We now have the ability to dry age beef right here at Primal! If you’ve stopped in to one of our butcher shops, you’ve probably noticed our dry aging units. These special refrigerated units allow us to dry age short loins, bone-in ribeyes, bone-in strip steaks and Wagyu strip steaks too. So, what is dry aged beef?
Dry aging meat is accomplished by storing meat in a controlled, closely watched, refrigerated environment. It’s a balancing act of maintaining just the right temperature (32F – 36F) with the proper amount of relative humidity (85%-90%) with the right amount of air flow. You’ll notice when you visit our butcher shops that our dry aging refrigerators are locked. This is to minimize disruptions to the environment inside.
High quality, well-marbled meat yields the best results. Therefore we only age USDA Prime and Wagyu beef.
What does Dry Aged Beef Taste Like?
Because moisture is drawn out of the beef, it leaves the meat with a more intense ‘beefy’ flavor. We like the way that Chef Lawrence Knapp puts it:
Dry aged steak should have big beef flavor but also a funk, which is similar to blue cheese. If you can smell that, you know you have a good beef in front of you.
Chef Lawrence Knapp, Smith and Wollensky, NYC
How to Cook Dry Aged Beef
Because of the moisture loss in a dry-aged cut, the only real difference when it comes to cooking is the cook time. Dry aged meat will take about 30% less time to cook than a non-dry aged cut. In this video you’ll see how to cook a dry-aged bone-in ribeye.
