Dry Aging Beef At Home
Wednesday July 9, 2003
KRUSHMOTO Writes:
"I'm thinking of trying to dry age cuts of beef at home. Has anyone tried this and do you have any recommendations besides the usual ones, (ie, 32-38 degrees, 85% humidity, good air circulation(fan?), bateria light(put one in the fridge?)) I'm planning on using a small refrigerator with nothing in it except the beef.
Also, any ideas on what I can use to cut the beef after it's done aging? I plan on buying Shell of Beef with the bone in it. It's a 15-20 lbs cut but I have no idea how to cut the bone with the meat still on it. Any help or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks"
Comments
A nationally known butcher named Merle Ellis discovered a technique for dry aging beef at home. Here are the complete directions he offered some years ago for this technique.
BE SURE TO FOLLOW EACH STEP CAREFULLY, FOR SAFETY’S SAKE.
1. Only the top grades of beef can be dry aged successfully. Use USDA Prime or USDA Choice – Yield Grade 1 or 2 (the highest quality of Choice) only. These have a thick layer of fat on the outside to protect the meat from spoiling during the aging process.
2. Buy a whole rib-eye or loin strip. [You cannot age individual steaks.] Unwrap it, rinse it well with cold water, and allow it to drain; then pat it very dry with paper towels.
3. Wrap the meat in immaculately clean, large, plain white cotton dish towels and place it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator – which is the coldest spot.
4. Change the towels each day, replacing the moisture-soiled towels with fresh. Continue to change towels as needed for 10 days, to 2 weeks. (See Step #7 for cleaning towels.)
5. After the desired aging time, you’re ready to cut off steaks from each end, trim as desired, and allow the rest to continue to age in the refrigerator.
6. If, after 21 days, you have not eaten all the meat, cut the remaining piece into steaks, wrap each steak in freezer-proof, heavy-duty plastic wrap, and freeze. The steaks will keep for several months in the freezer.
7. To clean the towels for re-use, soak the soiled towels, immediately upon removing them from the meat, in cold water overnight. Next, soak them in cold, salted water for 2-3 hours to remove any blood stains. Then launder as usual. [In olden days, butchers used to cover sides of beef with cotton "shrouds" during the aging process - this is essentially the same thing.]
I AM ALSO CONSIDERING BUTCHERING AND AGING A SIEIR AT HOME, BUT HAVE NEVER ATTEMTED THIS. ANYONE WITH A STEP BY STEP PROCESS,I WOULD APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU
This technique is widely regarded to be extremely dangerous for a person to attempt, especially if the beef doesn’t have adequate fat cover. If any one factor is off, you will end up with contaminated meat, and at BEST a nice visit to your local emergency room, at worst, you could die.
Follow this precaution during processing
Dried or discolored surface areas should be carefully trimmed off. Any surface areas containing detectable growth of microorganisms, as evidenced by slime formation or off-odor, should also be carefully trimmed off.
I am a little late, but we would love to hear your input on how your DIY aging went.
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http://www.steakforums.com
A buddy of mine told me you could buy a beef aging fridge. He said it’s small like a wine fridge. I searched the web a little with no luck.
You would think after all the diy technology. someone would come up with a “system” for home dry aging beef. a refrigerator with the correct humidity settings and temp, like the other guy said “a small frig” is there nothing like this on the net. I mean there is everything else on the net on how to….
I recently found a way to dry age in my fridge.
The product is called the Drybag. I bought bags and vacuum sealer they sell, then sealed a boneless ribeye into the bag and put it in my fridge for 3 weeks. The bag allows the meat to loose moisture and dry age without picking up the fridge odors. After trimming, the steaks came out perfectly tender.
Be sure to ask the butcher not to trim off the fat, its cheaper that way and leaves more for trimming. Also you have to have meat on a wire rack, so the air can go around the entire piece.
You can check out http://www.drybagsteak.com
I have now since found a way to do dry age beef. I purchased a small glass front can cooler (dedicated to this project), a refrigerator thermometer, a small fan at top, put a tray of water at bottom. Threw in a full loin and let it age for 15 days. True there is less yield, but the results were out of this world and well worth the wait.
Having a dedicated fridge would be awsome, but my wife says I already have enough foodie equipment in the house. I decided to try those drybags, since I am itching to get dry aged steaks on my grill this spring.
They sealed pretty easily and I have a striploin I bought at Costco aging in my fridge right now. Its been 5 days, the meat is now darker and feels firm on the outside, I can tell it is drying. I will age for 21 days like these drybag guys recommend.
I took out the ribeye this afternoon (19days) for some friends that came over, trimmed it out… the meat is nicely dried and cooked perfectly. Since the steak is dry aged it cooked very evenly and had great smooth consistent texture.
The flavor was unbelieveable. Costco has good meat actually and quite reasonable.
I tried the drybagsteak.com solution for dry-aging at home and have had really good results–clean, consistent flavor, excellent texture. I used a choice strip from Costco and aged it for about two weeks. The bag is rather thin and sealing it took a little patience, but it formed a beautiful seal. The meat darkened without the greying or patches of spots I’ve seen on pre-trimmed aged meat before. When I peeled off the drybag, the surface was smooth, firm and easy to trim. Their site refers to an article about research that was done regarding the safety. I’m sold on the flavor and ease of use. For the record.
There are many ways to age beef however, I believe it is best to do it the old fashion way. When I worked at Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Tetons as a chef….we use to age sides of beef at a time.
1. You clean the beef and trim the majority of the fat off.
2. Make a salt and pepper mix, brush olive oil all over the beef then spread your salt and pepper mix on the beef.
3. If using a refrigerator or a walk-in, use the temperature of 45 degrees constant.
4. Hang the beef either in cheese cloth or just bare in a kitchen enviroment for a few hours then place it back in the fridge. Repeat this process until the meat begins to turn brown. Use a meat scraper or a cheese grader to scrape the meat cleaning it lightly. Re-apply your olive oil and salt and pepper mix. At this point you will have to repeat this procedure about every two to three days. It will take about two weeks until you can cut aged steaks from the beef. After the cut…continue the aging process.
5. Remember…..there will be bacteria forming on the surface, do not worry for the bacteria is your aging process. This is why you have to scrape the meat and re-apply your olive oil each time.
I read about this over a year ago in the Wall Street Journal. I decided to try it with a small dorm size fridge. It worked well, but was very limiting and the fridge eventually died. So I found a very good used full size unit and have done several cuts so far. A tenderloin, a strip and now a rib-eye. They have all been VERY good. I try to let them age at least 2 weeks before I start using them. By 3 weeks they are fantastic. The process I use is very straight forward.
1 – The refrigerator is kept at 33 degrees (I use an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer).
2 – I rinse the beef in cold water and dry it well with paper towel.
3 – I use stainless steel hooks and hang the meat (instead of laying it down).
4 – I DON’T cover it with any shroud.
5 – I cut as much as I need for a meal and then trim all of the exterior.
6 – I keep the steaks at room temperature for at least 2 hours before I grill them.
So far this has worked well. But I do wonder about using a cotton shroud for it. I see others have, but haven’t seen the reason for doing that. Does anyone know why it would be useful?
I’ve been aging beef and bison for 4 years or more now. I began by aging single thick cut beef steaks for 3-10 days. The results were always tastey, but sometimes scary. I am always cautious to give the steak a good hardcore wash and sear the living bejeesus out of all outer surfaces, but I know I took some chances when I first started out.
Now I have a dedicated full sized refrigerator. I buy whole primals on the bone (always on the bone). I’m able to get Prime ribeye cuts at $5/lb through wholesale routes.
The flavor is in the funk. That is all there is to it. I trim the ends of the meat and the fat cap, but will use that fat to lube the grill. But the ends… I know it’s scary, but I will cook them until very well done, chiffonade them small (does that term apply to meat?), and serve them as the meat side of the best philly cheese steak you’ll ever have.
One of the best innovations I’ve come across is the mock sous vide. Yes, I know it would technically be done underpressure, but I’ve adapted back away from that. I have a fryolater vat that I can hold at 110F. I drop in the whole piece, unwrapped, into canola. I let it sit for as long as necessary… as in 4hrs for large cuts. The meat gently comes up to just under a rare doneness and holds there.
When I’m ready to roll I take the meat out, wash off the canola (the meat doesn’t absorb even a drop), season with salt, and blast it on cast iron for the crust. Again, covering all sides, starting with the fat and including the bone. Finish with a bath of sweet butter and thyme in the pan.
Obviously this produces a hell of a lot of smoke. But you’ll never have a better steak. Buttery goodness, a uniform doneness from crusty edge to crusty edge. Perfectly rare.
And because the primary heating was done gently for hours, rest time is fairly minimal.
For me, the DrybagSteak method of dry aging is working really well. I get a great dry aged steak and it’s clean. It has gotten so I don’t even order dry-aged steak when I go out anymore because the quality is so hit ‘n miss. The 21-day aged steak I do at home with Drybags is always good–and I can be sure it really has 21 days of age on it. I also like having the choice of whether I age select for a group of buddies or organic, grass fed for the wife!
Here is a quick tip that works the same as dry aging but can be done on 30 min. This is directly from Americas test kitchen and I will not cook a steak any other way
Simply rinse and dry your steaks. Season with kosher salt and pepper
Line a half sheet pan with foil and place a wire cooling rack in the pan.
Place steaks on on the rack and put into a 200 deg oven for about 30 min or until interior temp comes up to 130 or so
Then finish on a hot grill.
As the beef rises in temp the enzymes become activated resulting in much more tender steak. Since u are bringing up to temp slow it has time. Works just as well with cold or room temp meat. Just make sure it is dry outside
Doesn’t the salt affect the flavor if you attempt to reduce the moisture by pulling it out this way? I think the drybag idea sounds like a truer and safer way to get the true results at home.
Can you use the vacuum seal bags for garments?
bringing the steak to temp over two hours definetly helps with the tenderness, but the dry aged flavor comes from slow dry aging which removes moisture over time ,& concentrates the flavor.