28 day dry aged rib eyes

marysvilleegger

Dinner tonight was 28 days in the making and it was amazing!I used an Umai bag and if I had any type of patience I would have gone 45 days.   As it was this 17.6 lb rib roast lost 3.5 lbs of water weight and tasted amazing!   It was super tender and the fat was like butter!

paqman

Nice!

Hawg Fan

A+++. I love rib eye.

ChillyWillis

I've got one going for 35 days in the fridge as we speak. That looks amazing! Did you trim at all before you cooked them?

EggNorth

Looks amazing, did you just put it in the bag and leave it in the fridge for that period of time?

marysvilleegger

ChillyWillis said:

I've got one going for 35 days in the fridge as we speak. That looks amazing! Did you trim at all before you cooked them?

I trimmed the ends off and trimmed individual steaks a little.  

marysvilleegger

EggNorth said:

Looks amazing, did you just put it in the bag and leave it in the fridge for that period of time?

Yup.  Vacuum sealed it and put it on a rack in the fridge.  Easy peasy!

RRP

Looks great, Dan my Man! 

marysvilleegger

RRP said:

Looks great, Dan my Man! 

Thanks Ron!  45 days is my goal next time!   Appreciate all the help.  

sctdg

Got a 15 lb Beef Loin strip going right now .Working on week two . No bag ,sitting on a rack in a compact 4.5 cubic ft fridge with a pan of Himalayan Pink salt under it and a fan to move the air . Nothing else is in fridge and that is all it is used for .Shooting for 21- 28 days and it comes out .

Darby_Crenshaw

Try one without trimming. That exterior crisps up really well. Don't throw out the best part 

yes, slice off the heels of the loaf. But adults eat the crust!

bgebrent

Very nice!

Chubbs

 

marysvilleegger

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Try one without trimming. That exterior crisps up really well. Don't throw out the best part 

yes, slice off the heels of the loaf. But adults eat the crust!

Definitely not gonna trim next time.   The parts that I missed trimming were awesome.   

chadpsualum

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Try one without trimming. That exterior crisps up really well. Don't throw out the best part 

yes, slice off the heels of the loaf. But adults eat the crust!

That's what I was actually wondering.  So...when you age steaks, you're supposed to leave the aged crust on (and not trim it off)?  What about when you age individual steaks...same thing?  I'm assuming that crust is some type of mold or organic growth.  I guess the cooking process kills all of the crap?  Thanks in advance.

Eggcelsior

chadpsualum said:

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Try one without trimming. That exterior crisps up really well. Don't throw out the best part 

yes, slice off the heels of the loaf. But adults eat the crust!

That's what I was actually wondering.  So...when you age steaks, you're supposed to leave the aged crust on (and not trim it off)?  What about when you age individual steaks...same thing?  I'm assuming that crust is some type of mold or organic growth.  I guess the cooking process kills all of the crap?  Thanks in advance.

It's  essentially beef jerky. Just desiccated meat. There could be some mold on top, but you just scrape it off. It's safe.

Darby_Crenshaw

you can't really dry age individual steaks.  you can dry them a bit for a day before you sear them, which will give you good color, but any attempt to go very long will give you shoeleather.  it will dry out long before it ages.

you want to age the whole subprimal, because it's surface are to volume ratio is better, and you'll have a protecting layer of fat to keep the flesh from drying

there is nothing in the crust.  there is no "organic growth".  there is nothing to kill.  {insert standard rant about "dammit why don't people understand their food and simple food safety" here]. it is dried meat.  that's it. that is all that it is.  it is EXACTLY analogous the the thin crust of bread.  it's oxidized (browned) meat, dried out a bit. 

mold? it isn't mold.  commercial dry aging places sometimes have it, because they run a bit more humid than your fridge (so they can age longer with les water/weight loss).  but that mold is harmless.  all the mold in your fridge is harmless actually,just ask the USDA.  they tell you to wipe/wash it off, just like your dad did, when he ate  around it.

the dried rind is nothing more than that.  dried beef. it is not merely "sort of like" jerky, it IS beef jerky. and that is all that it is.  you eat beef jerky, right?

and like beef jerkey, it still actually has some moisture in it, plus fat.  cook a piece of jerky and it will loosen up, appear to rehydrate (because of cell damage releasing water), and it will fry beautifully, because of the fat, which fat is actually water free now, and instantly sears instead of spattering like wet bacon fat.

the exterior of a dry aged sub primal is what is dried.  the interior less so.  trimming just removes the hard won dry aged portion (or much of it).

yes, the interior is aged, and yes it has less water.  but the exterior is where the greatest condensed beef flavor is (it's driest after all).

it's a balance.

you looking for a juicy steak? you won't get it with a 45 day aged steak. moisture, sure, but no running juice on the plate.

here's the dirty little secret though.  juice on the plate is nothing more than water, some melted fat, and myoglobin (the red in the juice, there's no such thing as blood in a steak).

now, when you age, the water is jettisoned (and thankfully so).  juice is for kids.  the flavorless water is gone.  the fat and the rest of it remain and are condensed.  you want water, get a glass from the tap.

anyway...  dry aging is a fad now.  past five years have seen it go crazy.

the places i used to buy dry aged meat from, before i started aging at home about ten years ago, never trimmed.  it wasn't even a question. first place was julia child's butcher, second was a place near me selling 45 day stuff.

you told them how thick, and they lopped it off. that was it.

fast forward five years or so, and every tom **** and harry was raving about aging meat.  yuppies, tv shows, etc. 

and they started buying it in droves.

but when you are raised on bright red flavorless meat, you freak out when you see steak like your grandfather ate.  BROWN?!?!?!

and then the american fear of food kicks in, while fighting with the wannabe foodie part of the psyche: "all the hip people say they like it, i should try it"  vs "but it looks scary, and meat goes bad in a fridge in two days, doesn't it?"

so we equivocate.  sure, we buck up and throw our hat in the ring and buy the steak, but then we panic and trim it, to try to make it look like a steak we are comfortable with. or because the wife rolls her eyes and doesn't quite buy into your little scheme, despite what all those guys on your little grill forum all say.

it's fine to have personal preferences, and to trim it.  we aren't all the same. maybe you don't like the taste.

but trimming these things is kinda missing the whole raison d'^etre (hard to type).  it's like saying "oh man, i love beer.  i am a huge fan of beer.  now, crack me open another coors light".  there's beer, and then there's beer.

we dry it precisely to concentrate the flavor, to get rid of water, even to flirt with some rancidity in the fat  (no, not a lot, but like aged cheese, some flavor compounds from rancidity are a positive, not all are bad).

blah blah blah.  [soap box dismounted]

northGAcock