Posted by johngl
I’ve talked about dry-aging beef before, but mostly that related to steaks of one form or another. This time, I am talking about a hunk-o-meat big enough to feed a party of sixteen.
Start with a well-marbled piece of choice grade meat:
Where might one find such a daunting piece of cow flesh?
I picked this up at my local Costco. All of their beef is choice graded. Believe it or not, this was the smallest in the bin. The larger ones weighed as much a three pounds more than this one. I find that the smaller ones taste better. I haven’t done any scientific analysis on this theory, but as far as I am concerned, that is okay. If you feel like testing my theory, go nuts. I certainly won’t try and stop you. Let me know how it turns out.
If you don’t have a local Costco, you can probably get one from any grocer that has a butcher shop and sells ribeye steaks. They normally get their meat in the same sized cryovac primal cuts anyway. Those choice grade ribeyes you see at the grocery store probably got cut from a primal not much different than the one above.
You keep babbling about choice-grade meat; what the heck is that all about?
The USDA has a grading system for beef. These may look familiar to you:
Look for a well-marbled piece with the middle stamp on it. If you want all of the gory details, go here. These folks are Texas Aggies and they know what they are talking about.
For the record, a LOT of meat in the grocery store these days is select grade. The only time I buy this stuff is if I am making a stock or using the meat in a stew. Spend the extra money on an upgrade for anything else.
If the upgrade is so much better, why not buy prime?
This is a very good question. If you clicked that link above, you found that there are different sub-grades within each grade classification. That is why I said to choose a well-marbled piece of choice. Look for a high degree of intramuscular fat. Beef can legally be labeled as choice yet not look much different from the select cuts. Pay attention to the piece of meat you are buying. The folks at the website say:
In addition to marbling, there are other ways to evaluate muscle for quality. Firmness of muscle is desirable, as is proper color and texture. Desirable ribeyes will exhibit an adequate amount of finely dispersed marbling in a firm, fine textured, bright, cherry-red colored lean. As an animal matures, the characteristics of muscle change, and muscle color becomes darker and muscle texture becomes coarser.
Now, I suppose, I had better answer the question. Top grade prime is exceptionally difficult to come by these days and is rather expensive. Most of that goes to the ultra high-end restaurants around the world. Consequently, what you see in the grocery store labeled as prime is the lower grade prime cuts. In my experience, technique may sometimes outweigh the benefits of buying the higher grade and save a lot of moo-lah in the process. Stick with choice unless you feel like really splurging. Feel free to disagree.
What’s this technique of which you speak?
Dry aging. I have mentioned this in the past (enter ‘dry aging’ in the Alcoholian search box to find those posts). In short, you put a piece of meat (uncovered) in a fridge set to about 34°F for a period of time. This ribeye roast was pretty good sized, so it went in for three days.
Before this guy went into the meat locker, it got a liberal coating of kosher salt and a sprinkling of fresh ground pepper. Three days later, it came out looking like this:
Notice that the salt has dissolved and the meat looks like it has a dry and somewhat leathery surface. This leathery skin-like surface is referred to as the pellicle.
So now what? We have a large, dry, cold piece of meat…
I am so glad you asked. You get to make it look like this:
Take a couple of tablespoons of whole grain mustard and about an ounce of brandy or cognac and whisk them together. Grab about a quarter cup of grapeseed oil (or whatever oil you like) and slowly whisk it in to the mustard/cognac mixture until you get a nice and thick emulsion. Using your basting brush (I like the silicone ones for this), layer the emulsion upon the meat. Don’t be shy. Your emulsion should be thick enough that it stays put. Wrap this whole thing in plastic wrap and stick it back in the fridge for about 12 more hours.
When you are ready to cook the thing, give yourself several hours of lead time. This thing will take at least three hours to come to 60°F sitting out on the counter. Preheat your oven or electric roaster to 250°F and then drop in the roast. At this cooking temp, it will take about three hours to get into the 135°F range.
We didn’t waste much time blowing through most of this roast. Folks had thicker slices as “prime rib” or they had really thin slices in a croissant as a “French Dip” sammy that they dunked in a bordelaise sauce.
Maksim insisted that I post how to make this dry-aged ribeye primal. How could anyone resist this face?
I recently stumbled upon a new method of dry aging in my fridge. I use a bag that is moisture permeable and can be vacuum sealed. People always tell me they can’t believe it. But it works 100%.
I vacuum seal my ribeye that I get at Costco into this Drybag and age it in my fridge for 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks I take it out and trim off the outside crust that forms as a result of dry aging. The steaks have that dry aged flavor that I love and the texture is fantastic.
Check out their website http://www.drybagsteak.com
They have pics and info how to do it. No mess at all.
Have to have a vacuum sealer (they sell one) I used my Sinbo sealer and the meat has to lay on a wire rack to allow air to go all the way around the piece.
Interesting. If it weren’t for the fact that they say you can’t use a FoodSaver, I might give them a try. For now, I will stick to the old tried and true method I use. It has never failed me.
If there is anyone else out there who has tried this latest trick, please, let me know about your results.
Thanks Joe.
Hi Judy, thanks for the questions!
I would never, ever, dry age something at 54 degrees. Harmful bacteria loves anything over 40 degrees. Forget the cheesecloth.
I sprinkle on just a little bit of salt just to help things along a bit and cut the chances of harmful bacteria forming. Most of the bacteria is on the surface of the meat. A slight salty environment inhibits their growth. Don’t cure it in salt, otherwise you beef will become ham.
I started out with a boneless primal-sized cut. But you can dry-age anything, from a thick steak to a whole cow. A steak, for example, can be dry-aged for just a few days and that can change the flavor and texture of the meat quite a bit.
Instructions? My dad was a butcher. I grew up on a small farm in Iowa. We butchered in the late fall and dad would age a hind quarter of beef (for example) just by letting it hang in the barn. I have been around this kind of thing most of my life. I don’t need instructions
Since I live in Austin, TX now, corn fed beef (my personal favorite) is a little harder to come by. These days, I look for a well-marbled primal at Costco. They have “choice” graded beef at really great prices. I open up the cryovac pack, rinse the piece of meat to get the residual blood off of it, then pat it dry with a wad of paper towels. Sprinkle the thing with a little salt, rub it in a bit, then pop it in the fridge. You should turn/rotate at least once per day for a 2 week aging. If you are only doing a 3 day age, turn/rotate every 12 hours or so.
Dry-aging won’t help a bad piece of cow flesh taste much better. I would never dry-age a “select” piece of meat (commonly on the grocers’ shelves). Start with a better grade and your efforts will be rewarded.
Don’t go overboard though. Prime beef is really expensive. A lot of it is already aged when you get it. I have found that “choice” strikes a good balance. The taste comes out pretty beefy. For ribeyes, I usually only use salt and pepper to season (about an hour before they go on the grill). Let them get up to 60 degrees before you grill them. A 1-1/2 thick steak takes a bit less than 4 minutes a side for medium/medium rare.
My hubby has been bugging me to buy a boneless rib so he can dry age it in the fridge. But his directions say 54F, not 34F. And none of the salt, etc., that you used. Just cheesecloth that you change once a day.
First question: How do you get your fridge to 34F? And how does it affect everything else? That’s darn near freezing temp.
Did you buy a whole boneless rib, or just a big roast?
Where did you get the instructions?
Last, how was the taste? We had aged meat in NJ that was to die for; now we’re in the south where all they know how to do is produce pork. The beef is terrible — no flavor because it’s not aged. Even our local upscale butcher has terrible beef. We’re used to having it aged and we miss that flavor but can’t afford to have our steaks shipped to us.