One of the great ways to experience beef in all its potential is to dry age it. Simply put when you dry age beef, say steaks, a molecular transformation takes place. Water evaporates slowly which gives the beef a “beefier” flavor and as good mold is introduced naturally, a funky, earthy, almost cheesy aroma and light taste develops.
When you go to the fancy steakhouse, there might be a glass case showing off the steaks you can choose from, and maybe a dry aging chamber showing beef hanging and in various stages of color. When the time period you desire is over, you simply cut off the “crust” that forms and you are on your way to a unique steak eating experience.
The cool thing is you don’t need any of that fancy equipment. Your home fridge, or better yet your garage fridge, can do the trick. I have tested out the Sausage Maker DrySteak aging wraps and have found them to be affordable, easy to use, and consistent. The Umai bags are nice as well, and do deliver a great finished result, but the vacuum chamber step, with the fragile bags that come with their kit, are a little touchy.
To be clear, you aren’t limited to just dry aging cut steaks, you can do the same with a full strip loin (essentially the NY cuts removed from the bone but not yet cut into steaks), or a rib roast (bone in or out – this that prime rib cut kept in roast form). Dry aging ribeye steaks are worth trying, but probably won’t benefit as much due to their higher fat/marbling content.
People have tested dry aging steaks for all kinds of timer periods, even over 120 days and more, but the sweet spot is somewhere between your preference and 42 days per the local butcher.
So when you get your beef share from your local farmer, or when you have connected with your local butcher shop, get some steaks and follow the simple directions that are detailed in either the Sausage Maker or Umai dry aging wraps. The simplest way to explain it is to wrap the beef tightly with the provided wraps and either add the supplied net (Sausage Maker) or vacuum seal it (Umai) and then mark your calendar to come back, remove from the wrap, trim off any crust, salt and pepper it the way you like and grill it or griddle it the way you like!
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