smoking dry aged beef

[michael taylor]

I'm thinking about trying to smoke aged beef, and would appreciate any thoughts, ideas and especially experience.  I age steaks myself to grill (drool) and love them.  Since Ribeye steak aged is excellent I am thinking that a rib roast aged, then smoked would be outstanding.  Since dry aging does remove a fair bit of moisture, I am concerned about drying it out.  Since it is only water loss and not fat I'm not sure it will have any significant effect.

Also, if we have any beef aging experts:  I usually use the cheater cheese cloth 4 day method to age.  Would this method still work for the standing roast, or would I need to alter the aging process.

Dang I'm hungy now.

 

[chef jimmyj]

That method works fine for Roasts and there is no issue with being dry. Here is a thread I posted from my annual New Years Rib Roast...JJ

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/115671/new-years-day-prime-rib-dry-aged#post_745524

 

[mballi3011]

Man oh Man I have been thinking really hard about the dry aging thing. I'm kinda scared to mess up a expensive hunk of meat tho. Now your meat looked awesome there Jimmy. Now I have my refrig back too. I have no more excuses I guess.

 

[chef jimmyj]

I should let you guys know that this is not True Dry Aging unless you purchase Beef from a Butcher that in house slaughters and hangs to start the aging process or purchases Sides that have been hung. Most Store bought Beef has been Cryovac Packed and Wet Aged from the large processors. You can still do the procedure I describe but your meat will not be more tender only slightly more Dehydrated, concentrating and intensifying the Beefy flavor. This flavor is similar to true dry aged beef and very tasty...JJ

 

[diggingdogfarm]

If you can, find someone who dry ages whole sides of good beef.
That's the best way to go and the way we did it for years.


~Martin

 

[daveomak]

The last beef I bought was hung for 21 days at the butcher's cooler.... Tender and delicious....  

 

[piaconis]

Chef Jimmy's method works.  I tried it, and loved the results.

 

[michael taylor]

Update: so far all I hae done is create a bunch if dry tough meat. Not ruined exactly, but less good than a non aged piece. I have done several trials with different cuts (rib eye, strip, etc) and varying times. I'm not sure what is going wrong but it's very disappointing.

 

[mr t 59874]

Here's one I just completed.  Keep in mind that when dry aging, although it may be more tender, flavor will not start to noticeably improve until after 21 days.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/133806/ugly-duckling-dry-aged-salt-crusted-prime-rib-roast-q-view

 

[michael taylor]

Your work up looks great. How do you control sanitation / airflow in order to safely age do that long. I have read that four or five days by the "cheesecloth" method is all one can safely do in a regular fridge.
Even at only a few days my rib roast was dry and tough. How do you prevent such dehydration? With what if anything is the meat wrapped for aging?
Every day I leave the meat in the fridge on a rack wrapped in cheesecloth it gets tougher and dryer while loosing flavor.

 

[mr t 59874]

Your work up looks great. How do you control sanitation / airflow in order to safely age do that long. I have read that four or five days by the "cheesecloth" method is all one can safely do in a regular fridge.
Even at only a few days my rib roast was dry and tough. How do you prevent such dehydration? With what if anything is the meat wrapped for aging?
Every day I leave the meat in the fridge on a rack wrapped in cheesecloth it gets tougher and dryer while loosing flavor.

Thank you, As you can see I have a designated cooler for dry aging.  With two large fans there is plenty of air circulation.  I use one wrap of cheesecloth to hold the roast in shape until it sets up, it is usually left on for the whole aging process.

 I don't understand the five day safety concern if the temperature is maintained and you have good airflow.  A tough outer shell and dehydration is part of the dry aging process. As you can see in my post,  what it looked like and the amount of meat trimmed resulting in a combined 40% loss of total weight. This is why true dry aged steaks are so expensive. 

How do you know your meat is loosing flavor?  The idea of the whole process is to gain flavor. Think twice before adding anything other than salt and pepper to your roast, you can do that at the table.  Enjoy the pronounced beef flavor you have worked so hard to obtain on it's own. Don't cover it up, savor it.

Hope this helps.

Mr. T

 

[desertbulldogs]

i wet age all my beef. i take a nice 6lb peice of loin ribeye and vaccum seal it.i let it sit in fridge for 1 week than take out of bag and wrap in cheese cloth for another week. Now i only aged it for 14 days but i bought a choice ribeye which is already 14 days aged. Turned out incrdible.