My first time, oh and who is this Thea?!

[Matthew Garcia]

Ok, so I ran down to ye ole costco and picked up a New York strip USDA Choice, all 12.9 pounds of it for a reasonable sum of $73. Got her home and tried to seal it in a bag.

It did not go very well.

I had read everything over and over again, watched every video on youtube and looked at every photo and practiced with a wet hand cloth as suggested. But when it was show time I just was not able to get a reasonable seal on the large primal bag. After about an hour plus of trying over and over again with the first bag it just wasn’t going to happen. So I jumped on the forum and read about sealing issues and thought I would try with bag #2 (only got 2 with the kit). Tried a few tricks from the forum and again it just wasn’t happening. The seals literally were not holding and even came apart on me. I upped the seal time to 5 and still no luck.

In desperation (figuring I would need to pay for some more bags and have them overnighted) I contacted the company directly and spoke with Thea.

Who is this Thea? Is she some sort of dry aging angel out there in america?! What an absolutely wonderful person, she literally talked to me on the phone for nearly 30 minutes talking me through each step. Sadly, the bag just wouldn’t work and she suggested that I cut the primal in half and use the smaller roast bags. I was somewhat bummed about this but she did also suggest it might be fun to age one half longer than the other and compare the flavor. I am going to do this! So if you read these forums Thea, thank you so much once again!! (and she is still going to ship me a couple of large bags, how nice is that?!).

Pics…

[Andy Starvaski]

Welcome to our little club Claydon! Yup, when I first started out. I too had problems with my sealer and bags and Thea was EXCELLENT to deal with. 🙂

Are you using the Sinbo snorkel sealer with your bags? I’ve been able to do many subprimals in the 13Lb range without too much trouble. My wife and I make sure we turn down the opening of the dry bag before we place the meat into it. This helps keep a the material clean and dry and helps ensure a proper seal.

Once the meat is in the bag, we unfold the bag, When sealing, I try to put even, constant pressure on the sealing bar using four fingers from each hand. I belive I have my Sinbo set to the recommended setting of 4. I wait until I hear the sealer beep, then I count to 5 and release, slide the bag down just a bit and reseal again.

Good luck!

[Ron Pratt]

As you observed Thea knew “her stuff” and rightfully so…after all she is the bag lady who posts here from time to time. Besides that she is the President and owner of the company! Hows that for personalized service when you really needed help? :laugh:

[Matthew Garcia]

Whoa really? The Chief herself?!

nice!

So I think it is working. Did a peek in on them and the fat cap seems to be forming that waxy look.

[Matthew Garcia]

I think it is going well.

The fat cap seems to be changing and seems to be adhering to the bag more, and I swear the cut has started to shrink.

Any thoughts? It has been just over 2 days. Forgive my noobish questions.

[Ron Pratt]

I’m not trying to be cute here- OK? But PLEASE quit playing with your meat! You keep handling it and the bag won’t bond. LEAVE it alone! :laugh: …but I’m dead serious!

[Matthew Garcia]

No no no!

I am not touching it (cough). (but i am touching the grate)

Just opened the fridge and took a pic.

[Matthew Garcia]

IT’S ALIVE!!!! ALIVE!

[Anonymous]

I use precisely that same refrigerator, or at least I’d swear mine is the same based on the partial view. Should work fine. I always age my meat on the bottom shelf.

[Matthew Garcia]

it’s your basic white kenmore top freezer unit that is 4 years old from Sears.

I have temp monitors for both shelves and the temp is holding perfectly. based on the current results I believe I am on the right track.

[Matthew Garcia]

it’s your basic white kenmore top freezer unit that is 4 years old from Sears.

I have temp monitors for both shelves and the temp is holding perfectly. based on the current results I believe I am on the right track.

[Matthew Garcia]

Ok, so the first half of the new york went extremely well. Aged 14 days, and the second half will be aged 21 days.

Removed it from the bag and was amazed how much smaller it was.

Started to remove the gross looking stuff and fat. Although I think I got over zealous with trimming fat. But hey, it was my first time.

Got 6 steaks out of that half, made them 1 1/2″ a piece with one of them being 1″ (bit thin). Do you all have suggestions for how thick it should be? Another 1″ I tossed because it was pure fat and hard waxy stuff (on the far end of it).

Pan fried

Pretty damn yummy

Vacuum sealed the others and froze them

[Ron Pratt]

thanks for your pictures…May I just offer up a little suggestion? Fat is where the taste is. Lean meat needs spices/butter/whatever to awaken the taste buds. Why not let the cow deliver the taste that it had with whatever fat it was allowed to develop? Ron

[Matthew Garcia]

agreed… but I did need to cut off the waxy stuff.

as i indicated in my post I did feel I trimmed too much fat. I will do better on the second half B)

[Matthew Garcia]

ok, so here we go with the second part of that new york.

I felt more confident this time with trimming, and I was not as aggressive in removing fat. Got 6 great steaks and a seventh that is ok. But you all be the judge.

I am quite surprised what a difference 6 or so days makes between the two halves. The older cut has a richer fragrance and the color is a much darker hue.

going to vacuum seal and freeze them right away

[Author]

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