DIY Dry Aged Beef

Firstly, Happy New Year to you all. I had a wonderful Christmas eating well, drinking well and, in one particular area, saving well.

About two months ago a friend mentioned they had seen an article on air drying beef at home. This was facilitated by a special bag and that was as much information as I had. A little while later with the help of Google's search engine I found these Dry Aging Bags

 . I ordered some and split them with my friend. A day or so later I managed to buy a nice cheap piece of topside with a reasonable marbling. It was not 'matured' or 'dry aged' so it was around £15 for a large joint. I followed the simple instructions and bagged the meat before placing it in a clear space in my fridge on a metal rack . They advise that for the first 4 days there must be a clear space around the meat while the bag 'sticks to the meat'. A week or so later all was looking well and Ikept a weather eye on the joint over the next 2 months while it slowly turned black and shrunk.

Just before Christmas I removed the meat from the fridge and wondered. It was black, dry with just a little hint of a salami type mold on the surface. I removed a thin layer of the 'rind' before cutting the joint into steaks with a beautiful purple brown colour and a fantastic nose. I froze the steaks immediately to stop any further aging or deterioration but the smaller ends were cubed and popped in my Instapot to brown prior to creating a simple beef casserole with root vegetables, onion, leeks beef stock, herbs and lentils and a half bottle of cheap port (used to make 'Smoking Bishop' but more about that later). An hour later I was greeted by a wonderful, comfortable bouquet of the casserole as I released the steam. The first bite of a beef chunk told me the wait had been more than worthwhile. A tender and flavourful mouthful of this fantastic aged beef was reward a plenty. Better still, I have the steaks to look forward to. 

There is another joint bagged and drying in the fridge now. I will take photographs over the next few weeks as the next treat matures.

The supplier I ordered from ships from the US and it was not cheap but I did notice that these are now available at a much more reasonable price thanks to reduced postage costs but I have not tried them myself.

Dry Aging Bags at Butchers Sundries