Dry aged beef

[mk05]

I believe real warehouses like Allen Bros have very sophisticated systems that are unlike my vegetable crisper. I wouldn't call what I do dry aging. I wrap my steaks in paper towels to absorb blood, exchanging every day, for about 3 days, and grill it. The loss of excess moisture seems to "intensify" the flavor. Any more than that, and the meat hardens (you have to cut it), the steak takes on the fridge smell (lack of cap and fat shield), etc.

Real dry aging requires you to understand the cut, temperature, humidity, and air flow. Now, having tinkered with humidors and vacuum packing, I understand it - it's not really rocket science - what I am saying is that conventional fridges that we have at home just don't support such a process in the truest sense.

Furthermore, from what I have been told, if you're not dry aging for more than 20 days, you're not really getting the true benefits or realizing what dry aging does for you. FWIW, beef aged >20days do taste completely different, as I'm sure you bbq sages are aware.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by mk05

Real dry aging requires you to understand the cut, temperature, humidity, and air flow. Now, having tinkered with humidors and vacuum packing, I understand it - it's not really rocket science - what I am saying is that conventional fridges that we have at home just don't support such a process in the truest sense.

Furthermore, from what I have been told, if you're not dry aging for more than 20 days, you're not really getting the true benefits or realizing what dry aging does for you. FWIW, beef aged >20days do taste completely different, as I'm sure you bbq sages are aware.

This is all basically true, but considering the constraints of using a home fridge shared with food, this is a good almost there solution. The difference between letting a steak setup for 3-7 days is night and day over just unwrapped and cooked. I use to go for the longer periods (like 20 days), but the fridge would dry it out too quick. I have a Tupperware veggie container that allows different levels of moisture loss, but haven't bothered to try it with a whole cute. What I am doing now is good enough for me.