Disaster at the meat market!!!

[Dave]

Three weeks ago I stopped at a local meat market in a small town I drive through every day on the way to work. They process deer and make bacon, sausage, etc, but also sell chicken and beef. I’ve bought nice steaks there before so I asked them if they’d age a rib subprimal for me, which they agreed to do for an extra $1/pound ($15.99) even though I thought they’d sell the whole thing for a better price.

I went today to pick it up. I know 21 days is the bare minimum and generally not considered enough time for a ribeye, but I’m leaving tomorrow to spend the week with family for the holidays and wanted to bring it with me. They brought it out, weighed it, and it only lost 4% of its original weight. Upon closer inspection, it was still moist on the surface and squishy when poked. I asked what the F happened and they didn’t have a response. I told them to wrap it up and I took it home where I discovered mold on the fat cap. It had been sitting on a wire rack wherever it was located in their cooler.

How is this even possible? 500% humidity in their cooler? Did they spray it down periodically so it wouldn’t get crusty? They claim to have dry aged in the past so I assumed they knew what they were doing. I considered putting it in a dry bag and letting it age further, but with the mold and all, I decided not to waste the $8. I consider this $250 pretty much straight down the drain though I’m still going to eat them. I could have spent 1/2 as much at Costco and used a dry bag with superior results.

I don’t know how to embed pictures so here’s a link to the pictures. Please let me know if it doesn’t work and I’ll figure out another way to make them available.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/111063128342430173093/albums/5949222316722876977/5949222469143884530?pid=5949222469143884530&oid=111063128342430173093

[Ron Pratt]

Dave – Personally I think you should not have accepted that – it doesn’t look right, let alone only 4% in 21 days was a further tip off. On top of that you paid a bunch for a lot of fat as shown in your pictures. Sorry, but they got you coming and going IMO and would not go back to them again if I were you. As always this is just MY personal opinion and I do NOT speak for UMAi Dry. Ron

[Dave]

Hi Ron – they probably would have laughed at me if I “didn’t accept it” because I paid for it 3 weeks ago. I’m going to go back after thanksgiving and show them pictures of what dry aged meat is supposed to look like and ask what the hell they did.

[Author]

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