Favorite steak

CornyKegs 728
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b-boy said:
How exactly do you dry age a steak? If I leave anything sitting around my house for a month I can guarantee it will be covered with green stuff and wll most likely kill me.

I'd like to dry-age a steak, cook it, feed it to the dog (maybe the cat), and if he survives try it myself. :D

What's the process?
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Plenty of how-to on the internet...basically people have an extra fridge that they dry-age in. Basically you leave it sitting out in the refridge covered with moist towels (if I remember...my day did it for awhile)

Dry-age does develop a rind which is part of the reason it is $$$$....alot of trimmable waste that needs to come off.
 
Mdsutton said:
REvvy looks awesome. Tell us about your dry aging? I usually do it for about a week. Rinse the meat, dry it, wrap in cheese cloth, place in back of frig.
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I just do it pretty much like that, but with paper towel. Pretty much how Alton does it in the "Porterhouse rules" episode.

 
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Mdsutton said:
REvvy looks awesome. Tell us about your dry aging? I usually do it for about a week. Rinse the meat, dry it, wrap in cheese cloth, place in back of frig.
Click to expand...

Here is what I do after much research on dry aging safely at home...

Its critical to get humidity along with temp correct when dry aging which is tough because a fridge is too dry of an environment...which isn't too hard to overcome fortunately. I use my lagering fridge for the purpose as back of a food storage fridge isn't the best idea for sanitation reasons and the humidity issue. I first clean the fridge to make sure it is good and sanitary, then I have found a loaf pan provides the perfect surface area to evaporate off water to maintain my humidity perfectly for my fridge size which is checked with an RH meter I leave in there, so I fill up the loaf pan with water and set it in the corner.

I then order meat from the butcher (I do rib roast and NY strip) bone in with the fat cap intact as that protects the meat. I rinse and dry it then wrap it in a white cotton lint free dish towel (they sell packs of them at Walmart that work perfect) and place that on a rack over a drip pan and check daily and replace if the towel is moist and wipe clean any drips in the drip pan. IME within a week the towel does not need to be replaced. When it is aged to where you like it start cutting off steaks or do an entire aged rib roast with some shallot merlot butter sauce and everyone will think you are the best thing that has ever happened.
 
b-boy said:
How exactly do you dry age a steak? If I leave anything sitting around my house for a month I can guarantee it will be covered with green stuff and wll most likely kill me.

I'd like to dry-age a steak, cook it, feed it to the dog (maybe the cat), and if he survives try it myself. :D

What's the process?
Click to expand...

I didn't back read before I responded and didn't realize there was much interest. So, read my post above for the gist of things. One of the critical things is that if you are dry aging you want to go 3 weeks minimum (I love Alton, but I completely disagree with him...or at least what I have learned from research disagrees with him and so does my relatively limited home experience as my initial attempt to dry age a rib roast for 10 days left no noticeable change in flavor to me. So, if you are doing things like the a good steakhouse you are going for one to three months. This means that you will have growth on the meat exterior that will need cut away making a single steak completely impracticable and I believe it would dry out too much before you got the benefit of the aging.

Depending on my brewing schedule and lagering fridge availability I will likely pick up a top loin roast and begin aging before too long. If I do (and I remember) I will take pictures of the process and can put together something to post and show some good NY strips cut off it and grilling :).
 
Bensiff said:
Depending on my brewing schedule and lagering fridge availability I will likely pick up a top loin roast and begin aging before too long. If I do (and I remember) I will take pictures of the process and can put together something to post and show some good NY strips cut off it and grilling :).
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That would be awesome...:rockin:
 
Prime strip!
Also a fan of flat irons, great taste for the money.

For anything else I go chuck, ground, roast, stew etc.
 
I went back to the butcher and got the NY strip steak for $3.99 a pound. An awesome deal since hamburger is sometimes that same price. Picked up around 13 pounds cut into 1.5 inch steaks. Well marbled and pretty tender. We just ate the hell out of a few tonight (with a few Centennial Blondes). They were great! Meat is good.

I wanted to show some of my grilling photos but can't figure out how to get the photos uploaded here.
 
Bensiff said:
I didn't back read before I responded and didn't realize there was much interest. So, read my post above for the gist of things. One of the critical things is that if you are dry aging you want to go 3 weeks minimum (I love Alton, but I completely disagree with him...or at least what I have learned from research disagrees with him and so does my relatively limited home experience as my initial attempt to dry age a rib roast for 10 days left no noticeable change in flavor to me. So, if you are doing things like the a good steakhouse you are going for one to three months. This means that you will have growth on the meat exterior that will need cut away making a single steak completely impracticable and I believe it would dry out too much before you got the benefit of the aging.

Depending on my brewing schedule and lagering fridge availability I will likely pick up a top loin roast and begin aging before too long. If I do (and I remember) I will take pictures of the process and can put together something to post and show some good NY strips cut off it and grilling :).
Click to expand...

For a single steak, Altons method will work, though you really do not want to dry for more than 3 days. Dries out too much then the remaining fat renders really fast and you get huge flameups. I did notice some flavor difference and just left the crust on. I do feel you on the longer time needed for an uncut roast.

My preferences are definitely Porterhouse/T-Bone then Ribeye (best part is the highly fatty marbled edge) and Strip. Salt and pepper only on a good cut. Marbling is a must. Costco usually can be counted on to find good 1.5-2.5 inch thick beautifully marbled steaks.
 
The kind made out of meat. If you're making me decide though it a strip.
 
Here in a few weeks I am going to have the absolute best steak ever. I have not bought it and most likely it will be a cheap tough cut but it will be cooked over a fire while up camping.

Life does not get any better than that
 
And in case anyone is not aware of it, in the US, there is not such thing as Kobe steak. This beef comes from Japan and unless you fly it in yourself it is NOT worth the inflation to buy 'Kobe' beef outside of Japan. Much like Chilean Sea Bass. Good luck finding the real thing.
 
DrunkleJon said:
And in case anyone is not aware of it, in the US, there is not such thing as Kobe steak. This beef comes from Japan and unless you fly it in yourself it is NOT worth the inflation to buy 'Kobe' beef outside of Japan. Much like Chilean Sea Bass. Good luck finding the real thing.
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Actually that's not entirely accurate. There IS such thing as American Style Kobe Beef. It's a crossbreed of Japanese Waygu brought in and bred with Angus. There's also Australian Wagyu being imported as well.

I haven't tried either, the prices like the Japanese version just doesn't seem worth it.

Here's a typical online ordering site for the AUS variety. http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/specialtymeat/australian-wagyu-beef-specialty-meat.asp

9# for 600 bucks? No Way....You can probably buy a couple whole steer for that much.
 
I likes me a nice juicy tofu steak!

Just kidding - ribeye is king, although a nice T-bone holds a special place in my (soon to be congested) heart.
 
Revvy said:
Actually that's not entirely accurate. There IS such thing as American Style Kobe Beef. It's a crossbreed of Japanese Waygu brought in and bred with Angus. There's also Australian Wagyu being imported as well.

I haven't tried either, the prices like the Japanese version just doesn't seem worth it.
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I had Kobe once in NYC. It was an extremely fancy work dinner. I didn't even want to order it, but was goaded into doing it by the person who took me to dinner. I wasn't paying. The steak was $200.

It was good, but not $200 good.
 
My apologies Revvy. I was operating off of dated information. Back in 2012 the FDA overturned their ban on Japanese beef. Prior to then you could not get real Japanese Kobe anywhere. Even with this overturning of the ban, there is still very very little actual kobe that is imported and it only goes to the really top tier restaurants.

The part I was stressing though, is that the US does not recognize Japan's trademarks, and as a result restaurants can call any old cut of beef Kobe. Blends are another option, but I vaguely remember hearing around the same time as I heard of the ban that the Japanese were highly protective of their stock and that they wouldnt share the strains at all. Don't quote me on that though.

Of course with all this talk I really want a steak.
 
DrunkleJon said:
My apologies Revvy. I was operating off of dated information. Back in 2012 the FDA overturned their ban on Japanese beef. Prior to then you could not get real Japanese Kobe anywhere. Even with this overturning of the ban, there is still very very little actual kobe that is imported and it only goes to the really top tier restaurants.

The part I was stressing though, is that the US does not recognize Japan's trademarks, and as a result restaurants can call any old cut of beef Kobe. Blends are another option, but I vaguely remember hearing around the same time as I heard of the ban that the Japanese were highly protective of their stock and that they wouldnt share the strains at all. Don't quote me on that though.

Of course with all this talk I really want a steak.
Click to expand...

Last I checked, Japan doesn't even export Kobe. American "Kobe" is really just Wagyu.
 
emjay said:
Last I checked, Japan doesn't even export Kobe. American "Kobe" is really just Wagyu.
Click to expand...

My bad, Japan started exporting to a few countries last year. Less than 1000lbs makes it to the US though.
 
DrunkleJon said:
For a single steak, Altons method will work, though you really do not want to dry for more than 3 days. Dries out too much then the remaining fat renders really fast and you get huge flameups. I did notice some flavor difference and just left the crust on. I do feel you on the longer time needed for an uncut roast.

My preferences are definitely Porterhouse/T-Bone then Ribeye (best part is the highly fatty marbled edge) and Strip. Salt and pepper only on a good cut. Marbling is a must. Costco usually can be counted on to find good 1.5-2.5 inch thick beautifully marbled steaks.
Click to expand...

I look at it like this, I can make a BW in a week, but if I want really complex funk I'm going to be out a year at least. For me, it isn't worth the effort and possibility of spreading bad bacteria around the fridge by letting a steak sit in there for a few days.

Agreed on Costco, in an age where most stores are going to select grade beef and then coming up with their own special name for it, like, "Rancher's Reserve" and selling it as though it is something special its nice to go to Costco and see a bunch of choice grade and even some lower end prime from time to time.
 
The grocery store I work at sells American kobe/wagyu, it is very good. There is also a restaurant right down the street that sells the real Japanese Kobe, I don't have that kind of money though
 
I'll take a bone in Ribeye over any other cut. Few months ago went to a local stake house and had a 32oz Long Bone Dry Aged Wagyu Ribeye
l.jpg
(just a pic from the web, not my actual steak). It was the most expensive steak I have every had at 90 bucks, but worth every penny. It was cut with a fork, and melt in your mouth tender.
 
How do you get (cook) ribeye so tender that you can cut it with a fork? Oh, never mind, I just realized it was Kobe beef. I have always wanted to try it.
 
Low and slow will keep things tender. I have been known with roasts to sear the sides then set the oven to its lowest setting and let it go overnight. Perfect rare roast temp, beautiful redoing innards and tender as heck. The longer it goes, just like sous vide the more the connective stuff breaks down and the tenderer it gets. And if you cook at rare roast temps it never overcooks.

I can see the same thing to work wuth a steak if you sear first, then oven it.
 
Ribeyes are too expensive around here right now... Strips are pretty meh in my book. I've been buying whole top butt sirloins and carving them up. After trim/waste they are coming out to about $5.75 a pound. These have all been choice or prime. :)

I sear them off in a cast iron skillet with some onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

But I also work at a steakhouse so if I really wanted some nice ribeyes or tenderloins I can buy them from work at cost. We only use Prime at work. Pretty amazing steaks!
 
daksin said:
Totally worth it. My mom gave me some expensive local bleu cheese and we caramelized it over the top last night. Fantastic.
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Made my blue cheese burgers last night, they go the other way with steak quality, I have found using crappy 80/20 ground beef is the way to go. I used a good grade of low fat ground beef once for them which normally makes for a solid burger...but, in my blue cheese burgers the quality ground tasted pretty bad.
 
Low fat ground beef doesn't hold together properly- plus you need that fat for flavor. Fat% does not indicate quality, just different applications.
 
daksin said:
Low fat ground beef doesn't hold together properly- plus you need that fat for flavor. Fat% does not indicate quality, just different applications.
Click to expand...

It wasn't just the fat, it was a actual ground steak, not your typical typical toss all the random crap in and let it grind stuff...but I hear you, should have put in a few big scoops of bacon fat I collect whenever I cook bacon, that would have fixed it :).
 

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