# Making Dry aged steak at home



## iwalleymanmn (May 1, 2009)

I love dry aged steaks. I recently used this drybag that I got from drybagsteak.com to dry age steaks at home. I bought a full boneless ribeye at Costco and used my vacuum sealer to vacuum pack it into a drybag. I aged it in my fridge for 21 days. The result was pretty amazing. Even though the ribeye was vacuum packed it dried just like dry aged meat and formed a crust that I trimmed off. The steaks were fantastic buttery, flavorful and tender.
I suppose you can use this bag for other things like making dry cured meats at home. 
Did anyone else try these bags?
Does anyone have any good recepies for home made proscuitto?


----------



## bigbaldbbq (May 1, 2009)

I have never heard of them. I will have to look them up. Thanks for the info!


----------



## azrocker (May 1, 2009)

I actually saw a show on TV where they used cheese cloth and changed it out. This dry bag sounds much easier. I too would like more info!

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/...ig-flavor.aspx


----------



## iwalleymanmn (May 31, 2009)

Man, I have some pics I took of the meat I aged, but the site only allows 97kb upload file, the pics are bigger.


----------



## mballi3011 (May 31, 2009)

More info please. Where do you get those dry bags??? I have been thinking about tring aging steaks for years and you have just re-sparked that want again. I had the pleasure a couple of years ago of eating an aged steak in New York city at a place in brooklyn that you can wait a month for reservations (Delancey's I think) but it was more than fabulous


----------



## DanMcG (May 31, 2009)

Thanks for the info, I'll have to look into these bags.


----------



## bassman (May 31, 2009)

A lot of us here use Photobucket to host our pics.  You can resize them to 640X480 then post.  Works great.


----------



## pops6927 (May 31, 2009)

Create an account on http:\\www.photobucket.com and upload the photos to their site. Then, when your pics appear there in your account, roll over it (don't click) until below it a little box appears with 4 lines of URL's. Click on the bottom one named IMG code, it will turn light blue. Then right-click and when the short menu pops up click on Copy. 
In another folder, bring up SMF and start a post. Paste the URL you copied from Photobucket where you want that photo to appear in your post. Switch back to Photobucket to pick up another URL (copy) then paste it again in your post, and your pics will appear!





BTW, that's PJ, the wonder dog (she's wondering why she's still awake!)

Pops §§


----------



## bbally (May 31, 2009)

They don't work, they just create a dehydrated piece of meat.  As do all the "home tries" at dry aging beef.


----------



## rodinbangkok (May 31, 2009)

As Bbally says this will not work. Dry aging takes place using large primal cuts in a very controlled environment, anything short of this type process is a waste of time and money.


----------



## hcforde (Jun 1, 2009)

While I have never tried this, It may be better than a fresh cut piece but not as good as a so called "properly aged" piece.  But to say it does not work without trying it oneself may be a stretch.  I have also heard from other sources that you cannot just use any vacuum sealer or any bag.  Therefore it may be that the type of plastic used can perform better than we would normally expect it to. Technology is a great thing.

I ran across some paper the other day that once you type on it, the image can not be copied on a copier, again technology doing some great things.  

I would hold my critique until I could taste the same/similar cut side by side.

Just my humble opinion.

HCF


----------



## bbally (Jun 1, 2009)

I agree technology can do amazing things.  

My opinion is that is does not and can not work.  If it had what was needed to create the microbial actions required to dry age, it would need to be a registered product.  It is just a one way membrane for dehydration.


----------



## the dude abides (Jun 4, 2009)

I don't know much about dry aging but thought this was a good explanation of the process from Wikipedia.


*Dry aged beef* is beef that has been hung to dry for several weeks. After the animal is slaughtered and cleaned, either an entire half will be hung, or primal cuts (large distinct sections) will be placed in a cooler. This process involves considerable expense as the beef must be stored at or near freezing temperatures. Also only the higher grades of meat can be dry aged, as the process requires meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. For these reasons one seldom sees dry aged beef outside of steak restaurants and upscale butcher shops. The key effect of dry aging is the concentration of the flavor. The taste of dry-aged beef is almost incomparable to that of wet-aged, with dry-aged being far superior--depending on the duration of aging, with four weeks being a recommended minimum.
The process enhances beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef.
Dry aging of beef is rare in the United States today due to the significant loss of weight in the aging process.
Dry Aged beef is different from wet aged beef, which is typically aged in a vacuum sealed bag, requiring only a matter of days with no loss of weight, and doesn't require the same precision in cooling. In contrast, dry-aging takes several weeks, with a significant portion of the meat mass lost due to mold growth and evaporation.
The process of dry-aging usually also promotes growth of certain fungal (mold) species on the external surface of the meat. This doesn't cause spoilage, but actually forms an external "crust" on the meat's surface, which is trimmed off when the meat is prepared for cooking.
In addition to endogenous enzymes (those found naturally in the beef) which help tenderize and increase the flavor of the meat, these fungal species do so as well. The genus _Thamnidia_, in particular, is known to produce collagenolytic enzymes which greatly contribute to the tenderness and flavor of dry-aged meat.


----------



## lrbaldwin (Jun 7, 2010)

I used the drybag method in May, aged a whole prime ribeye for 24 days.  It turned out incredibly wonderful.  I followed the directions from Chef John.  Aged it in a spare fridge, kept the temp between 35 and 40.

Linda in Powhatan, VA


----------



## fishwrestler (Jun 7, 2010)

Here is the link. Looks and sounds interesting might have to give this a myself. Only downfall to to just trying is"You cannot use a channel-type or Foodsaver-type sealer with DrybagSteak material. It must be a retractable snorkel-type or chamber sealer." $135 just to give it a try Humm

http://www.drybagsteak.com/drybag-sealer-video.php


----------



## aleck (Jun 13, 2010)

Cook's Illustrated did an experiment with dry aging at home complete with a blind test.  The outcome did not exactly match the commercial dry aging, but was still very close.  Here is the article. They do not recommend doing it for more than 4 days due to safety reasons.

"In commercial dry-aging, butchers hold large primal cuts of beef (typically the rib or short loin sections) for up to 30 days in humid refrigerators ranging between 32 and 40 degrees. (The humidity is necessary to prevent the meat’s exterior from drying out too much.) As moisture evaporates, the fat becomes more concentrated, increasing meaty flavor. The dehydration process also triggers the breakdown of muscle proteins, resulting in a dense, more tender texture. At the same time, the breakdown of muscle encourages the formation of amino acids and peptides, which impart a meatier, smokier taste.

To try replicating these results at home on a smaller scale, we bought rib-eye and strip steaks (each $10.99 per pound) and stored them in the back of the refrigerator, where the temperature is coldest. Since home refrigerators are less humid than the commercial units used for dry-aging, we wrapped the steaks in cheesecloth to allow air to pass through while also preventing excessive dehydration and checked them after four days (the longest length of time we felt comfortable storing raw beef in a home fridge).

Their edges looked appropriately dried out, so we pan-seared the home-aged steaks and tasted them alongside a batch of the same commercially dry-aged cuts costing $19.99 per pound. Our findings? Sure enough, four days of dry-aging in a home fridge gave the steaks a comparably smoky flavor and dense, tender texture. As long as you remember to wrap the meat in plenty of cheesecloth, place it on a wire rack for air circulation, and store it in the coldest part of the fridge, you can skip shelling out extra money for commercially aged cow."


----------



## squirrel (Jun 13, 2010)

Great info! I'm a Cooks Illustrated junkie, LOL! I get their mags and also subscribe to their online mag.  I tried their method and it really does work. It is not quite as good as the real deal, but it's better than not doing anything at all. I've also heard of the vacuum bags, but I think it's a bit misleading to say it is "dry aging" when in fact that method is considered "wet aging", again, it's better than doing nothing, but not the real deal.


----------

