Six-week dry aged USDA Prime whole ribeye

[Trouter23]

The goal: Serve the best steak on Christmas Day my family or I have ever had.

The plan: Dry age a USDA Prime whole ribeye for 43 days, trim it, then sear it to medium-rare perfection.

Some of you might recall that back at Christmas time in 2015 I dry aged a USDA Choice whole ribeye for four weeks. That steak was the best I'd ever had and I've had a lot, from Peter Luger to Chops, Bones, and Linger Longer. All serve excellent steaks, but I cannot lie. Even being USDA Choice (albeit, due to the marbling, it was on the higher end of Choice), it still beat any steak I've had out - including multiple trips to Peter Luger. The beefiness was something I had never tasted before and the tenderness was right there with Prime.

Ever since, though, I wondered, what if we pushed the drying even further out and went with the pinnacle of beef that is USDA Prime? So, this past Sunday I went to Costco at Cumberland and, thankfully, my favorite butcher buddy was working. After surveying the cryovaced whole Prime ribeyes in search of the largest spinalis dorsi (aka the ribeye cap, aka the beefiest and most tender part of the cow), I asked him if he would check in the back for a whole ribeye with the biggest spinalis dorsi they had. He went in the back for a few minutes and then emerged with what I was after: a cryovaced whole USDA Prime ribeye with the biggest spinalis dorsi I had ever seen. On one end, it was almost half of the ribeye, no joke. I'll take it!

$17.99 pounds at $10.89 per pound for a total of $195.91



As soon as I got home, I took it out of the cooler, took it out of the cryovac, cut it in two, placed it on a cooling rack in a sheet pan, and parked it in the bottom of my refrigerator. I cut it in two because I'll be serving three ribeyes out of the smaller cut to my pastor and his wife around the four week mark. The other, larger ribeye will end up yielding about five ribeyes after being trimmed at the six week mark.



Day 1: Will update this thread with a picture every Sunday leading up to Christmas Day.

[Big T]

I did it once and man that's good stuff. I was told to wrap the beef in cheesecloth and change it every two weeks but that must not be necessary.

I usually eat my meat right off the bone raw after a kill so it's hard for me to wait six weeks.

[GoutUnlimited]

Yes! I remember. Keep us posted I'll be following this.

[Uncle Fun]

Looking forward to the pics. I think we need smell-a-vision for the final product.

My wife and kids will NOT eat the spinalis dorsi (glad to know the name as I always called it the good part) . They claim it is too fatty, but what they don't understand that this is tenderness and not fat. they can't get past the texture difference. Being the great father that I am, I relieve them of the burden by taking their portion in exchange for a different part of mine.

Lately, I have been using the iron skillet with: butter, garlic, rosemary, and cognac for a sauce.

[Trouter23]

Originally Posted by Uncle Fun

Being the great father that I am, I relieve them of the burden by taking their portion in exchange for a different part of mine.

Ha - that's straight love right there.

[Trouter23]

Originally Posted by Big T

I did it once and man that's good stuff. I was told to wrap the beef in cheesecloth and change it every two weeks but that must not be necessary.

Yeah, I used to too. Turns out, as I learned, it's unnecessary. The beef dries out on its own without needing help. In fact, it might actually hurt. Anything that holds moisture against the meat is bad. And, changing that stuff out every week is just more work. All of which are probably the reasons why steakhouses don't do it. Imagine trying to keep up with that for thousands of whole cuts!

Peter Luger's dry aging room:

[REDTOP]

Oh Yeah! Following this thread fosho!!!!

[Trouter23]

Day 8:

[Big T]

That already looks righteous. I can feel the flavors concentrating.

[Trouter23]

Day 15: