that's drying and aging though. 

aging takes place throughout the meat. But most of the drying is natually concentrated on the exterior. That's not a bad thing

even if it didnt age, this drying would be beneficial. It concentrates the beef flavor. 

Don't throw it out or slice it off to make it pretty. If a person wants bright red photoready meat, then they ought to stick with the butcher's case

so. I lop off the minimum from the ends, to give me an end free of jerky. It's just too dry. Sacrificial. 

And then treat the rest like a regular roast or steak

if you want to, try slivering out some raw thin slices of carpaccio from the inside of these sacrificial heels of this 'loaf'.  Drizzle with fine olive oil and some cracked pepper, and lemon, maybe salt, and enjoy

the roast or steaks cut from dry aged beef will cook faster. Be careful

the outer rind will soften as your fat (now firm and buttery, not wet and floppy) melts and the meat rehydrates a good bit as water from the interior is driven out while cooking

the exterior will have the crisp texture (frying in its own fat in a way) as a really superior crust. Nothing better than the crust of a rib roast when dried and roasted simply. No need for searing. You will have a better crust than can be obtained by cooking a fresh roast (which is too wet for proper crusts, unless roasted very slowly).

 

Little Steven

nolaegghead said:

I'll lop off a steak on the solstice and make a call on $170 failed experiment or xmass dinner.

I've done boneless. You will be fine. Just more of the same really. I'm not sure Mr. Crenshaw has a good handle on this whole dry age thing. I think the meat nearest the bone tends to stay a little more wet than the stuff nearer the outside.

blind99

Thanks for all the advice.  This will be fun to break down.  I'll plan to trim the ends then break it down into individual steaks. I'll probably trim the really bulky fat near the bone and leave the thinner fat in place.  Then I can do a side-by-side taste test of trimmed vs untrimmed.  I'm certainly not squeamish about funkified food.

@little_steven what's your trimming preference?

Darby_Crenshaw

Of course the meat nearer the bone stays wet

Little Steven

blind99 said:

Thanks for all the advice.  This will be fun to break down.  I'll plan to trim the ends then break it down into individual steaks. I'll probably trim the really bulky fat near the bone and leave the thinner fat in place.  Then I can do a side-by-side taste test of trimmed vs untrimmed.  I'm certainly not squeamish about funkified food.

@little_steven what's your trimming preference?

I do what a guy named stike that used to post on these forums. Minimal trim/ cooks treat

Eggcelsior

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Of course the meat nearer the bone stays wet

Exactly. It's always drier when you keep them apart unless you lube it up with oil.

Darby_Crenshaw

Stike is an idiot. 

Little Steven

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Stike is an idiot. 

I've heard that. Some more degrading stuff too but I had to consider the Cuban source.