Aging Beef

[Creature Meadow]

Good morning OTT, see a few threads on cooking here so thought I would share a little project I have under way.

I'm dry aging some ribeye roasts.

It will go like this, I have a "control" steak cut from one of the ribeyes prior to aging for comparison. Then the front left ribeye will age for 21 days, the right one 28 days and the back one for 45 days.

I'll trim the pellicle off and slice each into steaks, when it's time is up and freeze. After the longest 45 day one is done I'll pull one of each out of the freezer and cook each one. Myself and 4 other family members will sample each steak with me being the only one who knows what steak is being served. Should be interesting as I'm sure each of us will have our own opinion of which one is best. The 45 day should be more intense with an earthy flavor.

The fridge target temp is 35f, it has controlled well for the first 2 weeks, maintaining a +/- 1f.

The tray under the steaks has 6lbs of salt which is pulling the moisture from the meat and aiding on humidity control and the aging process.

I weighed each roast wen I started and every 7 days thereafter. Each one has lost about 10% mostly occurring in the first 7 days. I'm tracking this til the end.

Curious what the meat will weigh after aging and trimming. My cost was $8.88 a pound. In the end my total weight projecting to be 25% to 30% less thus raising the cost per pound I have to eat. That is fine because I'm looking for quality!

The 2 pics are from day 1 going into the fridge and day 16, it is looking happy to me, note the probe on the bottom left monitoring the temp.

Any aged beef fans here or anyone tried this before?

Have a good weekend and I'll update the post as we move forward of my observations. Looks like May 31st will end the dry ageing phase then the taste test will be set.

Jay

 

[skeets]

Interesting please keep us up date I would love to see the out come and how the meat tastes when you are done

 

[greeno]

I've wanted to do that since we started getting 1/2 cows from the local farmer. Keep us posted!

 

[ehenry]

I"ve done it. Dry aged for 48 days basically same way you are but I did mine whole and not cut in to 3 pieces. Instead, I cut mine in to steaks and saved a roast from the center. I was pleased with the way everything turned out. To me dry aged beef a more concentrated beefy flavor if that's the correct way to describe it.

I'm wet aging a bone-in ribeye now. Its still in the cryo wrap with the USDA ribbon/shield on it. I bought it 4/14.

 

[Creature Meadow]

Hey Skeets I will, been working on this for the last 2 months.

Have a spare fridge in our barn so I cleaned it out then unplugged it. Washed with bleach, let door stand open for a week. Cleaned with vinegar left sitting a week. Plugged in and placed baking soda in trays sit in fridge and freezer areas for a week then one week to get temp set at the 35f. Adjust and wait, adjust and wait.......

Additional data for weight loss after 14 days.
1- 66 oz at 14 days = 56 oz = 15.2 % loss in weight
2- 69 oz at 14 days = 57.5 oz = 16.7 % loss in weight
3- 81 oz at 14 days = 69.9 oz = 13.7 % loss in weight

Next Tuesday, the 21 day roast comes out may have to sample that one

 

[GeoHorn]

I love a good rib-eye steak, lemon-peppered then done over a hot wood fire, splashed with Kikkoman's Soy Sauce just as it's seared on the outside, hot and pink and juicy on the inside.

But the look of those "aged" makes me think I'll stop eating beef. Sorry.

 

[Creature Meadow]

I"ve done it. Dry aged for 48 days basically same way you are but I did mine whole and not cut in to 3 pieces. Instead, I cut mine in to steaks and saved a roast from the center. I was pleased with the way everything turned out. To me dry aged beef a more concentrated beefy flavor if that's the correct way to describe it.

I'm wet aging a bone-in ribeye now. Its still in the cryo wrap with the USDA ribbon/shield on it. I bought it 4/14.

Mine was whole but I wanted to try it at various aging times and to reduce variation used the same roast. One for 21, 28, and 45 days. Local higher end steak houses here use 45 day aging.

A friend described it as nutty and earthy tasting, whatever the heck that means....

 

[skeets]

So did you brine the meat first, or dry rub it in salt? Way back when the mines shut down I was working at a slaughterhouse, custom butchering things like that. They would take a whole steer and hang it in the locker for 2 to 3 weeks at around 34f as I recall, and when the mold got heavy they would wash it off with a vinegar solution dry it and let it hang longer. That meat went to the best places in Da Burgh, places I could never afford to eat. But they claimed it was the best tasting. tenderest meat one could get. It will be interesting to see how your comes out

 

[Tpack]

That looks like select beef. It would have probably been better to do it with at least choice . Just say`n.

 

[RCW]

But the look of those "aged" makes me think I'll stop eating beef. Sorry.

That looks like select beef. It would have probably been better to do it with at least choice . Just say`n.

My grandmother used to say if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything... Well, her ending was a little more colorful and BRUTALLY honest...

I've probably roasted 2,000 whole bone-in prime ribs, and cut another 1,000 into ribeyes or delmonicos. Like GeoHorn, I love a GOOD ribeye... Prime Rib - not so much..

Creature Meadow is experimenting and sharing his experiment with us. I appreciate that!

I watched a TV program (How It's Made?) a few months ago that showed how beef was dry-aged....I was very interested then, and am quite curious how CM's project goes.

Last I would do is say that looks "icky," because after a trim, the end-product will likely look much more appetizing to me than the ribeye in the Styrofoam tray at the store meat case, whether select, choice, or prime.

We get our beef from young local farmer, and the Highlander crosses he raises have the earthy, concentrated beef flavors like dry-aging accomplishes in commercially-raised animals. He learned finishing from his father, a friend who died unexpectedly at 63 a few years ago.

 

[ehenry]

Here are a couple pics of my 48 day dry age.....

 

[Ramos]

If that beef is Select, I'll eat my hat. I don't eat hats and that meat will grade Choice+ or better day-in and day-out.

 

[ehenry]

Ramos, if you're talking about what I aged, it was choice grade.

Creature doing it like you are makes good sense! Good Luck with it.

Hope it turns out like you want it to.

 

[RCW]

Here are a couple pics of my 48 day dry age.....

Oh my, I haven't had supper yet and realized my mouth was watering looking at those pics....I'll take medium rare, PLEASE!!

 

[lugbolt]

The company I work for owns several cattle farms. One of their store managers is co-owner of a slaughterhouse. I asked about aging, and they all said that fresh is best, and there are different kinds of steaks. There's supermarket steaks, there's restaurant steaks, and then there's the "good stuff". I've bought all 3, some aged, some not. The best ones (by FAR!) were still warm from the cow. The prime cut fresh beef that I cooked up was under 2 days old. Slaughtered mere hours before it was packaged in a cooler and brought to me with 47 lbs of other stuff. Right off the farm. Excellent quality, melt in your mouth, didn't need no knife to cut into it. Best I've had-ever-and I growed up in the midwest where they take cattle and corn VERY seriously. Apparently the Texicans know more than the midwesterners do.

 

[skeets]

RCW do you know what he is crossing the highlanders with?

 

[Creature Meadow]

So did you brine the meat first, or dry rub it in salt? Way back when the mines shut down I was working at a slaughterhouse, custom butchering things like that. They would take a whole steer and hang it in the locker for 2 to 3 weeks at around 34f as I recall, and when the mold got heavy they would wash it off with a vinegar solution dry it and let it hang longer. That meat went to the best places in Da Burgh, places I could never afford to eat. But they claimed it was the best tasting. tenderest meat one could get. It will be interesting to see how your comes out

No brine or salt on it, the 6lbs of salt is in the tray under it.

 

[D2Cat]

I've never had an animal slaughtered and picked up the same day.... One week is the minimum they usually offer, but will hang longer upon request.

This is copied from the USDA.

How long should beef hang in a cooler after butchering to get the best meat?

Meat has two major components: muscle fibers which contract and relax, and connective tissue, which basically support the muscle fibers. Muscle fibers usually shorten and stiffen right after slaughter and at the start of rigor mortis. This usually lasts for six to 12 hours in beef cattle.

Cooling the carcass shortly after slaughter will allow the rigor to go only so far. Also as the carcass ages, is hung after slaughter, and the temperatures in the cooler are set properly, there are enzymes within the muscle that are released, causing a further breakdown of connective tissue that will increase the tenderness of the meat. How long should a carcass be hung to allow the enzymes to increase tenderness? Data would suggest 10 to 14 days. There is not much difference in tenderness in carcasses aged 10 to 14 days compared to longer. Many times, small slaughter facilities don't have the cooler space to hang carcasses very long. If the meat is tough to start with, aging will help. If the meat is tender to start with, aging will, in theory, make it more tender.

 

[RCW]

RCW do you know what he is crossing the highlanders with?

I don’t, but I think it varies. Last one looked like an Angus cross. Couple years ago looked Hereford.
I’m just going by looks, so not very scientific.


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[skeets]

Got ya as long as it tastes good,, we have a guy here that raises Angus and we bought some from him,, I dont what he did or didnt do but there was no taste to the meat at all,, looked good but it was as flat as cardboard