Food Saver “aging” Prime Rib; will I die?

500 · December 2020

I have a boneless Prime, prime rib roast that has a use or freeze by date of the 18th. This is for Christmas. I read somewhere that most steaks are aged for 14 days, but can age for 30 or longer. It said, IIRC, that you should seal the roast in a Food Saver bag. No, it’s not dry aging, it’s just “aging”. Since the 18th is 7 days from Christmas, it would be in the bag 7 days past the use or freeze by date. By what I recall, “use or freeze by” is different than having an expiration date, like milk. Use or freeze by is a recommendation, not a hard and fast rule. I also found this Alton Brown aging recipe wrapping it in cheesecloth 7 days before cook day. So, I could Food Saver it until the 18th, then cheesecloth it before cook day. Thoughts? Will I die?

https://meatscience.org/TheMeatWeEat/topics/meat-safety/article/2018/08/20/aging-beef

https://youtu.be/_G2Ifc8SAbU

PigBeanUs · December 2020

No cheesecloth. Doesn’t do anything.

Leave as-is, but reassure the wife it will be fine.

You are correct. There is no such thing as an expiration date, and it is borderline criminal that everyone thinks of the date on any food package as the day it “goes bad”. [edit: why criminal? Bc we throw out as much food as we eat, and that is entirely due to people being uneducated about their food, and leaving it to sales people to tell them when food is safe or ‘good’. ~end rant~]

Note that you can't (dry)age steaks. They get too dry. A slice of bread dries out before a loaf does.

I would suggest you keep it like that (wrapped), in the back bottom of the fridge or the “meat drawer” (just colder is all).

Then three or four days before cooking, open the package and set on a rack over a plate (to let air around/under) and let all sides be exposed to air.

This will dry the fat and exterior a bit, which will give you a great crust (fat) and browning.

If your plan is simply roasting it, rub with a *little* oil just before going in the oven, and then season. Oil will further help browning, and help the seasoning and herbs to stick.

Your meat in the oven (or searing for that matter) does not start browning until the water had been driven from the surface of the meat. This gives it a head start.

True dry aging is something for another time. Maybe New Year’s Eve. The first time you try it shouldn’t be Christmas.

Why?

Well not because of the chances of it going wrong (it can’t), but because your wife will be dubious at best, and down-right indignant possibly, if she sees what a dry aged subprimal looks like after forty-five days.

Don’t trim. You are trying to dry the exterior. The flesh will darken, they fat will go buttery, a little grey.

It is a good thing.

N.B. If you have strong odors in the fridge (garlic, for ex), a spare (beer) fridge is better for when you unwrap it. Also, note that the wrap it currently had is oxygen permeable, IIIRC. So you will get darkening

The best meat in the butcher’s case is the oldest meat. Unaged protein has literally no flavor. A fresh steak’s (or roast’s) inherent flavor is virtually entirely due to the fat. But letting it age will develop other flavors, and the exterior fat flavor will be condensed due to losing water.

Again, yours won’t really age to any perceptible degree, but it will lose some water and crisp up

frazzdaddy · December 2020

@PigBeanUs, great post. It's good to have you here.

PigBeanUs · December 2020

frazzdaddy said:

@PigBeanUs, great post. It's good to have you here.

Thanks. But I just cut-n-pasted it from that long-winded guy who used to ramble on about that stuff all the time.

Carolina Q · December 2020

frazzdaddy said:

@PigBeanUs, great post. It's good to have you here back.

FIFY

HeavyG · December 2020

You might die by Xmas but if you do it likely won't be the meat that is the cause.

nolaegghead · December 2020

"Food Saver “aging” Prime Rib: will I die?" -- No.

"Food Saver “aging” Prime Rib; will I die?" -- Yes

500 · December 2020

I stand corrected. I will die.

PigBeanUs · December 2020

nolaegghead said:

"Food Saver “aging” Prime Rib: will I die?" -- No.

"Food Saver “aging” Prime Rib; will I die?" -- Yes

You really know your way around a colon!

paqman · December 2020

You are cooking it as a roast or steaks? If roast, rub this bad boy with salt now and let it wait a week uncovered in the fridge, rinse it with cold water and pat dry it. Let it rest uncovered in the fridge until ready to cook.

QDude · December 2020

paqman said:

You are cooking it as a roast or steaks? If roast, rub this bad boy with salt now and let it wait a week uncovered in the fridge, rinse it with cold water and pat dry it. Let it rest uncovered in the fridge until ready to cook.

What does this do to it? Asking for friend.

PigBeanUs · December 2020

He’s talking about letting the surface dry.

500 · December 2020

I Food Saver bagged it. Will take it out a few days before cook day to air dry it. Will hit it with Kosher salt about 6-8 hours before seasoning then on indirect at like 275*. I have a hard time keeping the Egg under that temp.

northGAcock · December 2020

Taking direction from a pig farmer about beef? It’s like you are asking to die.

PigBeanUs · December 2020

You can dry-age pork too

nolaegghead · December 2020

Don't forget dry-aging fish.

frazzdaddy · December 2020

Carolina Q said:

frazzdaddy said:

@PigBeanUs, great post. It's good to have you here back.

FIFY

lol, I know. I was applying the JIC rule

paqman · December 2020

QDude said:

paqman said:

You are cooking it as a roast or steaks? If roast, rub this bad boy with salt now and let it wait a week uncovered in the fridge, rinse it with cold water and pat dry it. Let it rest uncovered in the fridge until ready to cook.

What does this do to it? Asking for friend.

The salt draws out excess moisture from the surface and denatures the protein structure of the meat so surprisingly, the excess moisture that is being drawn out doesn’t result in dry meat. The denatured protein are actually trapping juices in while the meat cooks and results in a tender/moist roast, it also improves the flavor. The longer in advance the salt is added the better. I rinse the salt ahead of time to dry out the surface and get a crispy exterior.

northGAcock · December 2020

nolaegghead said:

Don't forget dry-aging fish.

Salt water fish?

nolaegghead · December 2020

northGAcock said:

nolaegghead said:

Don't forget dry-aging fish.

Salt water fish?

Generally you dry age fish you eat raw and that fish is with rare exception salt water because it's safer and mo' delicious.

This is worth a read.

https://www.foodandwine.com/cooking-techniques/dry-aged-fish-joint-sherman-oaks

QDude · December 2020

paqman said:

QDude said:

paqman said:

You are cooking it as a roast or steaks? If roast, rub this bad boy with salt now and let it wait a week uncovered in the fridge, rinse it with cold water and pat dry it. Let it rest uncovered in the fridge until ready to cook.

What does this do to it? Asking for friend.

The salt draws out excess moisture from the surface and denatures the protein structure of the meat so surprisingly, the excess moisture that is being drawn out doesn’t result in dry meat. The denatured protein are actually trapping juices in while the meat cooks and results in a tender/moist roast, it also improves the flavor. The longer in advance the salt is added the better. I rinse the salt ahead of time to dry out the surface and get a crispy exterior.

Thanks!

500 · December 2020

Picked up trimmed choice beef tenderloins on sale from Sam’s Club dated use or freeze by December 29th. Freezing one now and food saver bagged the other one for NYE. Was going to get a whole one from Fresh Market, but Mrs. 500 stopped me with a text that she found these instead. Since the post here cleared things up, I’m confident I won’t die from eating beef past the use by date. But, the butcher at Fresh Market said I would have to come back 1 to 2 days before NYE cause the whole tenderloins at Fresh Market were dated for the 29th. I told him I would Food Saver it until NYE. He said no, it would go bad before then. So, the misinformation continues even with a professional butcher.

PigBeanUs · December 2020

Most likely he was a meat cutter, not a butcher.

regardless, the thing is, no matter who it is, butcher or whomever, their single greatest concern is making the customer happy.

99% of the people he serves would open a wet aged package and say it smelled “bad”. People do not want their beef to have any smell. They think smell=bad and that bad=dangerous

So if he told you “yeah. It’ll be fine”, he risks you coming back saying “my wife said it smells funny”, and he eats the cost.

I bought rack of lamb a couple weeks back. We ate it yesterday. When I was prepping it in the kitchen my wife in the living room said “oooooo. I smell lamb!” All I could imagine is how many wives would say “wHat’S tHat sMelL?!?!?”

I don’t know about you, but I always get the feeling here that most guys on this site don’t merely defer to their wives, they don’t even bother talking about this stuff with them.

I would no more just shrug and throw it out “because she said so” than she would let me tell her to just shut up and eat it.

Soapbox after soapbox with me it seems. Ha

Anyway. I am of the firm mind on most things that it is always better to know as much or more about the product as the person selling it.

e.g. Ask him next time what the “angus” sticker means. That’s always good for a laugh.

JohnInCarolina · December 2020

PigBeanUs said:

I don’t know about you, but I always get the feeling here that most guys on this site don’t merely defer to their wives, they don’t even bother talking about this stuff with them.

Well more than half the guys on this forum refer to their wives as "SWMBO", so you might be on to something here...

shtgunal3 · December 2020

The “best by” date on this one was 21-Dec. it has been unwrapped in the beer fridge since about that day. I threw it in the small today and after about two hours at 250 this is what it looks like. It it resting now.

paqman · December 2020

JohnInCarolina said:

PigBeanUs said:

I don’t know about you, but I always get the feeling here that most guys on this site don’t merely defer to their wives, they don’t even bother talking about this stuff with them.

Well more than half the guys on this forum refer to their wives as "SWMBO", so you might be on to something here...

Confucius once said “happy wife; happy life”. Maybe it was Isaac Newton or Leonardo who said it, can’t remember. Whoever it was, I am sure he was onto something.

Sea2Ski · December 2020

nolaegghead said:

northGAcock said:

nolaegghead said:

Don't forget dry-aging fish.

Salt water fish?

Generally you dry age fish you eat raw and that fish is with rare exception salt water because it's safer and mo' delicious.

This is worth a read.

https://www.foodandwine.com/cooking-techniques/dry-aged-fish-joint-sherman-oaks

Okay. I have been dry aging beef for a few years. I have dry aged pork a several times and it was insanely delicious. But the fish I catch? I eat that as soon as possible.

This article has blown my mind.

If I am lucky enough to catch another fish this summer, I might need to give this method a try and age some. I think a larger chunk of tuna loin is a good candidate.

@NOLAEgghead if I die, I might need to find you and take you out too.

PigBeanUs · December 2020

paqman said:

JohnInCarolina said:

PigBeanUs said:

I don’t know about you, but I always get the feeling here that most guys on this site don’t merely defer to their wives, they don’t even bother talking about this stuff with them.

Well more than half the guys on this forum refer to their wives as "SWMBO", so you might be on to something here...

Confucius once said “happy wife; happy life”. Maybe it was Isaac Newton or Leonardo who said it, can’t remember. Whoever it was, I am sure he was onto something.

So the only way to make your wife happy is to simply obey her?

That sounds like a healthy marriage. /s

HeavyG · December 2020

JohnInCarolina said:

PigBeanUs said:

I don’t know about you, but I always get the feeling here that most guys on this site don’t merely defer to their wives, they don’t even bother talking about this stuff with them.

Well more than half the guys on this forum refer to their wives as "SWMBO", so you might be on to something here...

Deep thoughts...

On forums or groups where the user base is almost exclusively female do some ladies use "HHMBO" when referring to their husbands?

GrateEggspectations · December 2020

paqman said:

JohnInCarolina said:

PigBeanUs said:

I don’t know about you, but I always get the feeling here that most guys on this site don’t merely defer to their wives, they don’t even bother talking about this stuff with them.

Well more than half the guys on this forum refer to their wives as "SWMBO", so you might be on to something here...

Confucius once said “happy wife; happy life”. Maybe it was Isaac Newton or Leonardo who said it, can’t remember. Whoever it was, I am sure he was onto something.

Those guys got a few things right and all, but on this I’m a firm (no pun intended) believer in “dirty wife; happy life.”

saluki2007 · December 2020

You dead man?

Food Saver “aging” Prime Rib; will I die?

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