Thinking about dry-ageing my own beef ... info?

[paintflinger]

Brilliant video Jack.

I think the size of the piece of meat you are dry aging is important. I.e. the typical supermarket cut of steak is likely way too thin. Sorry if I'm saying something way too obvious.

This is proven out by his 100 day dry aged picanha video. By the time he finishes trimming, there's not much left and it tastes pretty funky. Probably would have been fine with a much shorter duration.

Either way, the smaller the piece, the less you should dry age.

 

[stamasd]

Inspired by some of the SVE videos, I dry-aged last year a piece of ribeye using an Umai bag. Did 40 days in the refrigerator, and it was good but not as good as the one I get from my butcher. And the bags were a nightmare to work with. Extremely hard to seal properly; I ended up with an imperfect seal no matter how I tried. That was OK though and the process went through without problems. Like I said, good but not great. It was a full ribeye piece, about 18 pounds so there was a lot of meat left after the trimming.
The next time I'll try to do it without using the bags. I think I'll be able to achieve the same result without the extra expense.
(FWIW don't throw away the trimmed dry pieces. They can be used for various purposes. If you're making your own stock add them to the pot for extra flavor. I use them as treats to train my puppy )

 

[Ufgoodies]

Man, that's one lucky puppy!

 

[stamasd]

Yup.

 

[Villalobos]

never having done it, this is what I've taken away from what I've found. the outer 1/2 inch or so should just be expected to be disposed of somehow as it will not be appropriate for eating (not by people anyways). Should be helpful when determining size. I've also heard it's exceptionally helpful for cuts that are not known for being tender as the curing helps to soften the meat. Someone with experience please let me know if this is correct?

Yes. A whole New York strip makes a good subject. It’s not super tender and the fat cap on top and maybe a quarter inch of the meat is usually what I trim off, so you’re not wasting a lot of steak. The ageing does make it tender and at 28 days for me, it tenderizes without affecting the flavor too much. I have never felt the need to photo document the process, but next time I will There are grades of meat, best being prime, then choice and finally select. I order a whole “choice” strip loin. I have aged prime and select but for the money choice is best for me. Here is a picture of what a whole strip loin looks like. Age with fat side up, then trim that and the side off after ageing, and just the discolored meats and you end up with a fine steak!

 

[Scarry Knight]

I ate the goat and six days in have sliced the Bison and marinated it for the jerky. It did all I expected it too. Dried the flank, firmed it for trimming, started to break down the fat near the edges, which made the silverskin on the untrimmed piece very easy to pull off. No doubt it will have tenderized it as it did the goat. I dont expect a great deal of flavor change from such a short stay.
Marinade is:
2 shots maple syrup
2 shots coconut aminos
2 shots, molasses,
two shots salt Pink Himalayan
Liquid hickory smoke - maybe 1-1/2 T
2 shots homey
Three shots sassafras tea concentrate.
2 shots aronia berry syrup.
3 T chokeberry honey mustard.
3 shots acv
Chopped parsley
Ground fennel seed
Diced onion (added to half)
See the dehydrator thread later for results.