Dry aged, prime beef on the Egg

The hickory chunks sound like the issue

your beef isn't really 'dry aged' in the sense of the dry aged stuff you see here or offered at steak houses.

your animal was likely hung for three weeks. This is what they do even with supermarket beef. 

After being broken down into primals and then subprimals, some may be more properly 'dry aged' for 21, 28, days and so on. 

Yours is aged, sure. But in the way most beef is. Needs to go thru rigor for starters. I think commercial beef is hung around two weeks

the bitter smoke could be from the charcoal not having burned clean before you put the meat on. But i think it is the three chunks of hickory. Hickory is strong. And i love it personally. 

But that much smoke can be sooty and three chunks sounds a lot

Bad smoke. Thats all. 3 chunks isnt much. Dont worry

In my opinion, if you want a little smoke taste on a steak, you really only need a very small handful of wood CHIPS not chunks. I drop the chips in at the start of the cook and try to put them on the lump that isn't glowing so they take a few minutes to smoke before burning up quickly. I like a little hickory flavor sometimes but have gone to using cherry as the smoke is quite subtle. 

Sounds like your butcher is blowing smoke, not the chunks causing the issue.

Avoid the chunks, simply no need for them with a quick steak cook of a very lean cut.

no..... it's just.

well.

by that definition, we may safely say that the hamburger on sale at Kroger's is also dry aged.

because, well, by a very technical interpretation and extension of the idea, a person could say that.  they'd also be, well, wrong.

which really means that we don't define "dry aging" as simply hanging the carcass before butchering.  because that is what everyone does. sure, it is hanging in open air, refrigerated, and not in cryo.  but that's not "dry aging" that we talk about. that's simply a step in getting beef ready for market.

if you go to Morton's for dinner and order the 28-day dry-aged rib eye steak, that steak came from a carcass that was slaughtered, hung for two weeks (like yours) [maybe as a side of beef], broken down into primals, further broken down into subprimals [in the case of your rib eye steak, likely a seven-a bone subprimal].  and THEN dry aged, in a cooler unwrapped, for 28 MORE days.

by the definition as you were proposing (or what you butcher supposedly said), you could say that steak was actually dry aged 14+28=42 days.  but we don't.  it's a 28 day steak

this may not be a case of anyone "lying".  i highly doubt  that.

more like, he said they hang it for two weeks to age.  because that's what they do.  it is so that the carcass can go thru rigormortis, and the enzymes in the meat (barely begin) turn flavorless protein into amino acids.  the meat relaxes, gains some (small) amount of depth in flavor beyond just the fat.

it's only when you further age that thing (instead of shipping that two week old meat off to be sold as fresh) that we REALLY mean "dry aged"

it may also be that when he said it was hung to age for a couple weeks, you took it to mean the "dry aging" that everyone is doing.

it's not.

if you bought a bright red steak at a chain supermarket, you *could* say it was aged two weeks (because the carcass hung for that time).  and you'd be *right*.  but that is the same for probably every steak you have ever eaten.

"dry aging" specifically (in the parlance of the current craze), really means the *additional* time spent aging once it is broken down into a subprimal or roast

JustineCaseyFeldown said:

no..... it's just.

well.

by that definition, we may safely say that the hamburger on sale at Kroger's is also dry aged.

because, well, by a very technical interpretation and extension of the idea, a person could say that.  they'd also be, well, wrong.

which really means that we don't define "dry aging" as simply hanging the carcass before butchering.  because that is what everyone does. sure, it is hanging in open air, refrigerated, and not in cryo.  but that's not "dry aging" that we talk about. that's simply a step in getting beef ready for market.

if you go to Morton's for dinner and order the 28-day dry-aged rib eye steak, that steak came from a carcass that was slaughtered, hung for two weeks (like yours) [maybe as a side of beef], broken down into primals, further broken down into subprimals [in the case of your rib eye steak, likely a seven-a bone subprimal].  and THEN dry aged, in a cooler unwrapped, for 28 MORE days.

by the definition as you were proposing (or what you butcher supposedly said), you could say that steak was actually dry aged 14+28=42 days.  but we don't.  it's a 28 day steak

this may not be a case of anyone "lying".  i highly doubt  that.

more like, he said they hang it for two weeks to age.  because that's what they do.  it is so that the carcass can go thru rigormortis, and the enzymes in the meat (barely begin) turn flavorless protein into amino acids.  the meat relaxes, gains some (small) amount of depth in flavor beyond just the fat.

it's only when you further age that thing (instead of shipping that two week old meat off to be sold as fresh) that we REALLY mean "dry aged"

it may also be that when he said it was hung to age for a couple weeks, you took it to mean the "dry aging" that everyone is doing.

it's not.

if you bought a bright red steak at a chain supermarket, you *could* say it was aged two weeks (because the carcass hung for that time).  and you'd be *right*.  but that is the same for probably every steak you have ever eaten.

"dry aging" specifically (in the parlance of the current craze), really means the *additional* time spent aging once it is broken down into a subprimal or roast

The predominant method of meat aging in the United States is wet aging.  Carcass hanging is dry aging and it not common in the 4 companies that process 80% of US Beef.

I don't put additional smoke on my steaks - try them without next time and see if you like it better