# Letting meat age?



## Hunter333

Been reading a thread on how long to let a deer hang before processing. Made me remember a show that Emeril did that talked about his aged ribeye. They let it sit uncovered in the walk in for what seemed like an unGodly amount of days before cooking it up. "Best steak you will ever have" or something like that he said. Wondering if anyone hear ages their steaks this way and if so, for how long?


----------



## ESOX

I age all my beef. Keep in mind there is a fine line between aging and rotting.LOL The main purpose of aging is really dehydration and allowing the naturally occouring enzymes in the meat to have time to tenderize it. An amazing percentage of a fresh cut of meat is water. By aging the beef, you are concentrating the flavor and enhancing tenderness. How do I do it? 
I use a good quallity thermometer and set the basement fridge till the bottom shelf is 34 degrees F.
Weigh the cut to be aged.
Place meat on a platter and cover with a light weight towel.
let it sit there for a minimum of five days. You want the meat to lose at least 10% of its weight.
There might be some harder spots on the outside that you will want to trim off before cooking.

With any cut, allow it to reach room temperature before cooking.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I like to do roasts in the following fashon:

Rub the meat with garlic powder and black pepper. Coat the roast with canola oil. then salt well with kosher salt.

Place roast in a 200 degree F oven. 
When the meat reaches 118 degrees F in the center, pull it out, cover it with foil and let it rest untill the internal temp quits rising.
if you are going to use an herb crust or something like that, apply it after the temp quits rising.
Turn the oven as hot as it gets. Give it adequate time to really get there.
Uncover meat and put it back in for 10-15 minutes, untill it is nicely crusted.
The meat will come out uniformly pink from just under the crust to the center, it will look just like something you get from a great restaraunt.
A little time consuming, but worth it.


----------



## Hunter333

I have never been impressed with any roast that I have eaten..... But after reading your method ESOX I think that I will give it a try! What is the highest SAFE temp to age meat? I only have one fridge and it will not get to 34 degrees. Then again, I have a little "college" fridge in the garage but it is full of beverage. Perhaps I should consume the beverage just for the sake of making room for a good steak


----------



## mwp

Thats just great esox,10 minutes before lunch and starting to drool.I'm leaving now,where is the nearsest "Sign of the Beefcarver"


----------



## ESOX

Age it just above freezing. Look at it this way, the beer on the top shelf will be COLD while you are waiting for the roast.


----------



## Hunter333

I believe a trip to the butcher is in order after school today  The little fridge gets cold enough to freeze so I will have to keep an eye on it.


----------



## ESOX

Hence the thermometer for the fridge. they are inexpensive, While you are at the store get the Pyrex digital meat thermometer (about 15 bucks) it has an alarm that will go off when the meat reaches the desired temp.


----------



## Hunter333

Oh darn, a good reason to buy something for my kitchen in order to make sure that food is handled SAFELY


----------



## FIJI

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_meats.html

http://www.goodcooking.com/steak/aging/aging.htm

http://www.meatscience.org/meetings/RMC/porkph/lonergan.pdf

http://savell-j.tamu.edu/tenderization.html

http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~ckerth/671/Muscle to Meat.pdf


Catch me at a MnG sometime and I'll tell ya ALL ya want to EVER know about actin/myosin bonds in muscle tissue and the meat aging progess (part of my degree from MSU was to be a USDA Federal Meat Inspector !)

Warning......ya better catch me before about the third round of barley pops if ya want the 'splanation to make sense !! :lol:


----------



## Hunter333

Why in Gods name would anyone read those for fun???? I GLANCED one or 2 and found ribeye should be aged 12-28 days at 34 degrees..... Man that was some awful reading!!:lol:


----------



## FIJI

are the layman's versions !!!



Ya want I should zip and send ya the DETAILED technical stuff !!??? :tdo12:


----------



## Hunter333

NO NO NO!!! Those are hard enough to read!!:lol:


----------



## Hunter333

Put a nice ribeye in the fridge on Friday. It is killing me not to eat it right now so I hope the wait is worth it. I forgot to ask the butcher how long it had been in the counter so is there a general rule out there that butchers go by? By that I mean is it reasonable to figure the steak was a day or two old or not?


----------



## ESOX

TTT for Thunderhead.


----------



## WALLEYE MIKE

I got a front quarter a few years back from a store. It hung in the cooler for over a week. Best meat I ever had.

If you find markdown meat at a store, let it age for a few more days even if its more brown on the outside.


----------



## Spanky

remember , you guys are talking about DRY aging beef, not pork or poultry.

Also keep the humidity down and not let the meat sit in a puddle. Moisture is bad news!


----------



## Thunderhead

ESOX said:


> TTT for Thunderhead.


Thanks Paul 

BTW, I let my deer hang for 3 + weeks before I cut'em.


----------



## walleyeman2006

you want old school lol let it mold ya let it mold .....if it molds white u can cut it off and eat it if it aint white dont eat it......it was done too warm......and yes ive had both beef and venison aged like that will i ever try to do it myself NO....but its fork tender lol.....i had to post on this one not sure whay but i had too.....


----------



## Due51

I normally let my whole deer hang for 5 days and have been happy with the results. 

Recently, however, I butchered a deer and set the cuts in my basement fridge (covered) because I had a lot going on and couldn't get to it. This past weekend, I finished butchering and packaging. I noticed a LOT of blood on the platters. The meat seemed very soft and tender. I took a cut upstairs and cooked it up in a skillet. It was fantastic. 

In the future, I will be aging my venison in the frigdge AFTER it's cut up.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## alex-v

Read up on "wet aging" versus "dry aging".


----------

