Fat Cap Tied On

[Dave Kirkwood]

I called my bucher today and asked that he call me when he comes across a “Canada Prime” Rib-Eye. (Equivalent to USDA Prime).

He said he will, but most of his Sub Primal Rib eyes come with the fat cap, but detached. He said he will debone it for me and will tie the cap back on properly.

Will this still be OK for dry Bag Aging?

One thought comes to mind is that the meat will shrink in size, leavig the string at the original size, no longer sinching down on the fat cap, but I guess the bag will keep everything nice and tight…

Thoughts?

Cheers
Dave

[Ron Pratt]

Dave…IMHO if you trust your butcher/co-workers and their sanitary measures I’d agree to letting “him” debone the sub-primal. OTOH I would NOT have him tie that part back on! Also I CERTAINLY would NOT ask him to re-attach a previously separated fat cap!
Ron

[Charlie]

Kwood, forget about the fat. First off it is overrated. It is better to not have it.

Also you want a single piece of beef without any layers of meat or fat. If they put the cap or another hunk of beef on you risk aging beef with bacteria in it.

Charlie B)

[Dave Kirkwood]

OK, so no to tying on the fat cap. But Charlie, your thinking to age witout the fat cap? For that particular side of the beef, when aging, wouldn’t most of the dried out aged part be on the fat, whic I would trim anyway, instead of trimming the beef, in which if the fat cap was on, that part of the beef would not need trimming (as he trimming would be on the fat cap).

Just trying to learn is all.

Thanks for both of your repleis.

Dave

[Charlie]

If the cap is removed leave it off. The whole idea is to get moisture out of the beef. Also if you have two pieces of product in the bag you now are aging bacteria in the center between the pieces which may not become part of your trim loss. I agree that if there is no cap you will lose more during the trim but you might find that you have aged more effectively in a shorter time.

Also when people talk about fat caps on the BBQ… never mind, this could go on for awhile…

Charlie B)

[Dave Kirkwood]

I totally agree with you in ragards to bacteria growing between the unbounded fat cap and meat…. Not interested.

I guess what I was trying to ask is do you intentionally remove the fat cap before drying.

Now BBQ and fat cap, when I smoke a Boston Butt for 16 hours, I keep the fat cap on.

On another note, I just returned from a local Butcher shop and he had a 28 day dry aged AAA Rib Eye (USDA Choice) for $6.35 a pound. I had him trim me off 4 1″ 1/4 steaks. Cost me $25 bucks. I’m thinking that’s pretty cheap.
I still have another 3 weeks before my aging is done and just can’t wait…lol…. So I bought these steaks to tie me over.

[Ron Pratt]

$6.35 a pound for 28 day is EXREMELY cheap in these parts. It runs north of $20 here. Are you sure he said it was dry aged and not wet aged? That way he can say it was aged, but he didn’t have to trim and the meat retained the moisture. In other words the water in the meat cost you $6.35 a pound besides the meat!
Ron

[Dave Kirkwood]

Hey Ron, oh yes, I made sure it was “dry” aged. I asked to speak to the butcher, he came out, I asked him how many days it has been aged, he said 28 day, and without me even asking he said it’s not aged i a vac bag, i aged it in my cooler room.
Plus, in the display case, it was still in the sub primal form and I could see the tell tale signs of it being dry aged and could see how he trimed off the surface of the sub primal.

[Ron Pratt]

Then there’s no question you got a good deal! You might even want to go back and buy some more if they turn out great tonight! I really wonder why he is selling it so cheap as he has to just be breaking even maybe at best! Even doing some simple math that means to stay at the value to him after say a 30% loss due to aging loss plus trimming loss then an aged steak selling at $6.35 meant that he would have sold an unaged, untrimmed rib eye choice steak for $4.88 a pound! Then further considering the typical mark up he must have access to some pretty low cost beef producers!

LOL – No offense, but cattle rustling is still a crime hehehe :laugh:

Ron

[Dave Kirkwood]

Well Ron, the wife and I had the steak and we both agreed it was not in the top 10 steaks we’ve had. The flavour was bang on, but the tenderness was not there, a little on the chewy side….. I’ve had worse though….

Asked my wife if we are turning into steak snobs, in our eyes, it’s cooked on the best grill for a steak, Green Egg, and we only look for the best cuts, and this was Dry Aged for 28 days..yet were still not impressed…lol

Dave

[Charlie]

Wood, when I dry age I have not removed anything. I have thought about removing the fat cap to speed up the process but leave it on. There is less risk of contamination and also to leave the thick blood on the primal for a better bond.

Last week I removed the fat cap from two 14 lb pork shoulders and cooked them for 18 hours. At the same time I removed the fat cap from 5 briskets and cooked them for 22 hours. I served it all in one meal and it was awesome. If you are cooking on your egg you don’t need a fat cap and you will not miss it.

You will get more flavor into your meat with your rub without it.

Also after the cook you simply slice or pull and you have a perfect BBQ.

Charlie B)

[Ron Pratt]

Kwood wrote:

quote :

Well Ron, the wife and I had the steak and we both agreed it was not in the top 10 steaks we’ve had. The flavour was bang on, but the tenderness was not there, a little on the chewy side

Dave

me thinks the answer about the low price is there – your butcher probably already knew that meat was going to be tough and smartly dry aged it to salvage what he could. Even by further selling it at such a low price he probably figured people were unlikely to complain. Like the old saying goes in the military you can’t shine ….!

Better luck with your own aging results!

Ron

[Andy Starvaski]

Kwood,

The butcher rated those steaks as “Canada Prime” ? They look very lean to be rated “Canada Prime” no?

[Dave Kirkwood]

Andy wrote:

quote :

Kwood,

The butcher rated those steaks as “Canada Prime” ? They look very lean to be rated “Canada Prime” no?

Hi Andy, no these are not Prime as stated in my post on page 1:

“I just returned from a local Butcher shop and he had a 28 day dry aged AAA Rib Eye (USDA Choice) for $6.35 a pound.”

Still waiting for a call from a different butcher when a Prime passes through his shop.

Thanks,
Dave

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