The Original Dry Bag Steak | Make Artisan Dry Age Steak at Home › Forums › Dry Aging Steak › Dry Aging Steak with UMAi Dry® › I decided to go traditional with 19lb Ribeye › 19lb Ribeye–Himalayan salt
Thank you for sharing photos of your set up–especially for the introduction of the Himalayan slat theme to the Forum.
Your set up looks quite similar to some we’ve seen in commercial kitchens with just meat and Himalayan salt blocks. With UMAi DrybagSteak, there should be little concern about the possibility off flavors. However, the molecular gastronomy crowd will tell you that the presence of the salt in the environment absolutely makes a difference.
The blocks will collect moisture, though, as you will probably already have found. They need to be elevated over a drip tray to prevent the salt from doing the damage that another wise Forum member has warned of.
Whether the salt really adds anything to the process of dry aging (or takes away anything, as the case may be) is highly debatable. David Burke created and patented a Himalayan salt “wall” (roughly a 5 x 6 ft. tack of bricks) in his dry aging cooler in Chicago and took a patent on it. My understanding is that their taste panel testing discovered it neutralized off flavors. It may be that baking soda is as effective. I just don’t know that any one has tested, pulled a patent and promoted this as the kind of exotic solution Himalayan salt has proven to be.
Salt in the refrigerated environment probably does little to reduce moisture. A good, modern, frost free refrigerator is your safest bet for accomplishing that.
We have found that serving the steak on a “platter” of Himalayan salt is both flavorful and makes for a grew presentation. There are some who bake on the blocks as well, as you probably know. Strikes me a pretty risky thing as they can crack.
Please let us know what you are observing as time passes–and how you like the flavor results!