How To Age Beef At Home For Maximum Flavor and Tenderness

The Purpose of Aging

How does aging work?

Good question! First, a brief rundown on why you might want to age meat. Conventional wisdom cites three specific goals of dry aging meat, all of which contribute toward improving its flavor or texture:

• Moisture loss might be a major one. A dry-aged piece of beef can lose up to around 30% of its initial volume due to water loss, which concentrates its flavor. At least, thats the theory. But is it true? (Cue dramatic foreshadowing music.)
• Tenderization occurs when enzymes naturally present in the meat act to break down some of the tougher muscle fibers and connective tissues. A well-aged steak should be noticeably more tender than a fresh steak. But is it?
• Flavor change is caused by numerous processes, including enzymatic and bacterial action, along with the oxidation of fat and other fat-like molecules. Properly dry-aged meat will develop deeply beefy, nutty, and almost cheese-like aromas.

But is aged meat really better than fresh meat?

It depends. I had a panel of tasters test meat aged to various degrees and rank them by overall preference, tenderness, and funkiness. Almost everybody who tasted meat that had been aged for a couple of weeks—the period after which some degree of tenderization has occurred, but seriously funky flavor has yet to develop—preferred it to completely fresh meat.

On the other hand, folks were more mixed about meat aged longer than that. Many preferred the more complex, cheese-like flavors that developed with meat aged between 30 and 45 days. Some even liked the ultra-funky flavors that developed in 45- to 60-day-old meat. Where you lie on that spectrum is a matter of experience. I personally prefer meat aged to 60 days, though beyond that, it gets a little too strong for me.

Okay, Im sold. Why would I possibly want to do it at home when I can order it online or from my butcher?

Two reasons: first, bragging rights. How awesome is that dinner party gonna be where you tell your friends, “Like this beef? I aged it for eight weeks myself”?

Second, it saves you money. Lots of money. Aging meat takes time and space, and time and space cost money. This cost gets passed on to the consumer. Well-aged meat can cost anywhere from 50 to 100% more than an equivalent piece of fresh meat. At home, so long as youre willing to give up a corner of your fridge or you have an extra mini fridge, the extra costs are minimal.

You may have read that, in addition to the time and space required, much of the cost of aged meat comes down to the amount of meat that is wasted—that is, meat that dries out and needs to be trimmed. This is not as big a factor as youd think, and well find out why soon.

I’ve Got Some More Questions!

What about wet-aging? What is it, and does it work?

Wet aging is simple: Put your beef in a Cryovac bag, and let it sit on the shelf (or, more likely, on refrigerated trucks as it gets shipped across the country) for a few weeks. Tell your customers that its aged; sell it at a premium.

The problem is that wet aging is nothing like dry aging.

For starters, there is no oxidation of fat in wet aging, which means that there is no development of funky flavors. A minimal amount of flavor change will occur through enzymatic reactions, but they are, well, minimal. Additionally, wet aging prevents the drainage of excess serum and meat juices. Tasters often report that wet-aged meat tastes “sour” or “serum-y.”

Wet aging can offer the same tenderizing and moisture-retaining benefits as dry aging, but thats about it. In reality, wet aging is a product of laziness and money-grubbing. Its easy to let that Cryovacked bag of beef from the distributor sit around for a week before the bag is opened, allowing it to be called “aged” and sold for a higher price. I dont buy it. When you are being sold “aged” meat, be sure to ask whether its been dry aged or wet aged. If they dont know the answer or are unwilling to share, its best to assume the worst.

The other drawback to wet aging: It cant be carried out for as long as dry aging. It seems counterintuitive, considering that a wet-aged hunk of meat is largely protected by the outside environment. But if even a smidge of harmful anaerobic bacteria makes its way into that bag, the meat will rot inside its cover, giving no indication that its done so until you open it up.

To anyone who was in the office the day I opened up that package of rotten wet-aged beef, my sincerest apologies. As Robyn described it, it smelled like “rotten excrement taking a poop.”

Yeah, it was that bad.

What about those fancy “dry-aging bags” Ive been reading so much about?

Like me, you must have seen those dry-aging bag videos kicking around the internet. The idea is that you seal a cut of beef in some sort of special bag that allows you to safely age it at home. Supposedly, it aids in aging by allowing moisture out, but letting no air in.

I ordered a few kits to test this out myself. Before I even began aging, there were problems. I went through an entire $25.50 kits worth of three bags, none of which were able to form a tight seal using my standard FoodSaver vacuum sealer (and yes, I followed the directions to a T). After ordering one more kit (spending a total of $51 on this), I finally got a single bag to seal, only to discover the next day that it, in fact, was not sealed properly and had leaked:

I decided to let it go anyway, pressing out as much air as possible and trying to ensure good contact between the bag and the surface of the meat, as the instructions recommended.

After aging it for several weeks, I unwrapped the roast and found this:

Not the most promising sight, but I dutifully trimmed away the molded areas, trimmed down the roast, and cut steaks from it. The taste tests I performed showed no significant difference between steak aged in one of these bags and steak aged in the open air. Where I did feel a difference was in my wallet, which was now $51 lighter than it was when I started.

Ill pass on the special equipment.

How to DRY AGE BEEF AT HOME Properly – 45 Day Aged Bone in Ribeye