Dry Aging VS. Wet Aging
Hello All, Isabella here.
I have to start by saying that there’s nothing like being back by the water on the North Fork again. As I’ve returned to Southold you can’t help but pause in awe of the Springy scenery. It’s certainly one of my favorite times of year on the North Fork. It’s wet, muddy, misty, but tulips are popping and the lilacs are starting to bud. Birds are chirping away, It’s an elegant time of our year.
We’ve re-opened and it’s been SO great to speak with some of you about your culinary creations. We’re so proud of our updated retail space and it’s been an exciting experience to share it with all of you. PT and I have talked about these updates for years now, it’s been so much fun to see our ideas come to fruition.
So! Let’s chat about dry aging shall we? We do go into depth on this subject along with meat grading in our ebook check it out by subscribing to our email list.
Now... One thing that has been mentioned is that we are going to talk about aged prime beef. Again, this is not its own grading, but it is a special way that Prime Beef can be stored to offer a unique flavor, a unique texture, and an indescribable quality.
Dry Aging
Many foods that we love that go through an “aging process”, cheese, wine, beer, and mushrooms. This aging process improves the flavor, and prime dry-aged meat is the Ferrari of all meats. It’s effortless to cut, the chew is soft, and the juices are silky. The surge of flavor is an unforgettable experience, let’s dig into the process.
Temperature control. Temperature is important like a humidor or a wine cellar it’ll make or break the quality. The meat that is being aged must be kept in a room with tightly controlled temperature; if it becomes too cold, the meat will freeze.
What this means is that the butcher needs to keep this meat between 33 and 37 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a very small tolerance... there is no margin for error! For this reason our coolers are always kept at 33 degrees. Our walk-ins are oak the medium can change and often add complexity to flavor much like a wine that’s been oak barrel aged or steel barrel aged.
Humidity control. In addition to the temperature being very specific, the humidity must be 85%, with a variance of only half a percentage point. In short, this is another obstacle, as a slight change in the humidity in the environment can result in loss of an otherwise amazing cut of meat.
Ventilation. Now things get tricky...not only do you have to have the perfect temperature control and the perfect humidity control, but you need to have proper ventilation in the storage room. As you can probably imagine, there is huge amounts of difficulty in ensuring that these conditions are maintained while there is enough ventilation to prevent the build up of lactic acid (which will toughen the meat) and bacteria (which will effectively ruin/spoil the meat). This has become easier with the modernization of walk-in refrigerators. I’ll even go as far as to say that it’s become easier and more consistent for the “at home” cook because the aging process can be controlled with the introduction of the at home aging refrigerator. Like a cigar humidor or a wine cellar, it makes sense if you’re a meat fanatic!
Size decrease (Shrinkage). Dry aged meat shrinks anywhere and depending upon the amount of time with determine the amount of shrinkage. We generally will age for 30 so we will lose anywhere between 10% of size and weight to just over 15%.
Shrinkage is the risk a butcher plays, it' becomes a game because the butcher is now selling less meat and more waste than they had initially purchased; for every pound of meat that the butcher sells, it is assumed that the butcher is only recouping costs on 13 ounces of meat...when this is added up over a 500 pounds of meat (for every 750 pounds of carcass), the result is that the butcher has lost the equivalent of 50 pounds of sellable meat.
So, when requesting an aged piece of meat not only are you paying for a divine piece of meat you’re paying for the service of breaking down and the aging process that piece of meat has undergone. It’s an experience rather than simply the meat itself!
Time spent. It takes a minimum of eleven days to change a high-quality prime piece of meat into a piece of aged prime meat. Many seasoned butchers will allow the meat to age up until 20-30 days, as going longer than this bears a greater risk and higher price point. This is time that the butcher must take to care for the meat and ensure the proper aging process. At Wayside Market we age our beef up to 30 days to allow beautiful age and marbleization.
Dry Aging At Home
Dry aging at home is fun and interesting! It’s a hobby that PT and I have become increasingly more interested in as time goes on, honestly I’m here to admit we’re 150% meat snobs. I can tell you when I’m at a restaurant I don’t order beef because I can tell from the taste of the chew the quality of the meat that’s being used, yes I’ve scolded some restaurants for false advertising.
I’m going to start off by saying that you cannot dry age a piece of meat that is already butchered and broken down such as a single porterhouse or ribeye, doing this will 150% cause meat spoilage. Why? You’re forcing the aging process onto the proteins by aging the proteins not the fat. The fat that is aged is trimmed, you don’t eat it; so we at Wayside age in a whole rib (for ribeye) and a whole short loin (for porterhouses, T-bones, shell steaks, etc). We age our lamb as well sometimes, it’s simply delicious.
As long as you’re requesting a whole piece of meat from the butcher most often they can crack the bones for you so when the time comes for you to cut and butcher at home you can do so with ease.
I trust this makes sense as long as you’re doing a little research and as always we’re here to support and help!
Wet Aging and Why It’s BS Marketed To Consumers
The purpose of introduction to vacuum packing was to prolong the freshness of the meat during the wrapping process. You’re seeing a lot of vacuum packing in grocery stores and butchers shops now a days because meat isn’t as fresh and often butchers will pack and freeze to maintain freshness. Not to mention, often vacuum packed meat can also be packed with nitrogen or other things that will effect the taste and flavor but also isn’t necessarily great for your body.
We’re not going to beat around the bush wet aging was created by marketing these products so unauthentic establishments, ranch’s, restaurants, etc can keep their product longer. Basically, it’s a marketing tactic and false advertisement. This goes to show that it’s not the end of the world if you’re ordering shipped meat you expect your product to maintain it’s freshness but it’s something to be highly aware of when you’re in a retail location. It’s an easy way out to a more complex solution that real butchers deal with on a daily basis. Product rotation and maximizing product that’s no longer “pretty to look at”, aka discolored. We simply cook our product off for meal prepping for our customers, that’s our solution always consistently serving the freshest of products to our customers.
This problem has become an increasing issue because a lot of grocery stores or meat cutters don’t generally handle fresh meat, it’s already vacuum packed and sealed before it hits the doors because this doesn’t require a skill or a trade. As long as those customers aren’t aware and don’t ask the right questions these places will continue to flourish. This is why we’re continuously educating across our counter; we feel an obligation to the customer that’s been generationally held by our brand for over 55 years…
If you haven’t stopped by the store we’re always ready and willing to have a discussion, we’d love to hear from you. The wet aging process is simple as long as you have the appropriate tools and some knowledge it can be done and we can help you!
Would you love to hear more of this information? Tell us what you think, comment below! We hope this was fun for you, we’d love to know what you’re cooking up in the kitchen. Tag us on the socials #northforkbutcher @waysidemarketsouthold . We’re still offering our 40+ page ebook on meat grading, it’s filled with fantastic info so be sure to subscribe! Comment, Click, Share with your friends. Just know, we appreciate you.
From our table to yours,
~The Rutigliano’s