Aging Meat for Comps

motoeric

motoeric

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Hi,

Does anyone out there age their comp meats (for BBQ or grilling competitions) prior to the event in question? Or do you perhaps buy aged meat (wet or dry)?


Eric
 
I talked to my butcher at Sam's and he is going to wet age some briskets for me in their cooler. He said 45 days is the limit that they are allowed to keep them before they are sold however.
 
Only beef has the potential to improve with age, chicken and pork are just the opposite. Always use the freshest pork and poultry you can find.
 
CajunSmoker said:
I talked to my butcher at Sam's and he is going to wet age some briskets for me in their cooler. He said 45 days is the limit that they are allowed to keep them before they are sold however.
Click to expand...

I found for my style that if I get at least 35 days on them I am good. 45 would be perfect...

that's a good Sam's. I tried that at mine and they ended up giving my "SOLD" boxes awy to someone. Sad part is they were probably going to cook those briskets in a crock pot, make them into corned beef or gring them into hamburger...
 
CajunSmoker said:
I talked to my butcher at Sam's and he is going to wet age some briskets for me in their cooler. He said 45 days is the limit that they are allowed to keep them before they are sold however.
Click to expand...
I would not trust that. You have no control over temp swings etc in his cooler.Better off designating a garage fridge that does not need to be opened
 
Does anyone have any good tips, or a link to info for aging beef?
 
Hi Eric - Might also want to check the search too for additional input..

I think this topic has come up before... maybe a few weeks ago too.
 
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Sledneck said:
I would not trust that. You have no control over temp swings etc in his cooler.Better off designating a garage fridge that does not need to be opened
Click to expand...

I don't see anything wrong with it. As long as they use a large commercial walk-in (which any place like Sam's would certainly have), I don't think there would be a problem with temp swings...in fact it's probably a more steady option than an old garage fridge.

That said, I would go with my own fridge for wet aging if you have the option. The main reason would be what Scottie talked about above...there are too many opportunities for them to walk out of the cooler when they sit there for over a month...even if they are being "held" for you.

Here in KC I have bought aged cases from Scavuzzo's. He keeps them for you for 28 days. I like 35-45 days as well, but I didn't really have the room to keep 7 or 8 big briskets in a fridge that long, so most usually went straight into the deep freeze.
 
The only time I dry age meat for a competition is when I buy imported Danish baby back ribs. The proper way to age them is to find a nice flat rock that gets full sun for most of the day, preferably in a neighbors yard. Spread the racks out on the rock for 3 to 4 weeks, just until the fish smell goes away.

Other than that, I generally try to aim for around 14 days from the kill date to the competition date for "wet" packer briskets. I buy all other pork and chicken as fresh as possible enroute to the comp.
 
Citizen Q said:
The only time I dry age meat for a competition is when I buy imported Danish baby back ribs. The proper way to age them is to find a nice flat rock that gets full sun for most of the day, preferably in a neighbors yard. Spread the racks out on the rock for 3 to 4 weeks, just until the fish smell goes away.
Click to expand...

New guys funny! :biggrin:

Stop over to Cattle Call and let us know who ya are!
 
I read the article posted in the link by Dustaway and the article stated that there would be no increase in tenderness of the beef after 16 days of aging. For the folks who are aging for longer than 16 days, are you doing it for the flavor enhancement or do you think that it is still becoming more tender even after 16 days? (p.s. I found this to be an interesting discussion and have learned something -- thanks!!)
 
we don't age our briskets. I try to get it as close to the competition day as possible.
I'd like to try wet aging though and see what happens.

we don't really like freezing it either. We have frozen them, and didn't see a real difference. Just a personal choice I guess.

p.s. we also don't buy prime brisket... tried it and not only did it not work out for us, I can't see spending the money... same for Kobe or whatever the other one is... but thats just me. wasnt that the point of Q (a long long time ago before competition)... take the crappy cuts and make them yum?

and... that 'new guy' isn't that new, I guess he's just been busy for, like, a year.
Takes a certain kinda someone to unnerstand Sean. One funny dude.
I hope he comes around more often - he's great at shaking things up. :>
 
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