First time Dry Aging Boneless Ribeye – Help

[TJ]

Purchased boneless Ribeye from Costco. I believe it was 18 lbs. Prime cut as that was all they had the day I stopped in. We put this in the UMAi bag without even touching the meat and vacuum sealed it. Put it in the fridge on a rack for 28 days. We pulled it out and cut it into steaks first, approximately 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch steaks and then trimmed off the crust individually. We had purchased one Ribeye from the Fareway(midwest grocery store) meat counter the day before as we wanted to be able to compare to the dry aged steaks. The fresh steak from the store had better flavor, was more tender, and more juicy than the dry aged steaks. There was no comparison. We cooked them all on a green egg. My question is what do you think we could have done wrong? Possibly cooked the dry aged too long? Does the dry aged need to be cooked less than a fresh steak? This was actually a few weeks ago so I don’t remember exactly when we pulled them off but I believe it was when they hit a certain internal temp. I would love any input as we really were hoping for a better turn out. We vacuum sealed the remaining steaks so can try something different.

[Ron Pratt]

A few thoughts came to mind immediately. First – 28 days for an 18 pound boneless ribeye was too short of time. I find 45 days is better since that is a thick and solid chunk of meat. Second, aged beef has a different taste to it and unless you are accustomed to the dried (less moist) and earthy taste then side by side with a “fresh” steak to which you are accustomed then yes it will taste different. Third, obviously the two pieces of meat came from different cows. With 20/20 hindsight it is a shame you did not slab off a steak or two when you first bought that 18 pounder, then you could have frozen it and had a true side by side taste comparison.

You said you cooked to temperature and not to time so that is good, but some people who insist on cooking to time will find a dry aged steak cooks much faster and they overcook them. Ron

[TJ]

First, Thank you for your reply. We thought about cutting off a couple steaks prior to aging but admittedly we were thinking to eat right away and not for comparison. I will remember that next time. Do you think 45 days will bring more tenderness? Lastly, for next time, do you think bone in is better than boneless?

[Ron Pratt]

Yes 45 days will make it more tender. I would stick with the boneless, for the simple reason the meat will be drying 360º thus more uniformity throughout the meat – otherwise the bone side hinders the drying. Better luck next time! BTW I see you are an egger – are you active on either of the top two forums? I post on them as RRP there as well. Ron

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