Heard a guy at the meat conference say dry-aging at home is a waste of money. I don't buy it.

I was at the Kansas City Meat Up last month and this older butcher was telling a crowd that home dry-aging setups like those $400 fridges are just a gimmick. He said you get more waste and less control than just buying pre-aged primals from a decent supplier. But I've been dry-aging my own beef in a converted mini-fridge with a fan and a salt block for about 18 months now. My last ribeye roast after 45 days had this deep nutty flavor that I've never gotten from a store-bought aged cut. Yeah, I lose maybe 15% trim weight, but I pay $8 a pound for Choice and end up with something that tastes like $20 Prime. Has anyone else here built their own rig and seen better results than the pre-packed stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_jackson6d ago

Oh man, your setup sounds rad! I actually had a similar experience but with a total accident. I was trying to cure some duck breasts in my garage fridge and the power went out for like three days during a heatwave. I figured everything was trash, but when I opened it up, the duck had this insane funky smell and taste totally different than anything I'd tried before. Turned out the temp fluctuations kinda dry-aged it by mistake I guess. Now I just leave my fridge door cracked a little bit on purpose for beef and it works like a charm, even if it drives my wife crazy with the energy bill. Your nutty ribeye story makes me want to try the salt block trick though, I've just been using a wire rack.

anthony_jackson6d ago

Probably not the best idea to tell your wife it's "intentional energy inefficiency for better steak," but hey, at least you're getting quality beef out of it. I love that you just cracked the fridge door like some sort of mad scientist and called it a day. Salt block thing is definitely worth a try though, just be careful you don't accidentally cure your own floorboards in the process. I left one on my kitchen counter once and my cat kept licking it for two days. Wild.