The Original Dry Bag Steak | Make Artisan Dry Age Steak at Home › Forums › Dry Aging Steak › Dry Aging Steak with UMAi Dry® › Newbie here, help please! (with pictures)
- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 10 months ago by Ron Pratt.
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February 21, 2019 at 2:28 am #3373ConorMember
I purchased a cryovac bagged boneless ribeye that was maybe a little bit bigger than I expected. The bag was a little bit too small and as you can see from the pictures, because the bag is taught over the meat, I’m not getting good surface contact in the ‘hills and valley’s’ area where the ribs were removed. It’s an issue of the bag being too small/the meat being too big, it’s not a ‘floppiness in the bag or a vacuum seal issue.’ I should have trimmed the bottom of the roast but I didn’t think of it at the time. Am I in trouble here?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8nbbvS77ww5dc42K6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/U3heBRNEi79HUmBAAThanks in advance!
February 21, 2019 at 2:58 am #12108TheaKeymasterConnorMc—Welcome!
The UMAi Dry® never draws into those divots very well, which is why we suggest leaving the meat fat cap upc meat side down on the open wire rack for the first week it so. Gravity will give you the best contact possible. And that’s all you need.
Perfect contact isn’t only not necessary, it’s not possible.February 21, 2019 at 3:00 am #12109Ron PrattMemberNot necessarily in trouble, but if I were you I would carefully cut the sealed end of the bag enough to fold it back to cut off a couple “steaks” the size you like and then reseal it.
RonFebruary 21, 2019 at 3:48 am #12111ConorMemberRon,
Thanks for the quick reply! I’ve annotated some pictures here that I hope will help us communicate more effectively.First let’s orient ourselves. For lack of anything better that I can think up off the top of my head, let’s go with this:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TBqLj9nTAZEmhKfF6
Now, as I said in the original post, I’m getting poor contact in the hills and valleys because the steak is too big in the ‘A Direction’ as shown here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dcBctoGR2Nx3VKhD7
If I understand what you said correctly, then you are recommending I cut a couple steaks off of the end like this:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FQdgtkaWkPh1DmFa6
But I don’t think that will resolve my problem of the steak being too big in the A Direction and get me better bag coverage. I’d still have the same bag taughtness in the A direction so I don’t think the bag would adhere to the surface better.
So what I was asking about, was whether or not I needed to cut the meat something like this:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ha4ynhW5Xbi6cvRY9
Unless the meat shrinks, I don’t think just turning the meat such that the fat cap is facing up will resolve the issue, because the taughtness of the bag will keep it away from the surface of the meat.
Do you think cutting the bottom off of the B direction of the steaks is necessary? If I do that, is there a way to re-wet the surface without introducing bacteria?
Thanks for the help! Certainly next time I’ll just start with a smaller piece of meat.
ConorFebruary 21, 2019 at 3:55 am #12112TheaKeymasterSure, trim it if you want it to fit in that bag. If re-giving the “meat glue” on the surface, prepare a clean surface with parchment or foil, run tap water over the the meat, rest it on that surface for five minutes or so, fold back the opening of the bag to prevent contaminating the seal with fat or protein, insert meat and reseal.
February 21, 2019 at 6:27 am #12113ConorMemberThanks for the response and for the info about re-giving the “meat glue.” I think trimming the meat in the way I had shown is the only way the meat will fit into the bag better, allowing more bag-to-meat contact in the hills and valleys, but part of my original question is do you think this is necessary? If I don’t have great contact there will the meat spoil or just not dry age as well or what?
February 21, 2019 at 3:17 pm #12114Ron PrattMemberThe BagLady – who is the UMAi Bag® guru – has answered your questions, except for your follow up questions. You only need 70 to 80% contact. Your meat spoiling is not a concern even if the valleys are not in contact – as long as your meat stays within the proper temperature range.
Ron -
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