I decided to go traditional with 19lb Ribeye

[Anonymous]

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This will be my first time dry aging beef.
I decided to be as authentic as possible by adding a few Himalayan Sea Salt blocks although, I don’t really expect them to contribute anything.

Of course, my wife doesn’t understand the whole dry age beef thing and, doesnt think anything sitting in a fridge for a month should be eaten!

It will take some convincing but, hopefully I can get her to give it a try.

[Ray]

If that’s all you have in the fridge may I suggest adding a couple jugs of COLD
Water. The fridge needs something to make cold and hold that cold to keep a constant temp. Or may I suggest More beef.
Now onto the salt blocks. They will attract water and salt vapor flowing through the fan and internal wires would cause corrosion. Stick with baking soda.
Ray

[Thea]

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!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the suggestions.

I have placed 2 gallon size milk jugs of water in the box.

Ihad originally purchased the 4 salt blocks and a 5lb bag of Himilayan Sea Salt large grain to dry age a complete bone in Ribeye section.

While researching for it, I stumbled across the Drybag website and, decided to order some to try.

( I figured I would have a better chance getting the wife to eat it if, the product had been stored in a sealed bag rather than, just sitting there over a pan of crushed sea salt.)

I actually, still plan on adding a non dry bagged bone in Ribeye to the experiment sometime in the next week or 2.

Regards
Chris

[Author]

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