How is aged meat made

As that happens the mold will extend its life and grow. Moisture loss is one aspect that changes the flavor of dry-aged meat. For those who know their way around a kitchen, Flannery likens the process to reducing a stock to a demi-glace. As more and more moisture evaporates, the flavor of the liquid is getting more and more concentrated.

But chemical changes also affect the flavor. Muscle cells are made of lots of different materials, and chief among them are the proteins that enable the muscles to contract, and the molecules that fuel this process, such as glycogen, DNA and RNA. During dry-aging, these large, flavorless molecules are broken down into smaller, flavorful fragments, explains McGee. And glycogen broken into sugars which are sweet. Dry aging transforms the texture of meat as well. Entire primals, rather than single steaks are dry-aged, but to be a good candidate for dry-aging requires a good protective covering of bone or fat.

Dry-aging is wasteful because every single side of meat that is exposed to air will be breaking down faster than the meat on the inside.

Ribeye is a great cut to dry age. Photo: Kevin Marple. Add Private Note. Saved Add to List Add to List. Add Recipe Note.

Why dry-aged beef tastes better All fresh beef is aged for at least 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.

Before dry-aging. Seven days later and six ounces lighter. How to dry-age beef at home One: Buy a prime or choice boneless beef rib or loin roast from the best meat source in your area. Private Notes Edit Delete. Comments Leave a Comment. I dry age beef loin for at least days. Other cuts as long as days. Leave A Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Member ID. Featured Review. What We're Cooking Now.

Menu A Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner. Before the invention of refrigeration, dry aging whether it was in a chamber, a cellar or a cave was one of the only methods of keeping meat fresh, other than smoking, brining or pickling. It is a time honoured technique that both enhances the flavour and tenderness of meat. In essence, dry aging is when you take a piece of meat and put it into a controlled open-air environment to go through a flavour transformation.

By exposing the meat to air, moisture is pulled out and the natural enzymes in the beef break the muscles down slowly over time, making it more tender. The meat is also subjected to other environmental impacts during the aging process — various molds and yeasts that land on it — all of which play a role in the final flavour profile of the beef.

The longer you age it, the stronger it gets. Think of it like science for meat lovers. The truth is, all meat benefits from some amount of aging. Most of the beef we consume has been wet aged — a process where the meat has been sealed in a bag to retain its moisture. The chemical transformation that happens to beef occurs regardless of whether the meat is left outside of a bag to dry age or inside a vacuum-sealed bag to wet age. The difference comes in the flavour. Unlike dry-aging , which is centuries old, wet-aging is a relatively new technique, invented in the s.

Wet-aging involves vacuum sealing steaks—the same method used to prevent freezer burn when freezing meat. Though some people prefer wet-aged steaks, most Americans prefer dry-aged beef. While a small amount of enzymatic changes can happen in wet-aged beef, the overall change is minimal.

Wet-aging is popular with many grocery stores because it is a far less expensive process than dry-aging.