Originally posted by: iamme
Question for steak experts: how do you "naturally age" beef? I understand that wine ages....but w/ meat doesn't age = rot?
Just curious....
Most meat companys that are knowledgable enough to age their meat, (read: not your local grocery store), will use one of two methods; either dry aging, or wet aging. Dry aging meat is left in a cool enviroment with no covering, and wet aging you leave the meat in the bag it comes in (subprimals -the larger "chunks" of meat, come vacuum sealed in bags if it's product meant to be portioned into steaks). Wet aging is a matter of leaving this bagged meat in a cool enviroment for up to 40 days. It rarely hurts the meat, and does wonders to the flavor, and the bite of the meat, as (any) aging allows the natural bateria to further break down the connective tissue thet runs through the muscle fibers. Dry aging takes less time, but (from what I have seen, I could be wrong) has a small chance of discoloration on the meat surface, as contact with air oxidises the meat, and makes the outside turn (bad) more quickly.
Aging makes a LOT better meat product (for steaks, not burgers). However, IMO (not thread crapping, just giving an alternative) paying 3x for Omaha Steaks than what you would at your local butcher, is just silly. Go make a friend out of your local, lonely, USDA inspected butcher, save some cash, and get just as good of steaks.
And don't buy supermarket meat!