#dry aged

If you’ve had the good fortune of tasting dry-aged beef, then you know that it has a remarkable depth of flavor. Unfortunately for those of us who don’t have a high-end butcher or serious steakhouse nearby, dry-aged beef can be hard to come by without involving FedEx and a big credit card charge. But the good news is that if you have a refrigerator, you can dry-age beef at home.

Why dry-aged beef tastes better

All fresh beef is aged for at least a few days and up to several weeks to allow enzymes naturally present in the meat to break down the muscle tissue, resulting in improved texture and flavor. These days, most beef is aged in plastic shrink-wrap—a process known as wet-aging. Dry-aged beef, on the other hand, is exposed to air so dehydration can further concentrate the meat’s flavor. It’s a more expensive process than wet-aging, however, because the meat loses weight from dehydration, and it also must be trimmed of its completely dried exterior.  

Background

For centuries, dry aging was a common way for butchers to preserve and tenderize the beef. Up to 50 years ago, dry-aged beef was the norm, then with the advent of vacuum packaging along with increased efficiency in beef processing and transportation, lost the dry-aging process. Thus there were small numbers of meat purveyors who actually participated in this type of aging process. However, recently there has been an increased interest in the dry-aging process by a wider array of purveyors and retailers in the United States and Australia. Although there appears to be strong interest in Asian countries in dry-aging, especially high-end restaurants in many countries such as Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are beginning to feature dry-aged beef on their menus. As demand for dry-aged beef increases, it created a high-end niche in the foodservice market in Korea.

In general, there are two forms of beef aging techniques: wet and dry which result in flavor development and more tender meat 

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How to Dry-Age at Home

While it’s possible to dry-age beef at home, it is far more difficult and involved than some guides (including several online) would lead you to believe.

One popular misconception is that you can dry-age steaks by lining them with cheesecloth or paper towels, then leaving them in your fridge for four to seven days. While this method dehydrates steaks (which can heighten flavor intensity), it does not properly age them. Beef needs to be aged for at least 14 days for enzymes to properly tenderize fibers and needs to be aged for at least 21 days for complex flavors to develop. One week in a fridge—cheesecloth or no cheesecloth—won’t make that happen.

Instead, dry-aging takes dedicated equipment, time, and large, primal cuts.

If you want to dry-age beef at home, you’ll need to start out with a large cut of top-grade, USDA Prime beef. Dry-aging needs to be done before a roast is cut into individual steaks, so go with something like a large rib roast, three ribs minimum. Also, be sure to buy a cut that still has a thick cap of fat on its exterior. This way, that side will only lose fat when you trim the exterior at the end of the aging process.

You’ll then need the following equipment: a dedicated refrigerator, a small fan, a tray, and a wire cooking rack.

Note: Do not age beef in a fridge with other foods, as your beef will pick up flavors from those foods and vice versa. Dry-aging in a multi-use fridge will also throw off moisture levels. The need for a dedicated fridge is the biggest challenge and added cost to at-home dry-aging.

First, select your fridge and set up a small, electric fan inside to maintain airflow. Next, put a wire rack on top of a tray. The tray is to collect any drippings. Make sure the bottom of the rack is elevated so that airflow is possible on all sides of the beef.

Set your cut of beef on top of the wire rack. Then, slide the tray, rack, and beef into the fridge and wait. Wait 2-4 weeks if you’re only looking for added tenderness, 4-6 weeks for that famous dry-aged taste, and 6-8 (or more) weeks if you’re looking to develop some seriously funky aromas and flavors. While it is okay to check on your beef occasionally, remember that every time you open your fridge’s door you throw off moisture levels and invite unwanted odors in.

After you have aged your cut for your preferred length of time, remove it from the fridge. At this point, the exterior will be dry, deep-red or purple/brown, and may have developed mold. Trim away any of this meat, as well as any exterior fat. Finally, cut the beef into individual steaks, according to your tastes. We recommend between 1¼ to 2 inches thickness, though some grillers prefer steaks as thick as 3 inches or more.

Remember: when aging at home, it can be hard to adjust and control things like humidity, airflow, and temperature without professional equipment. Because of this, dry-aging at home is generally less precise than professional dry-aging. This means that it can be tough—if not impossible—to replicate the signature taste of a specific restaurant or butcher’s dry-aging process.

A food safety note