How Long Can You Age Beef? The Ultimate Guide to Aging Beef for Tenderness and Flavor

Timing

Okay, Im nearly convinced. How long should I be aging my meat for?

I had tasters taste steaks aged for various lengths of time. In order to ensure that all steaks were fairly ranked and that differences in actual cooking were minimized, I cooked them to 127°F (53°C) in a sous vide water bath before finishing them with a cast iron pan/torch combo. Steaks were tasted completely blind.

The results showed that aging time was largely a matter of personal preference, but heres a rough guide to what happens over the course of 60 days:

• 14 days or less: Not much point. No change in flavor; very little detectable change in tenderness. Very few people preferred this steak.
• 14 to 28 days: The steak starts to get noticeably more tender, particularly toward the higher end of this scale. Still no major changes in flavor. This is about the age of a steak at your average high-end steakhouse.
• 28 to 45 days: Some real funkiness starts to manifest itself. At 45 days, there are distinct notes of blue or cheddar cheese, and the meat is considerably moister and juicier. Most tasters preferred 45-day-aged steak to all others.
• 45 to 60 days: Extremely intense flavors emerge. A handful of tasters enjoyed the richness of this highly-aged meat, though some found it a little too much to handle for more than a bite or two. Ed Levine said of the 60-day steak, “I may have hit my aging threshold.” It is rare to find any restaurant serving a steak this well-aged.*

*I know of only two in New York: Minetta Tavern, which has an 80-day steak, and Eleven Madison Park, which once served slivers of a 120-day-aged steak as part of its tasting menu.

What Causes Flavor Change?

So really, aged meat doesnt lose much moisture. But, wait a minute, havent I read that aged steaks can lose up to 30% of their weight in water? Isnt that one of the reasons why aged steak is so expensive?

Dont believe everything you read. That 30% figure is deceptive at best, and an outright lie at worst. Yes, its true that if you dry-age an untrimmed, bone-in, fat-cap-intact prime rib, youll end up losing about 30% of its total weight over the course of 21 to 30 days or so. What they dont tell you is that the weight is almost exclusively lost from the outer layers—that is, the portion of the meat that is going to be trimmed off anyway, regardless of whether its aged or not.

Has it never struck you as not just a little bit odd that the aged ribeye steaks in the butchers display arent 30% smaller than the fresh ribeyes in the display? Or that aged bone-in steaks are not stretching and pulling away from their bones—I mean, surely the bones arent shrinking as well, are they?

The fact is, with the exception of the cut faces that need to be trimmed off, the edible portion of an aged prime rib is pretty much identical to that of a fresh prime rib.

Okay, lets say Im convinced about that. Does that mean that the whole idea that “meat flavor is concentrated” in an aged steak because of dehydration is also false?

Im afraid so. Its a great idea in theory, but several facts dont support it.

First, theres simple visual inspection: A trimmed steak cut from an aged piece of beef is pretty much the exact same size as a trimmed steak cut from a fresh piece of beef.

In addition, I measured the density of beef aged to various degrees against that of completely fresh meat. To do this, I cut out chunks of meat of identical weights from the centers of ribeyes aged to various degrees, making sure to exclude any large swaths of fat. I then submerged each of these chunks of meat in water and measured their displacement. What I found was that meat aged to 21 days displaced about 4% less liquid than completely fresh meat. A slight increase, but not much. Meat aged all the way to 60 days displaced a total of 5% less—showing that the vast majority of moisture loss occurs in the first three weeks.

Whats more, once the meat was cooked, these differences in density completely disappeared. That is, the less aged the meat was, the more moisture it expelled. Why is this? One of the side effects of aging is the breakdown of meat protein and connective tissue. This makes the meat more tender, as well as causing it to contract less as it cooks. Less contraction = less moisture loss.

When all was said and done, in many cases, the meat that was 100% fresh ended up losing even more liquid than the dry-aged meat.

Finally, a simple taste test was the nail in the coffin: Meat dry aged for 21 days (the period during which the largest change in density of the internal meat occurs) was indistinguishable from fresh meat in terms of flavor. The improvements were in texture alone. It wasnt until between the 30- and 60-day marks that real, noticeable changes in flavor occurred, and during that time period, there was essentially no change in internal density. Thus, moisture loss is not tied to flavor change.

So why does meat thats being aged stop losing moisture after the first few weeks?

Its a matter of permeability. As meat loses moisture, its muscle fibers get more and more closely packed, making it more and more difficult for moisture under the surface to continue escaping. After the first few weeks, the outer layer of meat is so tight and tough that it is virtually impermeable to moisture loss.

Take a look here:

You can see that the layer of dried meat in a four-week aged piece of beef is as thick as one aged for over eight weeks. No matter how long I aged the steak, the waste was about the same—just about a centimeter from the exterior cut faces.

If its not moisture loss, what factors do affect the flavor of aged beef?

A couple of things. The first is enzymatic breakdown of muscle proteins into shorter fragments, which alters their flavor in desirable ways. But this effect is completely secondary to the far more important change that occurs when fat is exposed to oxygen. Its the oxidation of fat, as well as bacterial action on the surfaces of the meat, that causes the most profound flavor change—the funkiness you get in meat that has been aged for over 30 days.

Its true that much of this funky flavor is concentrated on the outermost portions of the meat—the parts that largely get trimmed away—and, for this reason, if you want to get the most out of your aged meat, its vitally important that you serve it with the bone attached. Unlike the fat cap, which is completely removed and discarded, the outer areas of bones will still house tons of oxidized fat and affected meat. The aromas from this meat reach your nose as youre eating, altering your entire experience. Lovers of aged steak also prize the spinalis (again, thats the outer cap of meat on a ribeye) for its richer, more highly-aged flavor.

How long should you dry age your beef?

FAQ

What’s the longest aged beef?

Using a method thought up by his father and grandfather, Alexandre Polmard blows air over his steaks cut from his Blonde d’Aquitane cattle at speeds of almost 75 miles per hour and temperatures of -45°F to cause the meat to “hibernate.” And Polmard lets them hibernate for up to 15 years.

How do you age beef without it spoiling?

Steaks are aged by placing them in a controlled environment with low temperature and humidity, which helps develop flavor without spoiling. How do they dry age steaks? Steaks are dry aged by placing them on racks in a fridge, allowing them to naturally tenderize and intensify flavor over time.

How long can beef hang to age?

Typically by 7 to 10 days, most of the advantages of aging has been achieved. There is a consumer trend for beef that has been aged longer, usually 14 to 21 days, but could be as long as 35 days. Beef that has been aged longer is often called dry-aged beef.Oct 21, 2022

What is the longest you can wet age beef?

In conclusion, wet aged beef maintains ‘acceptable’ microbial loads for 5–8 weeks, irrespective of product line and without any deterioration in its quality.

How long should beef be aged?

Examine the color of the meat prior to storing. The color is directly related to the tenderness of the beef and how long the aging process should last. If your beef is darker, it does not need to be aged more than a week. Beef that is lighter in color should be aged more than 7 days, but no longer than 30 days.

Can you age beef at home?

You may be tempted to age beef at home. You could take a vacuum-packed primal cut (from which market cuts are taken) from the butcher and put it in the refrigerator for two weeks in hopes of producing a really tender piece of meat. However, aging needs to be done at precise temperatures and humidity under controlled circumstances.

How long does aging beef take?

Many, in fact, have taken to aging their own beef. This can be a risky job if you don’t know what you are doing and you need a good sense of smell. If your aged meat doesn’t smell right, throw it out. Aging takes about 11 days before you see much improvement in the flavor of the meat.

How long does beef last?

Everyone ages beef. Every single piece of meat produced in the US is aged. Be it for 5,7,15,17 or 40 days. The longer it is aged for, the more tender the meat will be and the more expensive. The average supermarket will age beef anywhere from 5-17 days. High end beef (CAB, G1, etc) will be aged for 30 days, at-least.

How do you age beef?

There are two methodologies to age beef: Wet-Aging and Dry-Aging. Wet-aging beef is the most common. It is the dominant mode of aging beef in the U.S. and UK today and popular with producers, wholesalers and retailers because it takes less time. Typically, wet-aging will only take a few days and there is no moisture loss.

Should you dry age beef?

Save money – Dry aged beef costs a fortune in restaurants. Do it yourself for a fraction of the cost. Flavor control – Choose the exact dry aging time for your preferred intensity of flavor. Know your meat – Be certain of the source and quality of meat when you dry age it yourself.