Dry Aging at Home

[tekobo]

Hi @jeffshoaf.  The best thing that I can say about dry aging at home is that it has become routine and exciting at the same time. This photo illustrates my point:

The cote de boeuf at the top went in last week Monday.  No fuss, just sitting there and we will probably have it with chips this Friday night.  I asked The Husband to pick up a chicken from the supermarket today, something that we almost never do apart from to mince up for our cats.  I want to see how/if aging will make a supermarket chicken worth eating.  We will probably eat it sometime next week.  And at the bottom is the three rib sirloin joint that I coated in fat at either end and started to age in September.  Smells just fine and there is no sign of any sort of mould because of the fat painted on either end.

So.  On to your questions about whether to age small pieces or not.  I was unsure about how best to use my dry ager until I visited a great restaurant in Wales last year.  They kindly let us see their aging operation and these are the notes that I made afterwards:

• Mackerel - guts out cut flat underside. 7-10 days.   
• Duck crown - ideal 10 days absolute max 3 weeks
• Fat encased joints - 8 months and more
• Chicken - max ten days
• Lamb fat trim - 6 months before making butter
• Tuna - 5-10 days
• Turbot (big) -10 days

Their confidence about these timescales and the book "The Whole Fish" gave me more confidence about using the dry ager to a) improve tenderness and flavour and b) improve the dryness and crispiness of skin with a whole range of meats and fish.

I was starting to lose confidence in my plan to age the three rib sirloin joint for 200 days, ala Lennox Hastie.  Last week I dropped at note to my mentor at the Welsh restaurant and he came back to say he had gone up to 300 days but would advise I stop now unless I want a really "cheesy" taste. I like the blue cheese flavour so I will likely wait until my birthday in late Feb to break it out of the fat.  You never know, we might be allowed to meet people by then.  We have many friends who love to experiment with us.  I hope you do too. It will be lots of fun. 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by tekobo

[Basher]

Good tips thanks Tekobo.
Are you melting animal fat then painting it on as it cools?
Early on you mentioned duck fat.
Is there a preferred fat to encase your meat?
Also, all our poultry here has to pass through a mild chlorine/ bleach wash to stop salmonella here, and then rinsed. We rarely ever get salmonella sickness as a result and you can’t smell any traces of the wash. Is it the same in the UK?


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[jeffshoaf]

Thanks Tekobo!

 Here's the ager I'm looking at; it can also be used for dried sausages with the optional humidifier:

https://steakager.com/

It's more economical than others I've looked at but seems pretty capable. Uses UV light to help sanitization.

[tekobo]

@jeffshoaf that looks good.  I took a quick look round the options online and there seem to be many more at an affordable price than when I bought mine.  Worth taking a look at the features on the one I ended up with to see if any of the features are worth seeking out in your current choice or another option.  I started off with a cheap wine fridge but moved up to this as a more reliable and safer option.  The funny thing is that now that I have one, I know that I would like another to run at different humidity and temp settings for salami making.  No-one needs two dry agers in their life so I am using our enclosed porch to age a proscuitto and a cool basement room to age salamis.  

Wow,  I just looked up a US site for my German made dry ager.  The US price is off the charts.  That's funny.  We usually find that you get stuff much cheaper than us in the US.  Nice that it is the other way round this time.  Here is the link so you can see the features https://www.dryagerusa.com/products/dry-aging-fridge-ux-500

@Basher answers to your questions:

Are you melting animal fat then painting it on as it cools?
 

Yes, it is a bit tricky to get the right balance.  I only just melt the fat and I apply it to cold meat to avoid heating up the meat too much in the process. 
 

Is there a preferred fat to encase your meat?

I use dairy cow fat simply because I have some from mincing and then melting down the lovely fat that came from the dairy cow meat that I bought a while ago.  I froze the fat in blocks and defrost one when I need it.  

Also, all our poultry here has to pass through a mild chlorine/ bleach wash to stop salmonella here, and then rinsed. We rarely ever get salmonella sickness as a result and you can’t smell any traces of the wash. Is it the same in the UK?

I started off by trying to find out what happens to chickens in the UK to prevent salmonella but gave up when I couldn't find anything quickly.  In any case, I figured the question that you were really asking me is whether I think it is safe to dry age chicken.  The answer is that some sites tell you that you will die, instantly, if you dry age chicken and eat it.  Others are more relaxed.  I can only rely on my and my various mentors' (suppliers and restauranteurs) experience.  Using good kit with the right temps and safety features and maintaining good hygiene practice means that I have not had any issues to date.  

[jeffshoaf]

Tekobo, DryAger was the 1st one  I looked at - I'm not ready to pay that much!

[tekobo]

13 hours ago, jeffshoaf said:

Tekobo, DryAger was the 1st one  I looked at - I'm not ready to pay that much!

I agree, I wouldn't spend that much, particularly with all the relatively cheap commercial versions that I saw when I searched a couple of days ago.  Worth having a look at them if you have the space. They may have additional features, particularly around food safety, that may be worth having.  

[Basher]

Dam you two- Jeff and Tekobo.
Now I want a dry aging cabinet.


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[jeffshoaf]

4 hours ago, Basher said:

Dam you two- Jeff and Tekobo.
Now I want a dry aging cabinet.


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You really need two - one for primals and one for charcuterie!

I make a lot of pizza and I'm tempted to attempt pepperoni but i doubt I'll follow thru with that.

[tekobo]

4 hours ago, Basher said:

Dam you two- Jeff and Tekobo.
Now I want a dry aging cabinet.

Ha.  I thought you had a cool room?  You could work on getting the conditions right in there. Air circulation is key.  

4 minutes ago, jeffshoaf said:

You really need two - one for primals and one for charcuterie!

So true.  I wonder if any of the commercial offerings allow for that split.  For avoidance of doubt, I am NOT buying a second one but I can vouch for the fact that making charcuterie is really satisfying.  Just need to time getting the dry ager clear for charcuterie for a number of weeks at a time and make a decent sized batch when you do.   

[jeffshoaf]

1 hour ago, tekobo said:

Ha.  I thought you had a cool room?  You could work on getting the conditions right in there. Air circulation is key.  

So true.  I wonder if any of the commercial offerings allow for that split.  For avoidance of doubt, I am NOT buying a second one but I can vouch for the fact that making charcuterie is really satisfying.  Just need to time getting the dry ager clear for charcuterie for a number of weeks at a time and make a decent sized batch when you do.   

The steakager allows you to add the humidifier at any time so if i go that route, I can add it if i do try charcuterie later. I do have a grinder for my kitchenaide but I've never used it.

I think it would be difficult to handle both uses in one cabinet without having two refrigeration units and two humidifiers and  all the associated controls; once you've gone that far, you're pretty much at the cost of two separate units.

Edited January 29, 2021 by jeffshoaf

[jeffshoaf]

5% discount code on the Steak ager: GC5

It's good on the main unit but not the accessories. It was provided by the Grateful Chef - he has a lot of videos on YouTube, is a big fan of the SteakAger, and is active on the FB page for users.

I've ordered mine...

 

[Basher]

Yes I do have a cold room that keeps very stable between 1 and 3 degrees C. And there’s room in it- it’s about 3m2
and the air circulates well at the higher levels....
I’m not sure about the humidity controls required and also the filtration of air drawn into the cold room.
I’ll investigate this further.


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[tekobo]

15 hours ago, jeffshoaf said:

I've ordered mine...

Excellent.  Do post!  Looking forward to seeing how you get on.  

14 hours ago, Basher said:

Yes I do have a cold room that keeps very stable between 1 and 3 degrees C. And there’s room in it- it’s about 3m2
and the air circulates well at the higher levels....
I’m not sure about the humidity controls required and also the filtration of air drawn into the cold room.
I’ll investigate this further.

@Basher  Most places I have been, restauranteurs or butchers use a cool room rather than a ready made fridge.  One farmer friend did buy the commercial humidity controlled fridges for his charcuterie while another added in an extra ventilation unit into his cold room when he started to hang his whole carcasses for over 50 days.  Happy to find out more from them if you decide this is the route for you.  

[Basher]

[mention=3378]Basher[/mention]  Most places I have been, restauranteurs or butchers use a cool room rather than a ready made fridge.  One farmer friend did buy the commercial humidity controlled fridges for his charcuterie while another added in an extra ventilation unit into his cold room when he started to hang his whole carcasses for over 50 days.  Happy to find out more from them if you decide this is the route for you.  

Thank you Tekobo.
A couple of things playing in my mind.
We have tropical summers here and even the edge of the cold room around the doors can pick up a little black mould that needs attending to. Never inside but I’m mindful that white mould can be ok, black mould is never good.
Also, after renovating the back yard complete with outdoor kitchen( mostly my design inspired to house a new KK), my clever half is wanting to renovate her indoor kitchen..... and all of the upstairs house- all her design. This will very likely include a complete relocation of the current cold room- knock it out and install a new one.
We live in a timber workers cottage built in 1913 and although this sounds new amongst British houses, it has a character dwelling overlay..... suggesting it’s old by our standards and needs some level of preservation.
Anyway, a dedicated dry aging meat fridge has more appeal to me than a wine fridge.
So thank you again for inspiring this desire, I will see if I can sway the dedicated dry aging meat fridge into the new design.


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[tekobo]

On 1/30/2021 at 1:51 PM, Basher said:

So thank you again for inspiring this desire, I will see if I can sway the dedicated dry aging meat fridge into the new design.

I think you must!  A new kitchen/pantry design is always great fun.  I would go for a dry ager over a wine fridge any day.  Looking forward to seeing what you end up with.  

The fun thing is that dry aging does become routine but never boring.  You have this to look forward to.

This is one of three fore ribs of beef on the bone that arrived two weeks ago

After two weeks in the dry ager, the one that I kept looked like this.

Anticipation.

 

[tony b]

45 minutes ago, tekobo said:

I think you must!  A new kitchen/pantry design is always great fun.

While the "design" part might be fun, the demolition and reconstruction almost never is! I remember mine like it was yesterday (actually 14 years ago!) I did not have a working kitchen for almost a month. The killer was the flooring contractor kept having issues with the tile order and pushed the whole project back over a month extra! What was supposed to be a little over 3 weeks, turned into 7!

Always remember the remodeling mantra - How do you know when the contractors are lying to you? Their lips are moving!

[Basher]

Now I agree Tekobo, dry Ager over a wine fridge. I have noticed that the dry aging fridge can keep wine, however, the wine fridge cannot double as a dry ager.
Those German made Dry Ager cabinets look to be best. I think the US prices are also similar here in Aus. I found these local agers.

https://mysliceoflife.com.au/product/cleaver-the-stag-dry-ageing-cabinet-copy/#top_of_page
Tony during construction, the ODK will come into play..... every cooking on the KK. That’ll be fun.


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[jonj]

My cold room...      😉

[tony b]

Now THAT's my kind of "cold room!"

[MacKenzie]

Here's my beer fridge.