Dry Aging Beef at Home - the topic

[pounce]

I was reading about aging meat a couple of months ago and read that some processing companies use electrocution (after slaughter) to tenderize the carcass. Anyone know how wide spread this might be? I'm just wondering how you might tell what kind of processing your meat had before it arrived at the butcher.

[rooftop1000]

I've done it and its a good thing...ooops wrong show

I used a plate with a cooling rack on it, then the meat, then a big plastic bowl. The rack keeps the bowl up to give the air room to circulate under it and the meat isnt touched by the plate or the bowl.

tracey

[chappie]

I've seen this episode twice and am eager to try the method. He uses a probe thermometer, one with a four-foot cord and alarms you can set for when the internal temperature reaches a certain pre-set degree. Does anyone know where to get a good one, which brands stack up against others or where I can find this out? I would check cooksillustrated.com but I don't have a password there.

[jsolomon]

I was reading about aging meat a couple of months ago and read that some processing companies use electrocution (after slaughter) to tenderize the carcass. Anyone know how wide spread this might be? I'm just wondering how you might tell what kind of processing your meat had before it arrived at the butcher.

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Umm, uhh, ahh, you can't electrocute something that's dead.

To kill with electricity

Source: Dictionary.com

There are methods of using electricity to tenderize meat. I am not sure how widespread it is. When I read a couple of papers about it, it seemed like it was something aimed at lesser grades of beef.

[ellencho]

I've seen this episode twice and am eager to try the method. He uses a probe thermometer, one with a four-foot cord and alarms you can set for when the internal temperature reaches a certain pre-set degree. Does anyone know where to get a good one, which brands stack up against others or where I can find this out? I would check cooksillustrated.com but I don't have a password there.

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You can get a probe thermometer at nearly any kitchen supply store. I got one from Bed Bath and Beyond for under 20. I've got a Pyrex one and I've been using it for a couple of years now. The only downside of the Pyrex is that you can't put the probe in an oven hotter than 394 degrees F. I know that Polder, Taylor and Maverick all have their own probe thermometers. If you check amazon.com you can see how people reviewed the different brands and then make your choice.

[rooftop1000]

I have a brand new Polder dual temp one, it is supposed to tell the temp of the meat and the oven or smoker.....me thinks I got a lemon though unless my oven is off by 150 degrees and really rare lamb cooks to 167.

oh well going to replace it this weekend

my Pyrex one got melted accidentally it was pretty good

tracey

[snowangel]

I've seen this episode twice and am eager to try the method. He uses a probe thermometer, one with a four-foot cord and alarms you can set for when the internal temperature reaches a certain pre-set degree. Does anyone know where to get a good one, which brands stack up against others or where I can find this out? I would check cooksillustrated.com but I don't have a password there.

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I just did a search on thermometers in cooking (titles only) and came up with this.

[pounce]

I was reading about aging meat a couple of months ago and read that some processing companies use electrocution (after slaughter) to tenderize the carcass. Anyone know how wide spread this might be? I'm just wondering how you might tell what kind of processing your meat had before it arrived at the butcher.

←

Umm, uhh, ahh, you can't electrocute something that's dead.

To kill with electricity

Source: Dictionary.com

There are methods of using electricity to tenderize meat. I am not sure how widespread it is. When I read a couple of papers about it, it seemed like it was something aimed at lesser grades of beef.

←

Words are always getting in my way

I should have said electrical stimulation.

Electrical stimulation of the hot carcass immediately after slaughter is an innovation being used in the meat industry to increase tenderness. Beef carcasses are subjected to approximately one minute of high voltage electrical current. The result is an improvement in tenderness of many cuts of the carcass. An improvement in tenderness of cuts from carcasses of older cows also has been observed when electrical stimulation has been applied. Electrical stimulation speeds up the post-mortem conversion of muscle to meat and thus reduces the incidence of "cold shortening" . The use of electrical stimulation in the beef industry is widespread.

You may be right about the lesser grades.

[Abra]

Has anyone used the method from Fine Cooking, which has you dry age wrapped in cheesecloth for 7 days? I'm thinking of trying that for Christmas dinner.

[Anna N]

Has anyone used the method from Fine Cooking, which has you dry age wrapped in cheesecloth for 7 days?  I'm thinking of trying that for Christmas dinner.

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Don't remember seeing this. Do you know which issue? Thanks.

[gsquared]

My tried and tested method is:

1. Paint all the surfaces of the meat well with vinegar. We have high humidity from time to time. I cannot trust that the air in the fridge is sufficiently dry and find that the vinegar helps to prevent the green fuzzies.

2. Place fat side up on a wire rack in the fridge and place something on the shelf below to catch the drippings. I use a newspaper because it can be draped over whatever may be on the lower shelf. The dripping-catcher can be removed after the first day.

3. Check every day whether the surface of the meat feels dry to the touch or slightly sticky. If sticky, repeat the vinegar treatment and turn the fridge temp down a notch.

4. Leave until a hard black rind forms - usually about 7-10 days, depending on the humidity.

5. Trim off the rind, cut into steaks and either use within a day or two or freeze. Weight loss is 15-20%, depending on the shape of the meat: a larger surface area results in a greater weight loss.

[artisan02]

Has anyone used the method from Fine Cooking, which has you dry age wrapped in cheesecloth for 7 days?  I'm thinking of trying that for Christmas dinner.

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I don't have access to Fine Cooking. Can you describe the method a bit more, or is that the gist of it?

[fifi]

I haven't read this whole topic but I was reminded the other day how my dad used to do this. It was pretty slick and we had some mighty fine aged meat.

One of the two crisper drawers of the fridge was just the right size and could be regulated some as far as temperature. He would clean it out and put several layers of moistened paper towels in the bottom to catch drips. The moistened towels also kept the humidity at the optimum level in there. Then the meat went in onto a cooling rack. Pretty neat. He used some little desk top temperature and humidity thingy to monitor it. He would change out the paper towels maybe once a day. I don't remember that part too well.

Of course, he usually set this all up on the same day when my mother would come in from the farmer's market with a bunch of veggies to store and all hell would break loose. (I had an interesting childhood and learned a lot of colorful language. )

[Bill Miller]

Has anyone used the method from Fine Cooking, which has you dry age wrapped in cheesecloth for 7 days?  I'm thinking of trying that for Christmas dinner.

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Yes!!!! It works. The cheesecloth and keeping it under 40 degrees is the secret. I did one for seven days last year---it will be this years Christmas dinner again (not the same roast!) . My 4 1/2 lb roast lost 8 oz's and was wonderful.

Edited to add-- Wrap the roast in several layers of cheesecloth--place on a platter in fridge ( under 40 Degrees). In 24 hours--unwrap and rewrap to prevent sticking. Repeat in 24 hours. let it rest 3 to 5 more days. Unwrap--cut off the dried outside and dried fat leaving as much fat as you can--roast to deaiserd doneness.

Edited December 17, 2005 by Bill Miller (log)

[ellencho]

From my experience, dry aging in the fridge really makes a huge difference on the quality of your finished product. Not only is the texture more tender and silkier, but the taste is like buttah. If you were to take everything good about the taste of beef and concentrate it into something the texture of a filet mignon, that's what a properly aged rib roast will taste and feel like.

Here is a before and after of a rib roast I aged for a little over a week in our crappy apartment refrigerator.

This holiday we're aging our 9 lb 4-rib roast for 12 days days instead of the usual week. We're using the fridge in our basement which is a little bit dryer and cooler and used less often than our upstairs fridge which is a bit more moist and is used a lot more frequently so I thought I'd age it a little bit longer than just a week.

[woodburner]

Very nice ellencho,

Everything but the bone.

Which leads me to, did you have purpose for not tying the bones to the roast during aging or cooking?

Or possibly you bought it boneless, which would make my question totally irrelevant.

woodburner

[ellencho]

Very nice ellencho,

Everything but the bone. 

Which leads me to, did you have purpose for not tying the bones to the roast during aging or cooking?

Or possibly you bought it boneless, which would make my question totally irrelevant.

woodburner

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It was bought with bones on and I both aged it and cooked it that way. Once it was roasted, for ease of cutting I cut off the bones and saved them for myself. Trust me, those bones were thoroughly enjoyed later that night after my guests had all disappeared.

One time I bought a boneless rib roast and aged it in the fridge the same way I do with the bone-in and the result did not taste very good. The meat was tender but tasted crappy. Not rotten or anything, but just not nice. Later on my brother mentioned seeing an episode of Unwrapped on Food network and they showed the lady at Peter Luger's who is in charge of buying meat. She says she never buys meat that she's goign to age off the bone because it protects the meat as it ages.

Edited December 17, 2005 by ellencho (log)

[ChefCrash]

Awsome looking roast ellencho, how did you age it and what is your method for cooking?

[ellencho]

Awsome looking roast ellencho, how did you age it and what is your method for cooking?

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Thanks CC. I aged it on a rack on the bottom shelf of my fridge for six days. I didn't cover it with anything. Before I cooked it, I trimmed off the more gnarlier, drier pieces and then salted and peppered it.

To cook it, I did a quick sear on all sides and then cooked it in a 250 F oven until the thermometer hit 127. Normally I'd just stick it in a slow oven and then broil it to give it a nice crust but alas, my apartment stove has an under-stove broiler and there wasn't enough room for a proper browning under there.

[Abra]

Ellen, that is gorgeous!

Thanks, Bill, for detailing the FC method. But now I'm worrying about the bones. FC specifies boneless, so I had the butcher remove the bones, but leave them with the meat. I was just going to roast them separately and gnaw on them, but should I set them under the meat as I roast it? In that case, should I freeze the bones until next week, or dry age them too?

I'ts an excellent piece of meat, by the way, from our local Misty Isle Farms, and it's fabulously marbled.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Abra (log)

[Msk]

Abra,

The first time I did this I did it with a rib roast with the bones removed and tied back on. I only aged it 72 hours but it was absolutely delicious. I don't see why you couldn't tie them back on just make sure to work clean.

Msk

[viaChgo]

Nice Ellen! That looks awesome!

I ended up aging my rib roast for 48 hours. It was pretty tasty but I think I should've aged for at least 72. I'm definitely going to age my roasts from now on!

[Octaveman]

All this talk has got me thinking. I might do this too. Only questions I have is do you salt it at the start of ageing or wait until it's done and how do you make the au jus or sauce?

thanks

[Bill Miller]

Ellen, that is gorgeous!

Thanks, Bill, for detailing the FC method.  But now I'm worrying about the bones.  FC specifies boneless, so I had the butcher remove the bones, but leave them with the meat.  I was just going to roast them separately and gnaw on them, but should I set them under the meat as I roast it?  In that case, should I freeze the bones until next week, or dry age them too?

I'ts an excellent piece of meat, by the way, from our local Misty Isle Farms, and it's fabulously marbled.

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I think you could freeze the bones, thaw and tie back on for roasting.

[viaChgo]

All this talk has got me thinking.  I might do this too.  Only questions I have is do you salt it at the start of ageing or wait until it's done and how do you make the au jus or sauce?

thanks

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You should not salt while aging. Just season before cooking as normal. Salting for days will draw out too much moisture & will start 'preserving' the meat...like a corned beef.

I just degalzed the roasting pan (after draining the fat) with some wine & added a little stock to make the jus. You could also add some butter in the end.