Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Dry aged beef

So, a few weeks ago, while browsing Farcebook Marketplace, I came across a BNIB dry ager.  It was a prototype that had been featured on Shark Tank.  Got it for a pretty good price and decided to try it. Got a decent prime rib from my local butcher, and today it was aged 33 days.  For comparison, I had an exceptional prime rib I got at the grocery store a couple weeks ago when they were on sale.  I cut both into 2” thick steaks and did them reverse-seared on my charcoal grill.


I lost a lot of trim from the dry ager.  Doing it again, I would be sure to remove the cap as air got into the space between the cap and the main roast and ruined a lot of meat.  I probably lost 50% in trim, which I expected a certain amount of loss, anyway.  


You could tell the tenderness of the dry aged, just by the feel.  It was soft to the touch, almost spongy.

Dry aged


Grocery beef - well marbled.

Definitely a difference in taste and texture.  The control was a quality cut from the local grocery, and I wish I had many more, as I’d dry age it, too.  I’ll try a strip loin next, as there will be less loss.  

Dry age grilled



Grocery beef grilled - you can see it lost a lot of juice while resting



Grocery beef on top, dry aged on bottom.  Again, you can see the amount of juice the grocery beef lost while resting.



So, an interesting experiment.  Only real hazard of the night was a bunch of Ukrainians ate jars of my fermented dill pickles with vodka. I’m down to one jar left!!

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I’ve dry aged full rib eye loins for 45 days

Flavor didn’t impress me

Weight loss turned 15$/lb meat into 30$/lb meat.

I’ve found simply buying USDA Prime and WET aging in the cryovac is better

Looks good.


If you netflix, theres a series about grilling / bbq.. forget the name.. 6 episodes..


One was about an australian chef that does steaks..

Dry aged some for 120 days… basted with beef fat each day…

We've done whole strips and whole tenderloins several times.

I think max was 40 days, but typically would do around 30 days, start at Thanksgiving for Christmas.

Always fantastic. Everyone raves about it. Definitely imparts a stronger flavor, which I think helps most domestic beef.

Wish it worked for game meat.

Don't need a special setup, I just put it on the bottom shelf of my second fridge.

How did the dry aged taste?

More robust flavor than a traditional cut of beef. More tender, obviously, but the flavor takes it up a bit. It's worth it.

TimberRunner,


eh76, one of our old campfire friend good guys, has been dry aging beef for several years now. He's got it down pretty good. A lot of the ones he told me about, he aged around 45 days or so, IIRC.

Out of curiosity, how often do you and your family eat beef?

The past 6 or 7 months, a lot. I just finished a sirloin steak for lunch.

Do you eat dry aged every time you eat beef or only on special occasions like....a Wednesday?


I have had some dry aged...but I don't think I could eat it all the time.

I'm the same way with Wagyu, Jim. It's so rich I can only eat a small portion of what I normally would. The dry aged is the same. I'll reserve it for special occasions. Plus, it takes a long time and I can only do one or two pieces at a time anyway.

Yes, special occasion. Usually Christmas or New Years and maybe one other time a year. It take a lot of fore thought.