Dry Aged Steak At Home Kit

What Does Dry Aging A Steak Mean

First, lets quickly go over what dry aging a steak actually means.

This is a process where a cut of beef is hung in a controlled environment for a period of time.

This allows the moisture to evaporate from the meat, which concentrates the natural flavors and essentially tenderizes it this makes for a more flavorful steak that melts in your mouth.

Its typically done commercially with special humidity-controlled rooms, but it can be done at home as well.

To accomplish this at home, you need to find a similar environment thats dry and cold enough to let the steak dry properly without spoiling.

S To Dry Age A Steak At Home

Ok, so how do you actually dry age steak at home? Well, there are a few steps you must take before proceeding.

For one, you need to have a refrigerator large enough to accommodate your steak or at least a tray and some space around it .

Youll also want to cover the bottom of the fridge with brown butcher paper and turn off the air conditioner/dehumidifier settings since dry-aging will naturally produce moisture.

Sealing The Meat In Umai Dry

We recommend sealing your UMAi Dry bag at a 45 degree angle due to the commonly narrow sealing bar on most heat sealers. Position the meat at a 45 degree angle to the sealer and grasp the opening of the bag in your hand to create some wrinkles for better airflow and then seal the corner. Since our UMAi Dry bags melt at a slightly higher temperature than other drying bags, seal the bag a 2nd time for 20 seconds. Wait until the material is cool to check the seal and make sure it is transparent.

Next, reposition the meat parallel to the heat seal and insert the VacMouse vacuum aid strip to allow air to be drawn out by the vacuum pump in the sealer. Massage the air out of the bag corners and meat crevices while the vacuum is running. UMAi Dry does not require an absolute vacuum, making it easier for meat crafters to learn how to make dry aged steak at home.

The purpose of vacuum sealing is simply to bring your UMAi Dry bag into contact with the meat to allow for efficient moisture release.

Add a label with your anticipated dry aging start and end date. We recommend dry aging steak for 21-45 days in your UMAi Dry bag.

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I’ve Got Some More Questions

What about wet-aging? What is it, and does it work?

Wet aging is simple: Put your beef in a Cryovac bag, and let it sit on the shelf for a few weeks. Tell your customers that it’s aged sell it at a premium.

The problem is that wet-aging is nothing like dry-aging.

For starters, there is no oxidation of fat in wet aging, which means that there is no development of funky flavors. A minimal amount of flavor change will occur through enzymatic reactions, but they are, well, minimal. Additionally, wet-aging prevents the drainage of excess serum and meat juices. Tasters often report that wet-aged meat tastes “sour” or “serum-y.”

Wet-aging can offer the same tenderizing and moisture-retaining benefits as dry-aging, but that’s about it. In reality, wet-aging is a product of laziness and money-grubbing. It’s easy to let that Cryovacked bag of beef from the distributor sit around for a week before the bag is opened, allowing it to be called “aged” and sold for a higher price. I don’t buy it. When you are being sold “aged” meat, be sure to ask whether it’s been dry-aged or wet-aged. If they don’t know the answer or are unwilling to share, it’s best to assume the worst.

To anyone who was in the office the day I opened up that package of rotten wet-aged beef, my sincerest apologies. As Robyn described it, it smelled like “rotten excrement taking a poop.”

Yeah, it was that bad.

What about those fancy “dry-aging bags” I’ve been reading so much about?

I’ll pass on the special equipment.

The Dry Aging Process: What To Expect

DAY 1 At least 75% of the meat surface is in contact with the UMAi Dry membrane. And your kitchen might be a mess.

DAY 2 UMAi Dry will relax, and may appear loose as it takes up moisture from the meat. There may be moisture pooling in the corners let time and your fridge take care of that.

DAY 4-5 Bond begins to form you may notice color change.

DAY 10 The meat should begin to turn mahogany brown. You may begin to catch an earthy, blue-cheesy, nutty scent.

DAY 21 The bark is firm and dark, mostly even in color, and almost firm enough to knock on. There may be softer and firmer spots. Small white dots may be salts, fat or mold, which is OK. Grey, blue, green, or black mold is bad news.

DAY 28-45 The meat is firm and dark, and may begin to pull away from the UMAi Dry membrane. Separation is normal the meat is still protected in its custom dry aging space.

UMAi Dry® Aging Steak at Home Process Illustration:

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The Best Dry Age Bags For The Perfect Steak At Home

**Dry aging bags for steak and other beef products are available for purchase on umaidry.com**

When it comes to crafting the perfect steak, you only need four things:

Untrimmed beef

Your kitchen fridge

Time

Most people start out with the best-selling Ribeye/Striploin Dry Aging Bags which comes with 3 dry age bags for your choice cut of beef.

Sure, there are other dry age bags on the market. But UMAi Dry, the original dry age steak bag founded in 2007, offers product support directly through umaidry.com/help, and also offers access to an exclusive Facebook group so you can crowd-source anything from tips and tricks, to recipes and recommendations. Dry age bag help & support is never more than a click away.

DrybagSteak has been in the dry age meat business for over 15 years, and our dry aging bags for beef are the best on the market. Whether you want to explore the finer flavors of traditional meat preparation or are looking to impress guests at your next holiday gathering, its easy to get great results dry aging your own beef at home.

The process of dry aging steaks is very simple, but understanding the science and logistics of the process will improve your experience. Lets talk about the four things you need to dry age meat in more detail:

1 Moisture evaporates from the meat, thereby concentrating and intensifying the beef flavor

Myths About Dry Ageing Steak At Home

Many believe that dry-aging steak is impossible because its not cold enough.

This is false, have you heard of the Himalayan Ice Man? He does just fine at freezing temperatures that are much colder than your fridge will be.

The second myth is that dry-aging steak at home will result in freezer burn. This can happen if you leave it for too long, however, in most cases, 30 80 days is the ideal time frame for dry aging steak at home.

The third myth is that you need a humidity-controlled room to age steak effectively.

This too is false because all you need to do is wrap it up and seal it away from air and let the water evaporate off naturally.

You can take extra steps to avoid freezer burn by wrapping the steak up in saran wrap or even better, cheesecloth, as tightly as possible.

This blocks out any humidity and keeps the steak fresh longer.

Another myth is that dry-aging steak at home wont make a difference because you wont be able to age it long enough.

This is very short-sighted thinking because after aging a steak properly, even for 30 days, youll not only notice a more intense flavor but also a significantly reduced cooking loss and overall improved yield.

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What Causes Flavor Change

So really, aged meat doesn’t lose much moisture. But, wait a minute, haven’t I read that aged steaks can lose up to 30% of their weight in water? Isn’t that one of the reasons why aged steak is so expensive?

Don’t believe everything you read. That 30% figure is deceptive at best, and an outright lie at worst. Yes, it’s true that if you dry-age an untrimmed, bone-in, fat-cap-intact prime rib, you’ll end up losing about 30% of its total weight over the course of 21 to 30 days or so. What they don’t tell you is that the weight is almost exclusively lost from the outer layersthat is, the portion of the meat that is going to be trimmed off anyway, regardless of whether it’s aged or not.

Has it never struck you as not just a little bit odd that the aged ribeye steaks in the butcher’s display aren’t 30% smaller than the fresh ribeyes in the display? Or that aged bone-in steaks are not stretching and pulling away from their bonesI mean, surely the bones aren’t shrinking as well, are they?

The fact is, with the exception of the cut faces that need to be trimmed off, the edible portion of an aged prime rib is pretty much identical to that of a fresh prime rib.

Okay, let’s say I’m convinced about that. Does that mean that the whole idea that “meat flavor is concentrated” in an aged steak because of dehydration is also false?

I’m afraid so. It’s a great idea in theory, but several facts don’t support it.

“That is, the less aged the meat was, the more moisture it expelled.”

The Dry Aging Set Up:

THE FRIDGE: Youll need a dedicated fridge for your dry aging. When I say dedicated, I mean it. Do not store any overflow items requiring refrigeration in here- no beer, no birthday cakes, no freshly harvested deer quarters. Youre trying to create and maintain an ideal microclimate for your beef to get funky. Protect your atmosphere! Further, sharing the space with other items may lead to cross contamination of flavor profiles which manifest in the fat.

I chose the 8.6 cubic feet Edgestar model, because its large enough for me to have a starter piece, plus 2-3 additional pieces aging at one time. It seemed to me that any smaller model would not allow me enough space to have a reasonable selection actively aging. And if youre going to spend the money, then give yourself the extra space. Also take note to make sure the interior widths arent too narrow the pieces of meat youll be aging are wide and will need extra room for air flow around the edges. Conversely, a fridge that is too large may have more trouble with humidity levels. Youll notice this unit also has wire shelves youll need these to make sure airflow is sufficient.

Be sure to disinfect your fridge before you use it for the first time I used a water/bleach mixture to wipe down all internal surfaces.

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What Is Dry Aging

Dry aging is a post mortem treatment for beef designed primarily to intensify flavor, with a secondary benefit of promoting tenderness. The flavor development is shaped by both a reduction in moisture which correlates to a concentration of flavor, and the cultivation of good mold and bacteria to lend a funky, nutty profile to the meat. In short dry aging makes beef taste really, really good.

CAVEAT: dry aging does not appeal to everyone. There are some folks who prefer regular beef, and who find the intense and nutty flavors of dry aging too much for their palate. The assumption here is, if youve arrived at this article interested enough in creating a set up at home, that you enjoy aged beef. If you havent yet tried it, I thoroughly recommend getting in touch with a local purveyor and tasting dry aged beef before you embark on this journey.

What Tools Do I Need To Dry Age A Steak At Home

Believe it or not, you dont need any fancy or special tools to dry age steak at home, simply because you should use your refrigerator.

If youre anything like me, thats probably already full of beer and leftover takeout.

However, you will need a pan big enough to hold the steak and some string or butcher twine to hang it from.

Ensure you have saran wrap or cheesecloth to wrap the steak up with too.

I also recommend using a refrigerator thermometer to monitor the temperature, humidity and to ensure it doesnt go above 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is important from a food safety standpoint as refrigerators arent as consistent as commercial meat lockers.

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So How Can I Do This At Home

Yes you can but not exactly the process above.

Our home refrigerator is not designed to keep consistent temperature and humidity control. Lets face it, we have to store everything in our fridge. Vegetables, dairy, cold cuts and meat.

I have found an outstanding product available that you can use to produce your own Dry Aged Beef at home.

• Create Dry Aged Steak in your refrigerator with special UMAi Dry® technology
• Unique UMAi Dry® breathable membrane creates a perfect dry ageing environment
• Use your fridge to age whole sub primal cuts of beef with no mess, no odours
• Your result is delicious dry aged steak that will impress your friends and family
• Once you try UMAi Dry® aged steak, you will know true gourmet steaks

The use of bags is different to the way the experts do it but you can still get a great result. The bags are different to normal bags as during the ageing process the bag turns into a membrane that allows the moisture to escape but not allow oxygen to re-enter the bag creating the perfect seal for dry ageing and eliminate the mess.

This product has been sold for more than 6 years by UMAi Dry® with thousand of satisfied customers.

The kit comes with

• Vacuum Sealer to apply the bags,
• an assortment of bags for boneless rib eye, strip loin
• smaller roast bags as well as
• vacuum storage bags for your finished dry aged steaks to keep in the freezer
• a complete set of instructions for dry ageing as well as
• adapters for use with the vacuum sealing machine.

With Careful Attention And Patience It’s Possible To Dry Age Beef At Home For Steaks With Unparalleled Flavor And Tenderness

Dry-aged beef in a cast iron skillet. Damn, that looks good. This is the only method I know of that’ll get you that steakhouse-quality charring without the benefit of a grill or an 1,800°F broiler.

Sometimes I get emails from readers that say something along the lines of “You said in article X one thing, then, a couple years later, in article Y, you said almost the complete opposite. What gives? Don’t you believe in science, and doesn’t science deal in facts?”

There’s only one kind of science that isn’t open to contradicting itself: the bad kind. Science needs to be open to accepting and considering contradictory evidence and redefining “facts,” by definition. Heck, if new theories weren’t allowed to be formed and conclusions debunked with further experimentation, we’d still believe in crazy things like spontaneous generation, static universes, or even that searing meat seals in juices. And then where would we be today?

I bring this up because, a few weeks back, I went through great pains to test and explain precisely why you cannot dry-age meat at home, no way, nohow. Today, I’m going to explain to you exactly how you can dry-age at home, how relatively simple it is, and how it can vastly improve the eating quality of your steaks and roasts until they are better than what you can buy at even the best gourmet supermarket.*

*And, unlike many sources that claim similar results, I actually have the blind taste tests to prove it!

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Trim Steak Out & Lets Eat

After the desired aging period, the meat can be removed from the UMAi Dry bag and cut into steaks. The bark that has formed on the meat is usually easiest to trim off after cutting the individual steaks. Any remiaing steaks that won’t be cooked within a couple days can be vacuum sealed into a Foodsaver type bag and stored in the freezer for up to a year.

Dry Aging At Home Starter Pack

The UMAi Dry® Artisan Meat Kit

Create The Original Slow Food®–dry aged steak and dry cured meats such as Capicola, Pancetta, Lonza, Bresaola, Prosciutto, Guanciale, and more.

UMAi Dry® brings together the best of old world artisan meat tradition with sophisticated modern technology making it easy for you to craft authentic dry aged steak, charcuterie and salumi in the comfort of your own refrigerator.

UMAi Dry® Features: NO ORDINARY PLASTIC BAG!

• Breathes and allows meat to dry age
• Protects meat while aging
• No mess, no mold, no off-flavors

UMAi Dry® is a special membrane, not a vacuum bag.

Kit Includes:

• 1 Artisan Dry Aged Steak Pack
• 1 Artisan Charcuterie Pack
• Recipes and Illustrated Instructions

Sealer features:

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