3 replies to this topic

[buddahj]

I was interested in trying this. Does anyone here have any experience with this process? Thanks in advance.

[RC94]

Yes, I learned a way of doing it from Alton Brown's "Good Eats" show.  It works well.  I posted how I do it in my cooking thread here.

[detlef]

RC94, on 08 April 2012 - 12:57 PM, said:

Yes, I learned a way of doing it from Alton Brown's "Good Eats" show.  It works well.  I posted how I do it in my cooking thread here.

The technique you posted is a slick and handy way of accomplishing part of what you get with a dry-aged steak, but it's not exactly dry-aging a steak.

buddah, proceed with extreme caution because you are playing with fire.  You are essentially endeavoring into a process where you rot meat in a specific and controlled manner.  If you can't set up a fridge with the precise humidity and temp, then I wouldn't bother with it.  And, honestly, I still wouldn't.  One, it's not worth doing unless you're aging a big chunk of meat because of how much you have to trim off and throw away.  Two, because of that, you're risking a big and likely expensive cut of meat that, if you screw up, you may end up having to throw away.  There goes the money you saved doing it yourself.

One of the whole foods in my area has a dry age program and, yes, the steaks are bloody expensive.  Of course, much of that expense is due to factors that you'd also be dealing with if you did it yourself.  That is, the shrinkage from drying out and the fact that you've got to cut away all the nasty green meat on the outside.  Doing it yourself doesn't save you any of that.  The only cost that would not get passed on to you if you did it yourself is whatever rent the butcher shop is charging for how long they have to sit on stock.  And, while I don't know what that is, my guess is that it is the smallest factor involved in the cost.

Just something to think about.  There are just things that are cheaper to let the pros do, even if the resulting product costs $25 a lb or more.

[godtomsatan]

I thought this was a thread about marriage.