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UMAi Dry® Casings Help You Make Dry Sausage at Home 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

UMAi Dry® Casings Help You Make Dry Sausage at Home

How do UMAi Dry® casings help you craft slow fermented traditional dry sausage — and how can we do better? This is what we asked in our December survey. Almost 450 UMAi Dry® sausage makers responded! Your responses set us on a clear course to formulate our new UMAi Dry® Sausage Spice Blends so that you can craft…

Keep Calm and Color On! Color your Dry Aged Feast 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Keep Calm and Color On! Color your Dry Aged Feast

As you prepare for the holidays, sometimes you need a break and a little imagination to put on that perfect feast.  Our artist came up with this view of your holiday dry aged feast. Take a break from the hard work preparing the feast.  Chill out and color!  Print this delectable drawing of a dry aging standing…

ASK MAUREEN: How Much Salt Do I Need?? 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

ASK MAUREEN: How Much Salt Do I Need??

“J” asks: “In the recipe archive for capicola, the recipe asks for 6 tbsps of salt for 4 1/2 pounds of meat, but on the video the lady only uses 3 tbsps. of salt for 4 1/2 pounds of meat.  Could you please verify which of the recipes is correct?” “J,” Good catch!  A bit…

ASK MAUREEN: What’s a “Good” Fridge for Dry Aging? 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

ASK MAUREEN: What’s a “Good” Fridge for Dry Aging?

New to using UMAI bags and concerned my first attempt has failed. Would appreciate advice whether to persist or bin it. Temperature control has been all over the place.  Some days the meat feels really solid/frozen; other days more pliable, even soft.  Is it likely my fridge is not frost free and hence the dry bag…

Steak Can Fend Off Heart Disease? 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Steak Can Fend Off Heart Disease?

Yes, you read right. Steak may actually repair your heart. New research published in the journal Nutrition indicates that consuming meat can positively impact your heart.  “The impact is the same as if you were to stop smoking, cut back on your sodium intake, or exercise more,” explained Korin Miller in For a Healthier Heart, Eat ……

Sous Vide Cooking Guarantees a Perfect Steak Every Time 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Sous Vide Cooking Guarantees a Perfect Steak Every Time

Congratulations! Dry aging done! Your ribeye, striploin or sirloin is ready. Now it’s time to trim the “bark” off, cut it into steaks, and get ready to enjoy, share or preserve to savor over time. Steak lover beware: Dry aged steak cooks faster than “wet-aged” steak. With the lower water content, there is none of…

When it Comes to Charcuterie, Weight is Everything 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

When it Comes to Charcuterie, Weight is Everything

Charcuterie is a simple craft.  There are Three Fundamental Rules: #1  3% salt to weight of meat #2  0.25% slow acting curing salt (eg. Instacure #2) to weight of meat #3  dry cure until meat has lost 35-40% of its original weight Basically, all that is required is meat, salt and patience (and UMAi Dry®!)…

The secret to a great steak is hidden in your fridge 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

The secret to a great steak is hidden in your fridge

When we think of wine, images of rotting grapes don’t come to mind, but rather we imagine a noble drink that matures and gets better with time. Some of the finest cheeses aren’t spoiled or rotten, but rather inoculated with mold and aged to add complexity of flavor and texture. When it comes to meat…

Sausage making across two continents 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Sausage making across two continents

We are always grateful to receive special “Creating Tradition at Home” stories from our customers. We feel that this recent email embodies the spirit of UMAi Dry as well as adds a real Australian pioneer flavor to the story. Our customer Anthony who incidentally now calls Ohio his home sent this email to us: Sausage…

Pancetta recipe – made in a home fridge 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Pancetta recipe – made in a home fridge

Pancetta is the original bacon. Amazingly enough it is a very easy thing to make at home. This pancetta recipe is a classic example of refrigerator charcuterie that has consistent results and requires no special set-up. The Roman legionnaires were snacking on this delectable meat candy in between battles. This traditional pork belly preparation can…

Zip It!: Even Easier Dry Sausage Making 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Zip It!: Even Easier Dry Sausage Making

As you know, UMAi Dry® makes it possible to dry age and dry cure in your home refrigerator.  In our never-ending quest to make it easier for you to “create tradition at home,” we are always exploring new techniques for applying UMAi Dry®. With the release of our new 32mm UMAi Dry Sausage Casing for…

Cold Smoked Salmon – a new method 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Cold Smoked Salmon – a new method

Cold smoking salmon is a method that is often out of reach for most. The cold smoking set up involves smoking the fish at low temperature for a long period of time (like 2-3 days). Cold smoking imparts that coveted smoke flavor to the fish. Cold smoking allows the fish to dry and take on…

Sodium Nitrite – Is it a bad thing? 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Sodium Nitrite – Is it a bad thing?

Much of todays society is focused on food “purity”. Many products today are marketed as “locally raised”, “sustainable” and free of many ingredients deemed to be undesirable. One such ingredient is commonly referred to as “nitrite”. Processed meat products like salami, ham, turkey, etc. are boasting a claim to be “nitrite free“. What is referred…

Pepperoni the artisan way with UMAi Dry 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Pepperoni the artisan way with UMAi Dry

Pepperoni is an American dry sausage introduced by italian immigrants in the beginning of the 20th century. It is a cousin of several traditional italian salami products like: Soppressata, Salami Toscano, etc. Today the popularity of this sausage exceeds any other dry sausage, since pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping around the world. However,…

Making modifications to Foodsaver 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Making modifications to Foodsaver

Richard who is an UMAi Dry user, came up with a solution to a problem that many UMAi Dry users face when trying to seal a large 16-22 lb piece of beef using a basic household vacuum sealer like this Foodsaver V2244. This solution allows the user to have more control over the sealing process.…

Brisket Dry Aging in UMAi Dry 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Brisket Dry Aging in UMAi Dry

For a long time we had questions about dry aged Brisket. Competition BBQ -ers swore that it improved the taste and texture of the meat. Well time has come for us to find out for ourselves: Here is a typical 6.5lb brisket flat, which is a tougher and leaner brisket muscle. We broke it out…

Mortadella di Bologna – Made at Home with UMAi Dry® 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Mortadella di Bologna – Made at Home with UMAi Dry®

Mortadella is a classic italian staple dating back to Roman times when they used to flavor it with myrtle berries (rather than precious peppercorns, as we do today). The most well known is the Bologna version of this versatile sausage. We decided to employ UMAi Dry® in this classic cooked sausage application. Our recipe comes from the…

What fat is best for dry sausage? 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

What fat is best for dry sausage?

The classic salami (or any dry sausage) is meat and fat unified through natural fermentation and drying to yield delicious meat candy. In the world of salumi and charcuterie, pork is king.  However, the use of pork is forbidden in many religions like Islam and Judaism. This makes most charcuterie and salumi recipes unacceptable to…

5 Tips for making Dry sausage with UMAi Dry 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

5 Tips for making Dry sausage with UMAi Dry

To make good looking and good tasting dry sausage with UMAi Dry is not that hard. There a few basic practices to follow to ensure you get the very best results for your effort and patience. Here are a few helpful tips: 1. Keep the meat cold: Slice the meat into thick slices (+/- ¾…

Ever heard of backslop? A bit about starter cultures… 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Ever heard of backslop? A bit about starter cultures…

What is starter culture? A starter culture is a specific mix of micro-organisms that convert various sugars in the sausage mix into various organic acids. By doing so, the starter culture imparts a distinct flavor to the sausage, develops the color of the sausage, and preserves the sausage by creating an environment that prevents harmful…

Top 4 reasons you should own a Vacuum Sealer 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Top 4 reasons you should own a Vacuum Sealer

Back in the 70’s and 80’s vacuum sealers were relegated to the late night infomercials that screamed “Save a fortune in wasted food!”  It was a call to action that motivated the frugal.  Today far more inventive uses and inspiring reasons abound to invite you to explore vacuum sealer ownership. What does a vacuum sealer really…

All beef chorizo recipe using UMAi Dry from one of our customers 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

All beef chorizo recipe using UMAi Dry from one of our customers

http://kosherdosher.blogspot.com/2013/10/jewish-chorizo.html

So, yah, how ’bout that Canadian beef? 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

So, yah, how ’bout that Canadian beef?

During a recent visit to Québec, we happened upon an opportunity to do a little meat-spotting. While meandering the aisles of a Costco store, the delicious-looking Canadian beef in the Meat Department made for some mouth-watering picture-taking–and a few questions.                              …

Dry sausage made at home tips and tricks -UMAi Dry 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Dry sausage made at home tips and tricks -UMAi Dry

Some basic practices that make a huge difference in texture and flavor of the finished dry sausage: These basic practices start in the actual preparation of the meat in the very beginning and have a huge impact on the quality of the finished product almost two months later. We would like to go over these…

Basic Q & A about Dry Aging 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Basic Q & A about Dry Aging

What cuts of beef are best for dry aging? Fatty well marbled whole muscle cuts of beef are best for dry aging because you get three out of three benefits that dry aging offers: 1.  Concentration of beef flavor through moisture evaporation 2. Tenderization of beef muscle connective tissue through natural beef enzyme activity 3.…

5 Myths about DRY AGING BEEF at Home 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

5 Myths about DRY AGING BEEF at Home

Myths and facts about Dry Aging Beef at Home: Myth 1: You can dry age individual steaks by putting them on a plate in the refrigerator wrapped in paper towel for one to four days. I once saw a post done by a well known kitchen authority that demonstrated an individual steak being wrapped and…

Venison salami at home with UMAi Dry Sausage Kit 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Venison salami at home with UMAi Dry Sausage Kit

http://youtu.be/omcxXbTqNl0 How we made Venison Salami using UMAi Dry Sausage Kit

Dry aging Tri-tip

Dry aging Tri-tip We have been asked by many customers if they can dry age a Tri-tip. Well we can say that we have never done it ourselves but here is a link to a forum thread that may shine a light on this subject.

https://drybagsteak.com/dry-aging-tri-tip/
Dry aging Tri-tip 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak
There’s No Such Thing As Medium-Well 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

There’s No Such Thing As Medium-Well

Nice presentation, very well described.

UMAi Dry Introduces Dry Sausage Kit and Dry Sausage Casing Packet 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

UMAi Dry Introduces Dry Sausage Kit and Dry Sausage Casing Packet

The new sausage kit and sausage casing packet incorporate the UMAi Dry technology for making dry sausage using the UMAi Dry casing. The dry sausage kit includes: UMAi Dry casing 20 ft., VacMouse vacuum adapter packet, InstaCure #2, Powdered dextrose and Bactoferm T-SPX starter culture.

Capicola made using UMAi Dry method by our customer Robin in Canada 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Capicola made using UMAi Dry method by our customer Robin in Canada

  Finished Spicy Capocollo and Black Pepper/Juniper Berry Coppa using UMAi Bags. Delicious! The Chorizo turned out amazing using the sample Salumi UMAi casing. Hope to see Salumi UMAi casing/bags for sale in the future. Delicious and better than some commercially available Proscuitto in Canada. Thanks again, Robin

Canada geese are good in salami (recipes) 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Canada geese are good in salami (recipes)

Fall in Minnesota (as is the case in most of Northern US) is always accompanied by the sights and sounds of Canada geese. They are often described as nuisance by urban residents because of their brazen disregard for the presence of humans, cars or buildings. These large, unattractive looking birds are perfectly legal to hunt…

Home made Prosciuttini – UMAi Dry style 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Home made Prosciuttini – UMAi Dry style

  Prosciuttini cured for 3 weeks and dried for 2 months developed a distinct character of nutty flavor and a very pleasant aroma.

Making Prosciutto at Home with UMAi Charcuterie 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Making Prosciutto at Home with UMAi Charcuterie

http://youtu.be/FXnZgz-WXNQ Making Prosciutto/Prosciuttini at Home with UMAi Charcuterie 1. Dry curing boneless leg of pork with salt and InstaCure #2 for two weeks 2. Cutting it into Fiocco and Culatello 3. Coating with pepper and salt and curing for another week 4. Sealing it into UMAi Dry bags and drying it in the refrigerator for…

And finally! Duck prosciutto ready for tasting 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

And finally! Duck prosciutto ready for tasting

We didn’t know what to expect at the end, but the result exceeded our expectations. Does that make sense? Maybe not but…. here it goes. The initial taste was on the salty side, but when the fat finally begins to melt on the tung, the nutty, gamey taste that we could remember from our taste…

A UMAi Charcuterie user testimonial 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

A UMAi Charcuterie user testimonial

  Here’s a neat story:   I have befriended a French national who was a professional butcher all his life. He knows his way around charcuterie…he owned the butcher and charcuterie shop in his Alsatian town of Lembach, France. It was a family-owned business that he worked in from his youth to his retirement about…

New batch duck prosciutto 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

New batch duck prosciutto

New project in progress…. Duck prosciutto 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

New project in progress…. Duck prosciutto

Making of duck prosciutto with UMAi Salumi.  We started out with a whole duck from an Asian specialities supermarket here in Minnesota. We cut the duck breasts out and trimmed the excess fat off and scored the skin to allow the spices and cure to penetrate. We got our spices and cure ready and ground…

Capicola/Coppa with UMAi Charcuterie 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Capicola/Coppa with UMAi Charcuterie

Dry aging beef in UMAi Dry bag is real dry aging 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Dry aging beef in UMAi Dry bag is real dry aging

Dry aged Beef is a result of a process of dry aging: During Dry Aging the following happens: The word Dry means: Moisture evaporates from the muscle creating a mature beef flavor The word Aging means: Meat’s natural enzymes break down the fibrous, connective tissue in the muscle thereby tenderizing it Dry aging using UMAi…

Happy 4th of July to our American custom 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Happy 4th of July to our American custom

Happy 4th of July to our American customers! Hope you’re grilling something like this… http://ow.ly/i/K9aB Recipe: http://ow.ly/c066H

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Enjoy the day and g 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Enjoy the day and g

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Enjoy the day and great food with those you love. Here’s some inspiration. These steaks looked too good to not share… http://ow.ly/bAHCA http://ow.ly/i/Hj8Z And no, it’s not too late to get him the gift he’s been waiting for. There’s still FREE shipping on orders more than $100 shipping to Canada and the…

Weekend’s almost upon us and we hear yo 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Weekend’s almost upon us and we hear yo

Weekend’s almost upon us and we hear you forgot free shipping to #CANADA and the #USA… 3 days & it’s gone! http://ow.ly/bADb7 #Steak

The reviews say it all… 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

The reviews say it all…

“Did you try the chili tonight? The steaks he makes are amazing – you really ought to try them.” and the rest are all “I’m up for that!” “Hey, great! That would be a good thing!” “I’m pushing everyone I know to start drybagging…” Read more about what people are saying about creating the ultimate…

Setting an example for the way we run restaurants 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Setting an example for the way we run restaurants

"10 million people work in restaurants, seven times more than serve in the entire armed forces." Photo from Co.Exist “Instead of bad food served by people in dead-end jobs, what if our nation’s restaurants revolutionized how we ate and how we treated employees?” How one restaurant serves as an example of “Changing How We Eat…

How to Stop Wasting So Much Food in the Kitchen
Stop throwing away food and money! 2608 1464 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Stop throwing away food and money!

Whether you’ve made too much food for your family or it’s going bad because no one will eat it, you know you need to cut down on the pounds of food going from the fridge to the trash bin every day. This article from LifeHacker could be a food (and money) saver! Plus, check out…

A pairing for your next meal 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

A pairing for your next meal

Reconsidering Pinot Gris Why you should give this white wine varietal another shot From The Daily Meal Read more: http://www.thedailymeal.com/reconsidering-pinot-gris#ixzz1tYJcuPUK

For all of you meat and potatoes guys… 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

For all of you meat and potatoes guys…

In Katrina's Kitchen: Dipping Bread

This is a loaf

What’s new and what’s news from the National Restaurant Association 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

What’s new and what’s news from the National Restaurant Association

Restaurant owners’ ears should perk up at this one…  The National Restaurant Association and LivingSocial announced a partnership last week to help educate and inform restaurant operators on various marketing opportunities that could help raise brand awareness and even increase sales.  The results of their research will be revealed at the 2012 National Restaurant Association…

Give Dad what he’s always wanted this holiday season… 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Give Dad what he’s always wanted this holiday season…

He’s been dying to create his own perfectly dry-aged steaks anywhere for a while now… He’s been good all year… So give Dad what he’s always wanted this holiday season… UMAi Drybag Steak will give him the tools to create delicious meals for the whole family.  It’s easy to use and there’s lots of online…

Essentials of dry aging beef 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Essentials of dry aging beef

Dry aged beef has been around for, well, ages. It was the norm to hang beef carcasses in lockers for a few weeks after slaughter to become more tender and flavorful. Benefits of Dry Aging – The meat’s natural enzymes break down the fibrous, connective tissue in the muscle thereby tenderizing it. – Dry aging…

Could this be right? Myths and facts about using UMAi Drybags 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Could this be right? Myths and facts about using UMAi Drybags

Sometimes basic questions and misunderstandings can stand in the way of successful dry aging.  Read over this list of myths and facts to help create the ultimate dry aged steak anywhere with UMAi Dry.  For even more tips and answers to your questions, visit and participate in our online forum. Myth 1: The bags will…

DrybagSteak rebranding as UMAi Dry 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

DrybagSteak rebranding as UMAi Dry

UMAi rebrand image DrybagSteak as a perfectly descriptive name for a hard-to-describe product like this–which is exactly the US Patent and Trade Office doesn’t like it!  Funny thing, that logic.  To secure a trademark one must have a distinctive and not-particularly-literal product name–thus, UMAi is born! We will be rolling out our new brand, UMAi DrybagSteak…

Dry Aging Beef Safely, Successfully Anywhere 150 150 The Original Dry Bag Steak

Dry Aging Beef Safely, Successfully Anywhere

DrybagSteak technology allows beef to age in a clean bonded environment and achieve same tender texture and rich oaky flavor as traditionally open air-aged beef. Drybags are a scientifically-proven and chef tested,unique European technology that allows anyone to create custom dry aged steak. The material forms a bond with the proteins on the surface of the beef…

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