Another First Timer -5 day pictures

[Ron Pratt]

Welcome aboard, Tony! Not sure I’m a guru of anything, but I try to help people the best I can. I must admit you are a pioneer here if you haven’t knowingly ever enjoyed the taste of age beef but are willing to give it a go. OTOH if you have eaten steaks at high end steakhouses then most assuredly you have had aged beef…plus paid the higher price for it. Dry aged beef has a more concentrated taste, is more tender and makes a believer out of you! Because of the aging the meat gives up about 20% of its weight which was just tasteless water. That shrinkage plus the trimming loss is why aged beef is then more costly per pound or per steakhouse steak than the routine steaks you buy at a grocery or even a butcher shop.

Now as for your questions…to prevent contamination it is best to merely cut the cryovac bag open on one end and leaving it on just drain any blood or liquid out of the package, but do not take it out nor rinse it. The meat has been sealed in a safe environment so now you can slide the meat from the cryovac into the rolled back Drybag. When I say rolled up think of rolling down a pair of socks, slip on the foot portion and then roll up the top. That way you keep the Drybag clean and free of juices which can hinder the sealing process I hope you have watched the video on sealing!

As for fat cap up or down it is just my personal preference to place the sealed meat on a wire rack with the fat side down. Then I never touch it, move it or mess with it until the time is up to open it after my predetermined aging period. As for rationale of why the fat on the bottom vs. top?…my thinking is the Drybag is allowing water to evaporate thru the membrane and I think of evaporation as leaving on top so why have a thick fat cap hindering the process? Maybe that is silly, but it works for me! Ron