How Long Is Prime Beef Aged
Yous've probably been to a fancy steakhouse where dry-anile steaks were on the menu. But if you're like me, you lot likely passed on them because one) dry out-aged beef is a bit pricier, and two) you didn't exactly know what it meant for a steak to be "dry-aged" in the showtime place.
Afterward today you'll understand what happens to a steak when it'southward dry-aged (and why an anile steak consequently costs more).
What Is Dry-Aged Beef?
The steak you typically consume is fresh. It'southward cherry-red and full of moisture, which makes it dainty and juicy.
A dry-aged steak is, every bit you surely guessed, anile before eating. You tin find steaks that have been dry out-aged from 7 to fifty-fifty upward to 120 days. The most mutual timeframe for a steak to be dry out-aged is 30 days. The meat doesn't spoil during this time, because you lot historic period it in weather that tightly control the levels of moisture and bacteria.
During the dry-aging process, moisture is fatigued out of the meat. This causes the beefiness flavor to become fifty-fifty beefier and more flavorful. What's more than, the aging process causes the beef's natural enzymes to break down the connective tissue in the meat, making it more tender. A chaff of fungus which grows on the outside of the meat while it ages furthers this tenderization process, while adding a nice, corn-like flavor to your beefiness (yous scrape this fungal chaff off before cooking).
Dry-aging is basically a controlled decomposition of the meat, which sounds kind of gross, just results in a meat that is 1) more flavorful and ii) more tender.
The longer a piece of beef has been dry out-aged, the more flavorful and tender information technology will be.
In his bookMeat, celebrity butcher and old podcast guest Pat LaFrieda gives a squeamish explanation of how the flavour and tenderness of a steak changes depending on how long it's been dry out-aged, which I've condensed and summarized beneath:
7 days: Collagen has just begun to break downwards, just the steak won't have the season or texture qualities that you look for in a dry out-aged steak. Steak is not sold as "aged" at this stage. The meat is still fairly vivid, but it will darken every bit it ages and dries.
21 days: The steak loses 10 percent of its weight in the first three weeks through evaporation. The water seeps out the front and the back of the meat, simply the fat and os on the sides of the steak make the sides waterproof. Because meat shrinks, the steak will get more concave every bit it ages. Although the fat doesn't shrink, it does darken in the aging process.
30 days: This is the almost commonly requested age in steaks. The steak has developed the flavour and texture qualities associated with dry-aged meat: information technology is very tender, with a flavor best described as a mix of buttered popcorn and rare roast beef. At this indicate, the steak has lost 15 percent of its total weight.
45 days: The steak has a little bit more funk than the one aged xxx days. Y'all'll get-go noticing white striations in the meat which is a mixture of mold and common salt. The steak has lost only a fraction more weight, and the season of the fat changes earlier the meat does, so it'due south important non to trim off all the fat before you cook information technology.
90 days: The white crust develops even more than. This crust protects the meat the same way a rind does with cheese. The exterior crust is shaved off the meat before it is sold.
120 days: Only a handful of very loftier-end restaurants buy steak that has been anile this long. The steak has lost 35 percent of its original weight. A steak aged this long has a very funky season and is too very expensive, and then it'southward for someone who really appreciates an unusually intense beef flavor.
A few months ago, I decided to finally requite dry out-aged steak a try. While well-nigh grocery stores don't sell it (due to the time and money toll involved; more on that below), Reasor's, a local grocery concatenation here Tulsa, does. I bought a steak dry-anile for 30 days and a fresh steak to compare the two.
Fresh steak on the left; dry out-aged on the right.
If you're ownership dry-aged steak from a grocery shop, you lot'll want to cook it that day. Letting it sit in your fridge for a while will put the dry-aging process off-kilter. By letting it sit, it's crumbling some more, albeit in sub-optimal conditions.
The dry-aged steak definitely tasted beefier and had that slight buttered popcorn flavor that LaFrieda described. Information technology was likewise much, much more than tender than the fresh steak.
To me, the dry out-aged steak didn't sense of taste meliorate than the fresh steak; it was just . . . different. I probably wouldn't become out of my way or fork over extra cash for a dry out-anile steak at a restaurant. But that's just me.
Why Is Dry out-Aged Beefiness More Expensive?
You're going to look to spend a few more dollars for a dry-aged version of a steak. Why?
Considering the process of getting it to that state takes a long fourth dimension and requires special temperature, humidity, and air-flow controlled refrigerators. The fridges besides have to be sterile and not have any bacteria in them. If the temp or humidity is too high or too depression, the meat will spoil or not dry out-historic period correctly.
More TLC = More $$$
Can I Dry-Age Beef at Dwelling?
Yep, only it takes a lot of work.
There are guides out there that show you lot how y'all can dry-age steak at home. Some guides merits you lot can practise it in your regular fridge by putting the meat in layers of cheesecloth and letting it sit down for a few days. Merely can you actually?
I asked Pat LaFrieda well-nigh this during my podcast interview with him last year, and he said this:
"Information technology'south most impossible to do at home, unless you lot have a refrigerator that was defended to that, and one in which you could read the internal temperature of the refrigerator, and the humidity. The humidity'south got to be controlled. We take several systems that accept the moisture out of the air. Information technology's very difficult to do at abode . . . It'south not worth your time."
The inconsistent temperature and humidity in your refrigerator from regularly opening and closing the door will upset the dry-crumbling procedure and cause unwanted and unhealthy bacterial growth. What'southward more than, the meat will likely soak upward flavors inside of your refrigerator. You've probably eaten unwrapped butter that's been sitting in your refrigerator. It tastes similar . . . fridge. And it'due south gross. Your meat will likely taste similar that sitting in your fridge for several days or even weeks.
If you are going to dry-age meat at home, y'all'll want to make a special fridge just for that procedure. Here's a YouTube video of some guy'south version of that.
Unless you plan on making dry-aging beefiness your hobby (like home-brewing beer or roasting coffee beans), y'all're improve off only buying it from the store.
Heed to my podcast with Pat for a primer on all things meat:
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Source: https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/food-drink/a-guide-to-dry-aged-beef/
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