Dry Aged Flat?

So I've been doing a lot of searches about aged briskets and can only find stories about wet aged briskets.

Has anyone here actually dry aged a brisket or is there a reason not too? Having done several steaks and prime rib lately, I'm now a huge fan of dry aged beef but am not sure what happens to a dry aged cut when slow cooked.

And to wet aged fans, why? Does it actually do anything to add flavor?

Dry aging enhances flavors in two ways... one the removal of moisture INCREASES the beefy taste or rather makes it more concentrated... second, there are enzymes that break down the fibers and the by product of the waste and effect of the waste gasses from these enzymes enhances flavor... like cheese.

Wet aging ONLY works on the secondary level. It does well though with brisket packers.

On a flat... hold it... chris baker is the only one i know who would probably have a notebook comparing the taste of a fresh, wet aged and dry aged brisket. He is as much a good and thorough scientist as I am a moralizing arsehole.

anyway... i would worry about the fat cap on a packer for long agings like over 20 days. Certain cuts benefit and some don't in my experience. A flat seems like it would not take long to dry out due to its construction. Hell, what do you need another trick for... you are a Texan... leave the tricks to the Yankees. LOL

Remember... Injection and probing is what you do to the wife to help you ignore your brisket for a few hours.

One more thing... there is an up to 40 percent loss already on a brisket. No other cut really has that loss... the slow cook essentially increases the beefiness already... which is why we love it so. This is why briskets wrapped in foil and thereby cooked in their own juices often tend to be inferior to a packer that was rendered and NOT wrapped and the liquid properly taken away (I say properly meaning that no moisture loss apparent although the liquid was removed)

Tenderness? Cook it right... as I know you do... and it is tender. So... what the hey man.

We try and wet age our briskets for 40-60 days. They are noticeably more tender in that age range. My understanding is that the enzymes break down the proteins responsible for rigormortis during the aging process.

Bossmanbbq said:

Ok, my question is does the experation date on the package mean anything then? I would be scared of it spoiling. Haven't tried this but I'm thinking about it just want to study it out first, so SCHOOL me on this Brethren!

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No. It does not mean anything because different stores put different, arbitrary expiry dates on the packages.

What does mean something is the kill date or packing date. That info is only available on the case the brisket comes in. Without this information, it is impossible to know how old your brisket is. I found out that my local Sams uses a kill date + 30 for expiration.

Interesting feedback. For those of you who wet age, ever do a flat? And for how long? I pulled a random one out of the freezer last night and threw it in an unused wine fridge. Figured I'd try aging it since I have nothing better to do. Really just want to try out my shipment of Kingsford Competition.

SmokeInDaEye said:

For those of you who wet age, ever do a flat? And for how long?

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We wet age flats too. The biggest difference comes in the tenderness of the flat. I don't notice a lot of difference on aged points because they are uber-tender at any age. We target 45 days on both flats and packers but will use them from 40-60 days. Occassionally, a piece that I've taken to 60 days is spoiled but usually they're just fine.

The Pickled Pig said:

We wet age flats too. The biggest difference comes in the tenderness of the flat. I don't notice a lot of difference on aged points because they are uber-tender at any age. We target 45 days on both flats and packers but will use them from 40-60 days. Occassionally, a piece that I've taken to 60 days is spoiled but usually they're just fine.

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Any noticable change in appearance for the good ones like with dry aged beef?

I assume the turned ones smell like cr@p and might have some slime growth?

SmokeInDaEye said:

Any noticable change in appearance for the good ones like with dry aged beef?

I assume the turned ones smell like cr@p and might have some slime growth?

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The older they get the more gray meat they have that must be trimmed (especially on the sides) but nothing like dry aging. The spoiled ones smell rank out of the cryo and the smell doesn't dissipate after rinsing. I toss any meat that still smells rank 10 minutes after rinsing. I've not noticed the extra slime since I rinse straight out of the cryo and don't start trimming until I know it's good.

Out of a few more than 100 briskets last year, I had 3 spoil (one was 60 days, one 62 days, and one 67 days old) so it doesn't happen often, especially since I'm trying to use them at 45 days.

Interesting stuff. So the consensus is that dry aging isn't worth the effort it seems.