I’m experimenting with dry aging beef at home in a regular refrigerator. Admittedly, mine is given over to beef, butter, eggs, bacon when I have it, and water. It’s still a regular refrigerator and does get opened from time to time every day.
I’ve used UMAI Dry Aging Bags to start the process on a fifteen-pound strip loin for NY Strip Steaks!
The process is easy but pretty specific. After bringing home the cryovac of meat, I had to wash the outside and my hands. I also put on gloves.
Next, you open one end of the cyrovac completely and drain the liquid. You don’t dry the meat, it helps “stick” the UMAI bag to the meat itself, which is important.
I put the UMAI bag around the opened cyrovac and then pulled the original bag out, leaving the meat in the UMAI bag. Next, I tried and failed to seal the UMAI bag with my vacuum sealer. These bags ARE NOT vacuum seal bags, and instructions are included. I did manage on my second try, though.
I popped it in the fridge on a cooling rack with the fat cap side up. This helps the bag seal on the meat side as it is pressed down by the full weight of the strip loin.
The image at the top shows the fat cap side after a couple of days. It’s hard to see, but the bag has bonded to the strip loin. Then, after two days, I flipped the meat over, the second image, and noted that the bag had bonded there as well.
That last shot shows the end of this Choice Grade cut of meat. NY strips are fairly lean. This stip loin shows good marbling for Choice, but I’ll still be eating the steaks, when they are ready, with some butter, maybe lots of butter.
And just when will they be ready? The standard time for this would be thirty-five days. That would be on or about December 1st. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll post updates as the color changes inside that bag, and it gets closer and closer to being totally delicious!