Resealing after a couple weeks?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever had to reseal their beef half way through the ageing process? I have a 15lb rib roast that has developed a lot of air pockets and was wondering if I should open it up and reseal it. My gut feeling is to let it be but I don’t want the meat to spoil either. I don’t think the bond would occur with a new bag anyways. Has anyone experienced spoilage? Thanks.

[Ron Pratt]

sounds to me like you have developed a hole in the bag somewhere so unless you can find that breach in the material re-sealing may not do any good. If it is in fact the seal itself has leaked then coax the air out or even wrap the meat still in the bag tightly with a clean piece of woman’s pantyhose and reseal the bag and remove the hose. As for worrying about spoilage I see no need to worry – people have been dry aging meat in the open refrigerator for years.

[Ron Pratt]

when you say a lot of air pockets are you talking about the side with the “hills and valleys” in the meat where the bone was carved out? As the meat shrinks due to the evaporation of water the meat shrinks and the bag will not stretch down into the valleys. If that is the case again – no worry. Could you post a picture?

[Anonymous]

I’d leave it alone. If there is no moisture to “seal” the meat to the bag you’ll have more air pockets than you do now, imho. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you, let it do it’s thing and it’ll be fine.

A pic sure would help, though. 😉

[Anonymous]

Don’t have any pic on hand but I’ll try to get a couple. The bone side is fine. Where I’ve lost contact is on the “bookends” and about 20% of the fat side. The part that has lost contact with the bag is grayer but still looks good. I want to age it for one month but part of me wants to take it out earlier to prevent spoilage. Has anyone had beef that spoiled and needed to be discarded or trimmed extensively? I was also wondering, how essential is a meat to bag bond? If the purpose of the bag is to let out moisture and keep out contaminants, does there need to be a tight seal with meat to bag contact?

[Ron Pratt]

“skin tight” contact is preferred, but not necessarily mandatory. I’m a little surprised to hear you say the bag is loose on the fat side. My experience is the fat side bonds better than the meat side. Was there much handling during the aging process? I just make it a practice to never touch it or even move it during the aging. As far as the meat spoiling there should be no concern as long as your refrig maintained a cold constant temperature. As for the gray color – that’s normal. Good luck, but I think you will be fine. Key is to let your nose guide you after the meat is out of the bag. Keep in mind the aged meat will have a rather nutty smell to it – if it were spoiled it would be rancid and you would gag!

[Anonymous]

I’m not too worried about it. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

[Raul Lopez]

Hi guys,
I have had a 15lb ribeye in the fridge for 6 days now, also got the air pockets on the meat side and on the “book ends”, but I still think the bag has not lost the vacuum.

I am worried about the color, it has become a dark red, I am trying to post a picture, hope you can see it and let me know what you think. You can see the air pockets on the meat side.

“>

[Raul Lopez]

Lets try again with the picture

[Raul Lopez]

are these too much “air pockets”???? What is your recommendation? change to a new bag or let it there?

[Ron Pratt]

You’re just fine! That color will continue to darken and turn more reddish brown as the days go on. Remember you will be trimming off some, much or all of that exterior layer anyway.

Ron

[Steven Almas]

My first strip developed a leak about 2.5 weeks into the process. I just left it alone and finally pulled it after about 5 weeks total. The meat smelled fine and is very tender. I didn’t lose as much moisture as I had expected and I think that was from the lack of the permeable bond the bag forms on the surface of the meat. Anyway, the meat never spoiled and still tasted darn good, so my advice is to leave it in the fridge and try pressing the areas that have debonded back down onto the surface of meat to make contact again, then close the door and walk away…concern yourself with how you’ll cook that wonderful meat in a few weeks.

[Scott Mark]

That beef is clearly unsafe to eat. Don’t risk your health.

Send it to me and I’ll see that it gets disposed of properly.

😉

[Raul Lopez]

toasty wrote:

quote :

That beef is clearly unsafe to eat. Don’t risk your health.

Send it to me and I’ll see that it gets disposed of properly.

😉

I will take my chances 😉

Thank you guys, I am doing it as a test, if it works I will start with comercial process for a restaurant I have, I will let you know how it goes

[Scott Mark]

OK, but seriously, if you plan on doing this for a restaurant you need to have your HACCP in place. You can’t just try something and see if it works for you and your customers.

Drybagsteak.com has some resources for commercial users. I recommend that you work with them to come up with a food-safe program.

I apologize to anyone who didn’t know I was joking about sending the beef to me for personal use. I’m a registered, certified food safety manager. It’s (kind-of) OK to joke about not eating something that is safe, but never OK to joke about eating something that is not safe.

[Author]

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