Turning a walk-in refrigerator into a curing/dry aging room.

[Ariel Schor]

I decided to post this question in the Restaurant Life topics, as it is definitely guided to professionals that have a lot of experience in this area.

I recently became co-chef of a restaurant in my city. The two of us split the duties of running a 220 seat restaurant that serves refined casual fare with some high-end ingredients. We have both always had the same dream of being able to cure salumi and dry-age beef in a professional environment. Due to our re-structuring in the kitchen, we now have the possibility of turning our smallest walk-in refrigerator (approx 10'L, 6'W, 8'H) into an aging or curing room. I understand that these processes require specific sanitary controls, and that is something that I have to speak to our local health authorities about...but i'm mostly curious to see if anyone has done this, and has any advice on the matter.

Ariel

[sheepish]

Have a look at http://forum.sausagemaking.org/

I've seen people on there working with domestic fridges where they need to install fans to maintain airflow. I assume that's already there on a walk in. Some very knowledgeable folk anyway. I hang my salamis and hams in a barn but I suspect environmental health would have a fit if I tried to sell them.

[Edward J]

Don't know much about dry curing of meats, sounds fun and profitable though. However I do know a bit about walk-in construction. The rooms are air-tight and materials designed to maintain humidity. I don't know about running the coil fan, it will just circulate the same air over and over again.

What do the experts say about humidty % for dry curing? What ranges? Do you need to run a de-humidifier, or pump in fresh air?

[onocoffee]

I would avoid going to the health department first. Chances are they won't know what you're talking about, will have a fit about it and will generally make your life difficult. Want even more problems? Try asking them about controlled temperature cooking via sous vide - not fun.

Better to gather your data and go for it, then battle the sanitarian later with the data if they challenge you during an inspection.

I would contact directly some of the chefs in the nation who are doing this in-house, they would be better prepared to offer advice and guidance in setting up your walk-in. The ones I have toured have both temperature control (60F seems to stick in my mind) and humidity control.

Good luck!

[Chris Hennes]

You will also probably want to check out the "Cellars & Chambers for Curing and Aging" topic over in the Kitchen Consumer forum: it's focused on consumer-level construction, but there is a lot of discussion of the appropriate temperature and humidity for various types of charcuterie.

[onocoffee]

As a side note, I happened to stop by a friends restaurant the other day and their curing room is running at 53F and 80% humidity.