Dry Aging Experiment

This is my first try with the DryBag dry aging bags ..
http://www.drybagsteak.com/

This is an Angus New York Strip Loin from the Restaurant Depot. I didn't check the weight, but it is a whole sub-primal. This was aged 16 days in my secondary (beer) fridge which is kept around 36-38 degrees and infrequently opened (I've been drinking a lot of wine.)

Here are the results :

INTENSE beef flavour. Almost a hint of cinnamon (no idea why.) Not a drop of blood spilled when we cut them open. They were juicy and tender, and we let them rest maybe five minutes, but they did not bleed all over the plate. This reminded me of what beef tasted like when I was a kid. (BTW, NO A-1 sauce went on these steaks .. my wife put it on the table out of habit.)

These were 3 minutes per side at 600F in the Ceramic.

Wow, Philly - so far it looks like those dry-aging bags are worth it. And it turns out that my sealer is a snorkel-type sealer so it will be fully compatible with these bags as well. I definitely have to look into these bags.

And please post some results of the cook - I'm dying to see how the steaks turn out!

If you are use to the snorkel sealer, this should be a no-brainer. I did a couple of practice seals with ground beef first to get the technique which requires a little more than the Foodsaver types.

At first I was afraid I had too many air pockets, because I was used to the bags sealing with a true vacuum (which I can now do pretty well.)

The DryBag material did eventually shrink around the meat like a membrane, and it was obviously good enough for a 16-day period. There was no smell at all when I took the meat out .. I expected some kind of rot scent.

Anyway, it was pretty easy, and I'll certainly be keeping a primal aging in my fridge all the time after this. I think a boneless Ribeye is next. Once I get more confident, I might try a bone-in version.

Philly, that looks great! I've seen that lots of people are using the dry bags with really good results. One guy on the BGE forum did a boneless ribeye subprimal for 45 days, then cut it into several small rib roasts.

I just cut into steaks, a NY strip subprimal last weekend that I aged for 21 days; the steaks were really good. This weekend I'm going to cut roasts on the ribeye subprimal that will be aged 28 days. Like you, I'm at the point that I want to have at least one subprimal aging almost all of the time.

I do mine without the bag...commando, if you will, and have been getting great results. I'm running my beer/beef aging fridge at 33 degrees.

Thanks for sharing!

fc

I still have half left after cutting 5 nice steaks, so I think I'll do it as a roast. Amazing that this same stuff sells for $25.00/lb. and more at the high-end stores.

I wasn't about to go much beyond two weeks for my first try. Since nobody is sick today, I'll go 21 next time. I never heard of 45 ! I wonder if it makes much of a difference ?

There's some restraunts that go as long as 70 days. The taste is supposed to be a combination of lamb and blue cheese.

I think that's supposed to be good...

edit: there's a place in Vegas, Carnevino, that has 260+ day dry aged steaks:

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2010/feb/04/10-best-steakhouses-las-vegas/