Six-week dry aged USDA Prime whole ribeye

[Trouter23]

Ha, sorry!

We served the first batch to our preacher and his family this Sunday, so this was the last pic of it from this past Saturday right before it was trimmed and portioned it into individual ribeyes.

Day 35:



In short, they were spectacular. But, I'll save the full report for the six weeker.

Here is the last, larger cut destined for the full six weeks - to be trimmed, portioned, and salted on Christmas Eve and cooked on Christmas Day.

Day 36:

[Trouter23]

Once the beef was trimmed last Saturday, a stew was made with the trimmings. No exaggeration, this was the best beef stew I've ever had. The intensity of the beef flavor was unreal. The ingredients were simple: dry aged trimmings, potatoes, carrots, onions, beef stock, salt, pepper.

[JerryG]

That looks just about amazing.

Found out a few days ago that I've been tasked with cooking a prime rib for 8 on Monday. I wish I'd known sooner... you think it's worth a quick couple days to leave it uncovered in the fridge?

[Trouter23]

Originally Posted by JerryG

That looks just about amazing.

Found out a few days ago that I've been tasked with cooking a prime rib for 8 on Monday. I wish I'd known sooner... you think it's worth a quick couple days to leave it uncovered in the fridge?

Can't hurt. And the outside won't dry out enough for you need to trim it. Go for it.

I'd also go ahead and salt it today or tomorrow. Then, put it on a cooling rack in a sheet pan and park it in your refrigerator until you're ready to cook it on Sunday.

[JerryG]

Originally Posted by Trouter23

Can't hurt. And the outside won't dry out enough for you need to trim it. Go for it.

I'd also go ahead and salt it today or tomorrow. Then, put it on a cooling rack in a sheet pan and park it in your refrigerator until you're ready to cook it on Sunday.

Thanks for the inspo, Trouter. I aged mine 4 days and on Christmas, set it out for 4 or 5 hours to let it come up to room temp. Then I covered it in butter, pepper, and a good bit of super coarse salt from the Brazilian butcher shop (almost rock salt size). I rocked it 30 min on 500 to crisp the outside. After that, I dropped it to 200 until the meat hit 118. That's when I pulled it. Let it rest about 10 minutes and it was perfect.

This was for the wife's family, but my dad's b day is in January and I'm gonna age another one trying for maybe 10 or 12 days.

How did your steaks turn out?

(Pic 1: un aged, Pic 2: aged 4 days, Pic 3: about to be destroyed)




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[Stinkbait]

Jerry G,

That looks spectacular. I am surprised it looks that done if you pulled it at 118 degrees. I cooked a tenderloin for Christmas Eve and pulled it at 132 and wrapped it for 30 minutes and it was medium rare to medium rare +.

[Trouter23]

Jerry, that looks awesome. How was the seasoning? Was it salted enough?

For your next one, I'd try to get it up on a rack, if you have one, to promote airflow and prevent rot. Also, you can salt it in advance anywhere from one hour to four days before cooking. But, you may need to trim off dry, leathery parts before you salt it this next time since you'll be aging it longer.

Let us know how it turns out.

[JerryG]

Originally Posted by Stinkbait

Jerry G,

That looks spectacular. I am surprised it looks that done if you pulled it at 118 degrees. I cooked a tenderloin for Christmas Eve and pulled it at 132 and wrapped it for 30 minutes and it was medium rare to medium rare +.

It was pretty pink through the center and towards the bottom. I made the mistake of leaving it tied to the (seperated) ribs, which insulated the bottom from getting the same level of heat the top got.

[JerryG]

Originally Posted by Trouter23

Jerry, that looks awesome. How was the seasoning? Was it salted enough?

For your next one, I'd try to get it up on a rack, if you have one, to promote airflow and prevent rot. Also, you can salt it in advance anywhere from one hour to four days before cooking. But, you may need to trim off dry, leathery parts before you salt it this next time since you'll be aging it longer.

Let us know how it turns out.

I went with the "use twice as much salt as you think you need" and it turned out great. I'm telling ya, I never would have tried the aging thing if not for this thread.

Ill rack the next one for sure, and may look at doing a reverse sear. Ive played around with the sous vide stuff on smaller cuts, and may give that a shot.

How did your steaks come out? I bet they were awesome.

[Trouter23]

Sorry for taking so long to get these pics uploaded, but the ribeyes were incredible!!! The salt level was perfect - something that, if too low or too high, would have either been bland or, worse, ruined all that time and effort. But, thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Day 43!:



Trimmings.



About 1/4" to 1/2" trimmed off all the way around.



Another (expensive!) beef stew made with the trimmings. And, once again, this was, hands down, the best beef stew I've ever had. Man, it was good. And, since it was so good, I have plans to dry age a chuck roast for four to six weeks for a beef stew. For one, it'll be a lot cheaper! And, since it's the trimmings I'm after, I'm not concerned about how much I'll be trimming off since it's actually the trimmings I want. So, I'll be on the look out for as high of a surface-to-mass ratio as I can find in a chuck roast.





I was fascinated by tracking the numbers as things went along to get an idea of how much weight was lost due to evaporation and, even more so, the trimmings.

Start weight: 17.99 pounds
Weight loss due to evaporation: 3.38 pounds / 18.8%
Final total weight loss due to evaporation and trimming: 10.52 pounds / 58.5% loss
Net weight before cooking: 7.47 pounds
Yield: Eight 1 1/2-inch ribeyes
Actual cost per dry aged ribeye: $24.49

What's interesting is that the last time I did this back in December of 2015, the final total weight loss was 58.0% - essentially exactly the same as this time. Given the many variables between these two sessions, that's amazing.

Portioned.





Salted and ready for an overnight stay in the refrigerator.



Once the griddle was up to temp, the ribeyes were pulled out of the refrigerator, brushed with duck fat, and dropped.

I used both a griddle on the grill and a cast iron skillet on a portable burner. Both surfaces temped out about the same throughout - about 650F when the meat was dropped and about 435F after they were flipped.





Now for the reason behind all of this. The result was truly outstanding. The crust was crunchy, salty, and a little sweet from the caramelization. As for the beef flavor, it was strong, complex, hard to put into words. Bottom line, it was way better than a ribeye out of the package. And, the spinalis dorsi was everything I had hoped for - crunchy, tender, moist, beef perfection.

This was it. This was what I was after. And it was well worth the six week wait, the effort, and the loss of that refrigerator space at the time of year when it's most in demand. I'm glad I did it and I'll do it again, Lord willing, but probably not for another year or two. And I encourage any of you who are considering doing this, do it!