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

stike
stike Posts: 15,597
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
First, no one died. Although we still haven't heard from Essexco and his wife, who left the next day for a trip to Brussels :ermm: . ...after getting back from California the day before. He was in town to play a couple games of a tennis match. They travel extensively. We live vicariously thru them.

Anyway...

Here she be, at 100 days.
01_Rib-Eye-at-100-Days.jpg

This went into the fridge, unwrapped, what i coined as "Commando Style", on the 18th or so of November. I chunked off a three-bone roast for Christmas. It was stellar...

At 60 days, i took a chunk of this as a 2+pound 'steak' to the patriots/jets playoff game, a day to be remembered only for the steak. i honestly believe 60 days had a discernible difference over 45, but the vagaries of the human brain can't be counted on. I'll just say it was exceptional. there was no trimming of the roast (except the end cap) at Christmas or of the steak. The deep drown exterior is what you are after. Trimming that off would remove what's dry-aged, and makes no sense to me.

I called this experiment 'done' at 100 days. 90 was what i was shooting for (if only because it was 45daysx2), but work/family schedule and laziness kept me from it. Saturday was 100 days.

Here it is getting the end trimmed off.

02_End-Trim.jpg

The ends are the ONLY thing i ever trim. These are still edible and safe to eat... i mean, what is jerky other than dried meat? These are sacrificial, though i have cooked them along with the steaks and eaten them.

Here's the split.
03_Yield.jpg

I cut the ribs off (rear) so that i could get three 1.5 inch steaks instead of two massive bone-in steaks.

Foreground is the trimmed off end.
Here's the "Yield"
05_Trimming.jpg

Cutting the ribs off made that tag end of fat seem a little superfluous, and I actually decided I didn't need to eat that much beef fat in one sitting. I took it off. Got three steaks. Note that the closer steak is a pale brown, from where the plastic wrap was stuck to it to delay hardening of the exposed cut-end. I am on the fence about it. It smelled fine (aged beef is sweet and clean smelling), but the color was not very picturesque. Of course, that's from a guy who thinks deep brown hard beef is beautiful...

The plastic wrap i used was "Stretch-Tite" which is oxygen permeable, and likely allowed a little O2 in there to brown the meat. The plastic wrap worked far better than wax paper to delay drying of the cut end. Both were adhered to the meat with a little olive oil. This plastic went on at 60 days, so you are seeing an additional 40. Meat under the wrap was firm, but slightly shrunken (dried).

Here's the chef's treat. Carpaccio
04_Carpaccio.jpg

Yes, raw. This is slivered from the end-cut, but can be had from the steaks also, of course. At 60 days, I slivered pieces for myself, and ate it as-is, not olive oil, pepper, etc. The flavor was tremendous. Earthy, deeply beefy, very condensed, beautiful texture. I had no pics of it the carpaccio at 60 days. This time, I thought it'd be interesting to post, and i gussied up the plate with olive oil, lemon, etc. I will say, the flavor was there, but unfortunately the olive oil coated the tongue a bit and kept the beef flavor from coming through. I would not do that again. Just the meat next time.

I did the carpaccio to test the beef, honestly. We were having guests (essexco and co), and i ate this about 6 hours previous. Figured i'd be pretty sick if there were any issue. :laugh: Because we planned on eating the ribs

06a_Ribs.jpg

herbed and salted, with black pepper. they went on at 225, along with some cross cut beef shank. oak smoke...

06_SLow-Roast-w-Smoke.jpg

the shanks came off when smoked, got a cast-iron pan sear, and was simmered all day as a slightly unconventional osso bucco. Typical Osso Bucco ingredients (tomatoes, garlic, etc.) were tweaked a bit with lots of red onion, celery and celery leaf, and black olives.

07_Osso_Bucco_Fixins.jpg

No pics of the Osso Bucco. It looked just like Osso Bucco, if you must know. :laugh:

Here's the rib appetizer after about 5 hours.
6b_Ribs_Finished.jpg

I passed it around just like that, and we slivered off meat as we wished. It was fantastic. Fishless will be interested to hear that there was (I felt it) a little tingling to the side of the tongue. a little metallic tingle. He swears that occurs around 45 days, with the done-in stuff. I never experienced any with the 45-day stuff, but this one had some. No one else experienced it, though, to be truthful.

Ok. Told you this was long.

The results.

I would say that the difference between 60 and 100 days is not substantial enough to warrant the extra time. There is considerable loss to dessication, which is fine, and only means it's that much
beefier", but the muscles groups did begin to pull apart at the exposed end. I will NOT trim the outer portion of those steaks, for the record. That stuff softens completely when cooked, when the fat liquefies. It is criminal to trim that part. But yeah, the exposed end, sure.

Flavor? The ribs were great (haven't had the steaks yet). The membrane was very tough. At 45-60 days, i don't notice it. but this time it was pretty stiff. The meat-side of the ribs though was nicely fatty, and had the pronounced dry-aged flavor you either love or hate. When allowed to cool, the remaining meat becomes again very hard. It is edible, but really, the most-aged parts need to be hot when eaten to be appreciated, as that's when they are tenderest, yet firm and with the crispy roasted fat we are looking for.

Ok.

You know i can ramble. Just wanted to get it all out there for those who are interested.

Cliff notes version:

Dry-aging for 45-60 days=ideal.

...for 100days=perhaps bragging-rights, but no appreciable gain in quality, and advanced yield loss due to extended dehydration.

Osso Bucco was great too, by the way. :laugh:
ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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Comments

  • I know we joke sometimes but you really are my hero!

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • dhuffjr
    dhuffjr Posts: 3,182
    and your still alive today..... good sign. Not tried it yet but I always enjoy this pictorial essays from your efforts.
  • WOW, and WOW...not sure what else to say about this one ....great report....i wish i had the secondary fridge to try out the dry aging techniques!! ...

    one question, maybe i missed early on....the primal cut you started with, was it 'choice' or 'prime'??
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    it was choice, max. i got a damn good choice chunk though, admittedly. lots of marbling. luck of the draw.

    that's nothing more than warehouse (from Bj's, like 'Costco') choice beef.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • The meat looks awesome. I love, love carpaccio.
    Happily egging on my original large BGE since 1996... now the owner of 5 eggs. Call me crazy, everyone else does!
     
    3 Large, 1 Small, 1 well-used Mini
  • gotcha....i've always had great success with the primal choice cuts from costco and BJs...
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i only joke with people i like. :laugh: my sense of humor is exceptionally off-putting, i realize. New Englanders can be harsh. it's no comfort, but we generally only give grief to those we like.

    First time my (now)-wife met the extended family, at Christmas, we were at my aunt's for a buffet. John, my brother, really liked my date (now, wife). He showed her the only way he knew how. He joked with her, saying "Hurry up, Jessica (my former girlfriend) never took this long".

    After many tears, my wife was made to understand it was his way of saying she was family. :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i was disappointed (though relieved) that there were no intestinal rumblings. but hey, math is math. bacteria need the right environment to grow.... no exponential growth in THAT fridge, thankfully

    glad you like the longish "essays". word around the campfire is that many don't :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i want everyone to take note that i showed that pallid brownish chunk too. i could have prettied it all up for the camera!

    the carpaccio was great, but i regretted muddying the water with the olive oil. it got in the way

    i firmly believe that dry-aging was a side effect of simply keeping the beef until it was all sold. hahaha

    in time, when we shifted to a more efficient distribution method, and beef began to be red and pretty in the stores, it took us time to realize the flavor was lacking, and we've had to revisit the older methods to find it again.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
    Jeff,

    You are my hero...nuff said. :);)
  • ResQue
    ResQue Posts: 1,045
    Awesome! That looks fantastic. Great post.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    aw you.... B)
    >sniff
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    aw c'mon. no one is gonna chime in with "disgusting!" or "i wouldn't eat that if you paid me!"?

    hahahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    thanks. i think i would cut them up and freeze next time at 60 days. it was an interesting experiment...

    interestingly, the leftovers from the christmas roast were wrapped and stored next to the rest of the aging ribeye. i had to throw them out after a week when they got moldy and turned. true.

    the dry environment is what keeps things from getting fah-fah-funky
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • ResQue
    ResQue Posts: 1,045
    Hell no! I would eat that in a heartbeat! I love some dry aged steak. I just need to build up the courage to try it on my own.
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    so where do you think that metallic taste/ feel comes from, its always near the bone when i get it, doesnt always find it but every once in a while. great write up. see you backed out of slow roasting the ribs, not sure how that would have worked
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • This is like Adam Perry Lang meets Bear Grylls!!

    Beautiful, Jeff. I'm going to bookmark this post so I can return to it for the nuances of covering, trimming and such. Thanks for the excellent explanations and photos.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i honestly have no idea whether i imagined it or not. i was looking for "somthing", whether it was an upset stomach, dysentary, or whatever. so i may have imagined the mtingling. hahaha

    since we atethe ribs, that's what made me think of your comment.

    i did slow roast them. honestly, and this is embarrassing.... i had put them on to eat myself, for a late lunch around 2 or 3 . i had the beef shank in the fridge and that was for dinner. we had so much, that i decided to call paul and althea (essexco) and see if they'd be interested. they couldn't make it til 6:30, so i just let the ribs ride. they were totally fine.

    your idea to treat them as a roast, and try them at lower done temps, was a good idea. but i quickly overshot the 125-135 i would shoot for, and decided to let them go til the guests arrived. i knew they'd be into trying it, too.

    though i made them sign waivers.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • srq2625
    srq2625 Posts: 262
    stike wrote:
    glad you like the longish "essays". word around the campfire is that many don't :laugh:[/quote]
    I loved the report - gives me some ideas as to how long to dry age and how long is too long.

    As for the length of your "ramblings" ... For whatever my vote might be worth, I would rather they be a little longer but complete vice being shorter and leaving me trying to read between the lines.
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    Very informative post.Thank you for taking the time to run the gammet and give detailed reports.I bought 2 ribeye primals to age.Now that we are moving I cut them into steaks and Foodsavered them for the freezer yesterday. :( BUMMER.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i need to be completely honest andsay that i was a little apprehensive. the carpaccio was my 'canary in a coal mine' test. i gave the guests every oppurtunity to wave off the ribs, as i have a vivid imagination and could see them running up and down the aisle of the plane on a transatlantic flight to Brussels the next day... :ermm:

    that's not exactly the way a host should be thinking. but they are adventurers, and i was encouraged by the carpaccio.

    i will say, too, that after having done a few of these, you can trust the smell. it really is clean, slightly cloying sweet, maybe musty. not at all putrid...
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    you can always wet age the individual steaks by letting them thaw a couple weeks before you at them. same flavor, none of the 'loss'. just not condensed. wet aging is a good option, and can be done with steaks (whereas the dry-aging requires primals or chunks thereof)

    goods luck with the move.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    not hard... you already know what it will look like (thereby side-stepping the heebie-jeebie visual factor), and you know the smell (or lack of any 'bad' smell, i mean.

    i want to do a video for you tube. "How to Dry Age". it would consist of me opening the fridge door, taking the unwrapped primal and tossing it in, and shutting the door :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Great post...thanks for sharing.
  • Mr Holloway
    Mr Holloway Posts: 2,034
    I gotta give this a try
    Those steaks looks amazing
    Thanks for posting

    Shane
  • LDD
    LDD Posts: 1,225
    that's great. Like many others, I've been following this since you started.

    Great report.
    context is important :)
  • where do you draw the line with aging???? i wonder if a mummy tastes good?... after 3000 years?....rr
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    well, 60 days. you apparently didn't read the results. probably fatigued :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    (see, no message, like i said) :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante