Pro tip: I thought dry aging at home was a total waste of time until I tried it on a strip loin

For years I heard guys at the shop talk about their home dry aging setups and I figured it was just for show. Then my buddy in Chicago gave me a piece of his 45 day aged ribeye and the flavor was unreal, nothing like the wet aged stuff we get. I tried it myself with a single 10 pound strip loin in a mini fridge with a small fan, just to see. After 30 days the trim loss was about 15 percent, but the meat was so much more tender and had that nutty taste everyone talks about. I'm still not doing it for the whole case, but for a special cut it's worth the space. Has anyone else started small like this and had it work out?

2 comments

2 Comments

evannelson23d ago

Totally get the skepticism, it sounds like a lot of fuss for nothing. My wife rolled her eyes when I turned our beer fridge into an aging box for a single rib roast. That funky, deep flavor after a month was a total game changer though, completely worth the fridge real estate.

tessa17723d ago

That funky taste just smells like a fridge that needs cleaning. The trim loss alone makes it a bad deal for most home cooks.