Dry Age "Cheating" on your steaks. Get the same great Steakhouse taste and texture at home

[poloralf]

Thanks for the info. I'll try it

[JackFNQ]

Cut the best part off a whole rump. Thick cut steaks over charcoal.

Turned out great.

[Dimmers]

Cut the best part off a whole rump. Thick cut steaks over charcoal.

Turned out great.

pics or it didnt happen !!

[JackFNQ]

When a beast is hung, the weight of gravity helps the tenderising process.

My butcher will let it hang for a longer period of time when I buy a side.

I wonder if a cheat is to stack plates on top of each other for a weighted press, changing the paper towels more frequently.

And rotating plates on the bovine boveda chest shelf.

[JackFNQ]

pics or it didnt happen !!

I don't even own a mobile phone, and you want digitsed pixels.

[Guest scsi]

great read,

only thing I woyld disagree with is that there is no issue using a needle probe to measure temp of the meat like the ones from Thermoworks.

Highly accurate and the tiny pucture in the meat from this probe will hardly bleed the meat of any juice of significance.

As Meathead of Amazing Ribs says, cook to temp, thats the only way to ensure proper doneness

[JackFNQ]

One important ingredient mentioned was powdered beef stock in rub. I did not have any but used himalayan pink salt instead. I was very happy with the outcome. We only use pink salt these days as we much prefer it to ordinary salt.

[Guest scsi]

X2 for this

[JackFNQ]

Cut the best part off a whole rump. Thick cut steaks over charcoal.

Turned out great.

Tried a whole rump this time and did not turn out as good, still nice. Maybe fist try was best cut, with ample fat.

[yhomas]

What a great thread. A couple of comments to add:

#1. The problem with "USDA Prime" beef is that usually it comes aged. (Obviously, it is possible to get non-aged Prime, but this is generally difficult to find in my experience.) Although aged beef is more tender, I prefer the flavor of fresh beef. So I really like the concept of getting fresh beef and "cheating" on the aging process (as described in this thread) rather than actual aging.

#2. I haven't been to a lot of great steak houses, but the best one I have been to cooked over a wood fire (orange and pecan wood mix). I personally love cooking over a wood fire (most often pecan wood)--yes, I like the smoke flavor. I have never had a piece of prime grade meat which was freshly cut off the cow, so I can't comment on that, but for the steak that I have realistic access to, IMO, cooked over a wood fire is always better than other options.

#3. Without using a lot of wood, and spending a lot of time and care on fire preparation, it is difficult to achieve a wood fire with sufficiently even heat that one can easily cook over at reasonably high heat without the need for lots of rotation and care of the meat. So if you want to set the meat onto the grill, wait, then turn once, wait, then remove from grill without any additional contact, the wood fire is probably not a realistic option.

#4. In my experience, there is no direct penalty for touching the steak--moving it etc. This is not a religious ceremony. Contact between steak and a spatula or tongs is not going to ruin the meat. What actually does have an effect is opening the grill lid. If you want to cook a steak with uniform high heat in a short amount of time, opening the grill lid is plausibly going to interrupt the cooking (more so on the top side of the meat), and have an effect. Reasonably, it may take a few minutes for the grill to fully warm up inside after you close the lid, so if you are cooking a steak in ~8 minutes with one guaranteed open/turn/close in the middle, any additional grill opening will pretty much guarantee that the grill will never reach the full temperature inside.

#5. I used to have a goal of a high heat, and short duration grill session. But here is what I have discovered in cooking over small wood fires over the last few years: For reasonably thick steaks, you do not need to cook at high heat--at least not as high as is traditionally advocated.

#6. Now for my tastes, browning/charring of the meat is required, so the laws of physics require some time at high temperature, but imagine that one makes a typical small wood fire on one side of a typical small grill. There is an extremely uneven heat--and this is difficult to cook on. However, there is an enormous advantage here: Set the meat off to the side, and it will warm up slowly while gathering flavor from the smoke. Set the meat onto the hot spot of the wood fire, and it can be browned in a matter of ~1 minute.

This is a different concept of grilling, and it takes a bit of skill to move the meat around appropriately, but the nice advantage from my point of view is that in general, one has a longer cooking time where the meat is at more moderate temperatures, then the meat is briefly finished over the intense heat of the hotter portion of the wood fire. Most importantly for people with finite resources of wood, this type of fire can be pretty efficient in terms of wood use.

#7. Extending the concept further, we can add sugar to a (wet) rub in order to get browning to occur quicker and at lower temperatures. Personally, I really enjoy a soy sauce/brown-sugar/lemon-juice/garlic/pepper marinade. I love ribeye, but (depending on the quantity used) the soy marinade can be too strong for overnight marinading--a couple of hours is usually plenty. For sirloin or NY strip, overnight is good. Obviously, the somewhat sugary marinade is an entirely different vibe from the concept discussed here, but I thought I would mention it since it is one of my favorites.

#8. I am sure that this will void the warranty of any gas grill, but I like to just add a few pieces of pecan right on top of the typical cheap gas grill burner. If the wood fire doesn't have quite enough heat, the propane can be turned on, but I prefer to have the wood be the primary source of heat for cooking.

It is preferable to put a small grate over the top of the gas to prevent wood coals from getting underneath the burners. In some cases, if hot coals are under the burners it can ruin the burners in one fire. With care, the burners are still ruined on a periodic basis, so don't try this on an expensive grill!

[BMWBen]

Wow great write up Brazo I can't wait to try this!

[BMWBen]

Couldn't resist, starting the dry age process now

[Diamondog]

Recently did a 3 bone prime rib using the process...did 48 hours same process then browned both sides in a pan....dropped in to the slow cooker...poured one container of beef broth in...1 package of onion soup mix and slow cooked for 9 hours....could not have possibly been better....as i lifted it out the bones promptly fell out from their weight....cutting board after a 15 minute rest and i could not cut it with my sharpest butcher knife, it simply crumbled at the pressure from the knife...outstanding! Will do another for Christmas and get some pics up...

[NapaNolan]

The one thing I can add is in relation to using paper towels. If you have a baking pan/sheet and a cooling rack, you can use that and ignore towels. Air will circulate all the way around the meat and dehydrate efficiently. It's still a good idea to flip the meat to make sure it's drying consistently.

[JackFNQ]

The one thing I can add is in relation to using paper towels. If you have a baking pan/sheet and a cooling rack, you can use that and ignore towels. Air will circulate all the way around the meat and dehydrate efficiently. It's still a good idea to flip the meat to make sure it's drying consistently.

Interesting idea, wonder if there is a wicking effect of the paper towels? Probably not, especially after first 36hrs.

[LGC]

Paper towel is only used to wick away moisture instead of trap it between the meat and the plate. Once it's saturated, it doesn't do anything. Use a rack and you won't have to touch the meat at all. You can also put the meat on a bed of toothpicks, balls of aluminum foil, etc. You can also put a gag and handcuffs on the steak, then hang it with leather straps.

[Diamondog]

Saw this method for cooking...haven't tried but looks interesting.

https://youtu.be/GZ4xl7XJM08

[LGC]

Reverse searing is nothing new. It should be the only method used for moderate to large cuts. I even use it for burgers.

[helix]

Reverse searing is nothing new. It should be the only method used for moderate to large cuts. I even use it for burgers.

Searing after cooking is plain counter intuitive as far as I'm concerned , you sear to seal in the juices. Nothing new and certainly not reverse. My 2 cents.

[NapaNolan]

Searing does not seal in juices, baked steaks retain more liquid than seared steaks.

However, the sear results in flavor and texture.

By cooking in the oven first it can evaporate surface moisture which will result in a faster sear (which I think is the main benefit of the method described in the original post, evaporating surface moisture). When you sear, lots of energy is spent evaporating surface moisture before the Maillard Effect starts and can result in an overcooked cut.

[LGC]

Searing does not seal in juices, baked steaks retain more liquid than seared steaks.

However, the sear results in flavor and texture.

By cooking in the oven first it can evaporate surface moisture which will result in a faster sear (which I think is the main benefit of the method described in the original post, evaporating surface moisture). When you sear, lots of energy is spent evaporating surface moisture before the Maillard Effect starts and can result in an overcooked cut.

Correct. Moisture at the interaction between the surface of the meat and heating medium (conduction with a pan or radiation/convection in oven or broiler) must be evaporated before the Maillard reaction begins. I find that dry aging (short term) greatly helps to speed up the process. In addition, slow cooking at a lower temp helps to dry out the meat surface as well (before searing). I prefer to have a consistent medium rare across my steaks, rather than a well done, grey layer on the outside. Professional chefs learn by experimentation. I like to follow their leads.

[Phillys]

The reverse sear is alright, but the regular way works better for me to cook it rare. Especially for steaks that are dried (regular dry age or the cheat) and at room temp.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[helix]

Searing does not seal in juices, baked steaks retain more liquid than seared steaks.

However, the sear results in flavor and texture.

By cooking in the oven first it can evaporate surface moisture which will result in a faster sear (which I think is the main benefit of the method described in the original post, evaporating surface moisture). When you sear, lots of energy is spent evaporating surface moisture before the Maillard Effect starts and can result in an overcooked cut.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.

[helix]

BTW I dry age cheat all my steaks and roasts. Salt and paper towel works for me. 2 cents again.

[Diamondog]

Note..my intent wasnt meant to deviate from the dry age cheat process...since i learned that process i cant really see any benefit to doing a steak otherwise....this was simply a different cooking method of the steak that I thought was interesting.