The first of many to follow

[Mike Eaket]

I received the sampler pack and mouse strips I ordered from Umai, ran to Costco and purchased a AAA Whole Strip Loin weighing in at 7.795Kg at $12.99 a Kg costing $101.26

Triple sealed to make sure it does not leak

It is really hard to get all the air out and have the bag completely sealed against the meat
with the smooth bags

My sealer has a manual mode which really helped, it wont seal until I press the seal button
so I can start the vacuum and help work the air out

After 1 day in the fridge, you can already see the meat getting darker

[Ron Pratt]

Mike,
Congrats on your first attempt – not bad at all! Like anything you’ll get better the more you do it. You might keep in mind the panty hose trick which greatly helps getting the air out of the bag – especially if you are doing the sealing by yourself. I’m not sure that in one day the meat has browned as much as the redness in the blood has started to darken. Looks like you’re off to a good start!
Ron

[Mike Eaket]

Thanks Ron, now is the hard part, waiting till it is ready

[Ron Pratt]

My secret solution to that problem is “out of sight – out of mind”! I place mine on the bottom shelf of the frig pushed to the back. Then in front of it I place our jars of pickles, condiments etc to build a visual wall! :laugh:

[Mike Eaket]

My strip loin is on the recall list from Costco, I know the risk is very very low that it could be contaminated with e coli, but I don’t want to take a chance. I enjoy steaks medium rare more to the rare side. So back to Costco tomorrow to return it and then wait for my second order of bags to arrive. The sampler pack came with 2 primal bags, but I messed 1 up so this time I just ordered the primal bags.

Mike

[Ron Pratt]

I don’t blame you – why run the risk? Thankfully I’ve only had food poisoning once in my life about 35 years ago. I was too stupid to not go to a hospital as we thought it was just ” the flu” or something. I laid in the back seat of our car suffering while my wife drove us 800 miles straight through to get us home! It was only later that we put 2 & 2 together!

[Mike Eaket]

I finally got time to start again with a new piece of BEEF

I ended up leaving the mouse strips that allow you to use a vaccum sealer at work, so
I thought I would try the water bath method to remove the air from the dry age bag.

I have these large bag clips for sealing chip bags which worked perfectly to seal the bag
once I got all the air out

The water bath worked really well, it was very easy for one person to do.
Submerging the bag under water forced all the air out and with the large
bag clip it was easy to seal the end of the bag. The bag was completely sealled
against the meat.

[Ron Pratt]

lookin good, Mike! How long are you planning to let that big boy go?

[Mike Eaket]

I am going to try for around 40 days, I will see if I can wait that long

[Mike Eaket]

Here’s 25 days of dry aging. I am going to try and last to 40 days ;D ;D

I also found a sweet deal on this small commercial fridge $300 like new.
It will be my dedicated dry age fridge.

[Ron Pratt]

Got it for $300? GOOD DEAL!!! BTW is that commercial slicer a recent purchase as well? I have a friend who bought a one year old $1,600 slicer for $600. It’s a monster that overwhelmed their kitchen counter so his wife wasn’t too happy. He uses it to slice “Arby-like” beef for sandwiches that are awesome so she found a spot in their pantry where he could leave it since it is not portable by any means!

[Rob Babcock]

Great thread! I recently bought a bunch of those same sealing strips to do dry age!

[Mike Eaket]

Finally I could wait no longer, Sunday was 37 days it is time to cut some steaks

It doesnt look like the bag is stuck to the meat, but when you open it, you really have
to peel the bag off. The meat gets a real waxy feel and is very firm.

I cut the whole loin into nice 1.5″ steaks, then trimed each one and vacumed sealed them

I cooked 2 steaks for Sunday dinner and all I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW, the flavor of the meat is
incredible, it is really worth the extra time and effort to dry age. I was worried my wife would not like the steaks
any werid smells or tastes and she wont eat it. She was blown away by the taste, she loved it.

I figured I would really enjoy dry aged beef so about a week ago I started another one, but this time
I am trying the Boneless Rib, I think I am addicted

[Ron Pratt]

Thanks for the follow up, Mike. Glad you got hooked like so many of us as well. My sirloin hit day 46 today and though I had originally planned to only go 45 we had a change in plans for our TD so I’m going to 60 days. Nice thing is over time I have built up several meals in the freezer to pick and choose from. In fact I’m fixing some 45 day rib eyes for supper tonight.

[Robbie Miller]

Where do you buy the large bag clips?

[Author]

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