tekobo Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 I have disappeared down a dry aging hole and I am loving it. I managed to get a good deal on a dry ager that i had been drooling over for years and would highly recommend it if you like aged meat. Here is where I have been over the last few months. First use was to cure sausages after my marathon sausage fest. Temperature and humidity set at 15C and 70% respectively. A much safer environment than the area I used to use outdoors, under the eaves. Then we met up with @Braai-Q and his wife in London and alarmed the waitress in the restaurant as we swapped meat between our cool bags under the table. This huge chicken is one of the presents that he gave us. The Husband wasn't pleased with my decision to age the chook for a week before we ate it. Thought I was risking a perfectly good chicken and quoted the old adage that everything looks like a nail to someone with a hammer. Well, this time it worked. A friend declared it the best chicken he had ever eaten. Temp down to 2C and humidity up to 80% for aging meat. I wanted to do a comparison with brill. The one on the left got eaten fresh. The one on the right ended up in the bin. A week's aging was too much in this case. I have since aged red mullet and hake for a few days each and both were very good. Flesh firms up and skin is nice and crisp when fried. This is today's adventure. The very kind folk at a restaurant that we went to showed us their cold room and described some of their techniques, one of which was coating meat in fat and aging it for months. Here are two Dexter cote de boeuf at the start of the job this morning. They use liquid nitrogen at the restaurant. I just painted the fat on every ten minutes or so and put the chops in the ager in between times. Fully coated. Not to be opened before 1 April 2020. Sitting in the dry ager. Hanging on the top right is a strip loin that has been in for two weeks. I cut a bit off and wipe off the mould when we want a piece. It has aged beautifully and is so much more fun and tasty than defrosting a steak from the freezer. The pichanha below has dried out quite quickly and will be difficult to cut and grill Brazilian style. No worries, will grill it flat and eat it up, very soon. 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 (edited) Awesome post and very very interesting. I am enjoying every bit of it Edited February 2, 2020 by MacKenzie 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 Wow! What is in the tray at the bottom? Looks like salt blocks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonj Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 I like the cat butts. We have the same set. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 13 minutes ago, jonj said: I like the cat butts. We have the same set. Totally missed that! Forget the dry-ager, now I’m off looking for cat butts. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrus Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 My favorite is the Halibut. Only two? Since it's preserved , mail off a piece to Mac. Did you pre:salt any? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted February 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 3 hours ago, Pequod said: Totally missed that! Forget the dry-ager, now I’m off looking for cat butts. Tee hee. Do you know where you got yours from @jonj? Annoyingly the husband gave one away so there are 5 and I can't get them symmetrical. Of course I can make 5 symmetrical but I want that 6th one back! @MacKenzie I am glad you enjoyed the post. Ignore any ribbing about the week old fish, I got ribbed enough here for trying to get anyone to eat it. In fact there was a vote and the fish was the very clear loser. @Tyrus, no salt was involved in the ageing of this fish. @Pequod, yes, those are Himalayan pink salt blocks at the bottom of the fridge. There is some argument that they help the ageing. I don't really know how. I was mainly worried about blood dripping on to the blocks but the company said they last for 2-3 years and I can clean them. They are pretty anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 Wow Tekobo. That’s next level.The UK has been going through a dry aged meat trend for the last 10 years.I watched a show where they toured a dry aging facility- I think it was in Hereford. I was surprised by the scale of it.He had worked out that the antibacterial properties of salt aided the aging process. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/Refrigerator-Magnets-Lovers-Office-Decorations/dp/B01NGZQHJ1 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted February 2, 2020 Report Share Posted February 2, 2020 Good for you Tony. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herbie J - Alabama Posted February 3, 2020 Report Share Posted February 3, 2020 Nice addition to the kitchen tekobo. I’m a big fan of dry aging. Keep us posted on all your adventures and cooks. I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted April 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 Here is the follow up to my post about coating two fore rib chops in cow fat and leaving them in the ager for a while. We ate one a couple of days ago after 78 days of aging. Delicious. Tasted of blue cheese. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 Very interesting Tekobo.That would cost big bucks here. It would be perfect with a Mclarenvale shiraz if you can find one over there. Full bodied red.I’d love to try some of that steak.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 Just as Basher says, interesting and would love to taste that steak. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted April 23, 2020 Report Share Posted April 23, 2020 WOW! How did I miss all this? Anyway great post and awesome looking meat. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted April 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2020 6 hours ago, ckreef said: WOW! How did I miss all this? Anyway great post and awesome looking meat. You were living your life and it rolled past on your screen like yesterday's old news. 😜 Glad you like it. Yes @Basher et al, the steak was very tasty. The Husband says we don't have that shiraz but we had something else that was nice. You said that the steak would cost a lot round your neck of the woods. Well, it did here too. Buying the ager wasn't cheap so that steak must be one of the most expensive I've ever eaten! Maybe in a few years when I have aged more salami and eaten many more aged steaks I will be able to justify it on cost. At the moment I justify it based on the sheer pleasure I get from experimenting and eating the results without dying. In this case the steak smelled very fresh and clean when it was broken out. I scraped a little surface mould off in a couple of locations but it was remarkably perky for a piece of meat that had been sitting around for that long. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted April 23, 2020 Report Share Posted April 23, 2020 Just think the second steak is only going to cost half as much. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrus Posted April 24, 2020 Report Share Posted April 24, 2020 Looking good Tekebo, I'm thinking 78 days, how'd you you come up with that number. Patience is a virtue to wait so long. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted April 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2020 On 4/24/2020 at 4:52 AM, Tyrus said: Looking good Tekebo, I'm thinking 78 days, how'd you you come up with that number. Patience is a virtue to wait so long. Yes, I was surprised to count up the days from when I put the meat in to age and to find that I had managed to wait 78 whole days before breaking into it. Guessing we will be at the outer limits when we try the second steak at about 90 days. Looking forward to it. I invested a lot in time but the meat didn't cost very much so I won't be afraid to dump it in the bin if it looks or smells wrong. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
