35-day old Dry-Aged Ribeye

[Lordkifar]

So back in November, my buddy and I decided to dry-age our own beef and encouraged by the fact that UMAI bags have had great success and there were numerous good examples on the Brethren, plus coupled to the fact that we are both somewhat intelligent people, we decided to give this a go. We dry-aged rib-eye steak….well the choice was ribeye or striploin and we figured the rib-eye will be meatier and juicer.

We got our rib-eye from Costco and we went for AAA beef. A lot of people say AA (equivalent of choice in Canada I think) works just fine but we figured, we want some more marbling than usual.

We sealed it and into the fridge in my garage, which does not see much traffic

After a couple of days, it started looking like this

Took it out after 35 days and it looked like this

We decided it would be easier to slice the whole thing up and then individually clean steaks.

Here is a pic of a trimmed one. My buddy went a bit hard on the trimming but then I figured out that the waxy outside comes apart from the meat very easy. Just insert the deboning knife and go around the perimeter of the steak and you can remove the whole waxy part as one piece.

We had to of course do a taste test. Rubbed with olive oil and kissed with coarse salt and pepper….It was incredible!!

Will definitely repeat this again :grin:

 

[el_matt]

Very nice!! Are the bags reusable?

Matt

 

[Monte Cristo]

Looks, great. I soooo want to do this.

 

[BillN]

Looks delicious, nice job.

 

[Lordkifar]

Very nice!! Are the bags reusable?

Matt

No they aren't.....they stick to the meat and really can only be ripped off. They are 6-8$ a bag if i remember so not too bad as a cost.

 

[Titch]

Looks great, I hope you roasted the trimmings and made gravy from them.
Thats how I trim mine BTW, just like skinning the meat

 

[bgross88]

Quick question; in researching UMAI bags, could one also use a Food Saver/Food Saver bags to attempt this? Or are the bags made of a different material that Food Savers?

Thanks!

 

[cowgirl]

Looks great!
I'm a huge fan of these dry aging bags...and ribeyes are my favorite. Yours looks delicious! :grin:

 

[TedW]

I like the dry aging a lot, but I only go commando... with no bag.

I have yet to see a world class steak house picture of their aging rooms with bags.

 

[Lordkifar]

Looks great, I hope you roasted the trimmings and made gravy from them.
Thats how I trim mine BTW, just like skinning the meat

Well...no....the brown trimming didn't look too appetizing so my buddy and I didn't do anything with them. Perhaps it could be something to try next time.

Quick question; in researching UMAI bags, could one also use a Food Saver/Food Saver bags to attempt this? Or are the bags made of a different material that Food Savers?

Thanks!

These are not foodsaver bags. They are special bags, like a membrane, which allows moisture to escape all while preventing rotting and decay.

I like the dry aging a lot, but I only go commando... with no bag.

I have yet to see a world class steak house picture of their aging rooms with bags.

I never tried commando and honestly I am not sure I would simply because of the potential smell that some people have mentioned when aging without a bag. Besides, I don't trust my old fridge so for now in bags but perhaps I will try one in the future.

 

[TedW]

There's no smell. You're not rotting the meat. It's clean and dry, which is why folks use the outer meat for stew.

People very mistakenly consider dry-aging to be a controlled rot. This is not the case, as microbes are not involved in this.

 

[sleebus.jones]

There's no smell.

Yep. I've done commando and there's really no smell to mention.

 

[cyberstrategist]

I need to look into this...

 

[Lordkifar]

There's no smell. You're not rotting the meat. It's clean and dry, which is why folks use the outer meat for stew.

People very mistakenly consider dry-aging to be a controlled rot. This is not the case, as microbes are not involved in this.

Yep. I've done commando and there's really no smell to mention.

That is actually very good to know. Frankly if it can be done without the cost of a bag, I am all for it especially as shipping UMAI bags to Canada adds 14 USD. I do have a stock of a few bags to use up but afterwards I would be perfectly happy to go commando if there is no smell and if it can be feasible in my regular fridge.

Any particular settings for the fridge apart of 34-38F? Is humidity control required and if so, what humidity levels would be needed?

 

[TedW]

I need to look into this...

YES you do! It's really great

 

[TedW]

There are 3 things that you need in order for dry aging to work.

Temperature - This needs to be in the 33-36 degree range.
Moisture - 65-85% is ideal.
Air Movement - You want a little bit of air moving through. Not much. Like a little computer fan.

Keep a bowl of water with a washcloth to wick water up out of the water bowl, where it can evaporate more easily to keep the humidity (Rh) up. Lower shelves are better for meat placement, as it's more humid down there.

You can do 30 days, and that's sort of the threshold of where it's getting distinctly tastier than fresh. 45 days is better.

 

[Lordkifar]

There are 3 things that you need in order for dry aging to work.

Temperature - This needs to be in the 33-36 degree range.
Moisture - 65-85% is ideal.
Air Movement - You want a little bit of air moving through. Not much. Like a little computer fan.

Keep a bowl of water with a washcloth to wick water up out of the water bowl, where it can evaporate more easily to keep the humidity (Rh) up. Lower shelves are better for meat placement, as it's more humid down there.

You can do 30 days, and that's sort of the threshold of where it's getting distinctly tastier than fresh. 45 days is better.

That is some great information. Thanks!

 

[RolandJT]

BTW--Even if you can't dry age 30-45 days, it is definitely worth it to do as little as 3-4 days.

At that point, you're mainly just reducing excess water and really drying out the outside, but that is definitely worth it.

I see pretty dramatic results just by putting a weekend roast in Tuesday or Wednesday night.

Try this if you are concerned--start with 3 days and build up as you get comfortable to the 30-45 cited here