The Dry-Aging Experiment: Day 1

Today I went to Harry's Farmers Market to get the best cut of beef I could for my dry-aging experiment. After talking to the butcher about my intentions, he suggested a New York strip steak. I had originally planned on doing a tenderloin but decided against it for 2 reasons. The first is that the marbling is obviously better in a strip steak so I thought that might yield a better aged flavor. Second (and most importantly), I'm not a big baller. I don't have $150-$200 just lying around for me to "play chef with." The strip was a more economical cut of beef, especially considering I got it on sale. So if my experiment is an epic fail, I will still have wasted $77 but that's a lot better than $200.

The butcher suggested buying the whole slab, naturally. I really had no idea what that meant so I asked him to weigh it and it was over 14 pounds. Yikes. That's a lot of beef for me, Parker and Mary Elizabeth, even if pregnancy has had me craving red meat more than normal. So I told him to give me a little less than half. I ended up with a very beautiful 6.14 pound of perfectly marbled USDA grade A strip steak. The butcher said that they age their beef 28 days; however, they have a humidity and temperature controlled cooler specifically for that purpose. I asked him if he thought 3 weeks would be okay in a typical home fridge and he said that would be perfect. He also liked me idea of minimal seasoning so that the beef would taste as it should...beefy. I looked at the prices for the dry-aged beef they sell in the store and realized another benefit of a successful dry-aging experiment. Because the beef shrinks so much in the aging process, the store ends up losing a lot so they jack the prices way up. If all goes as planned, hopefully I'll have a more affordable way enjoy dry-aged beef.

I got home, rinsed the meat in cold water, and patted it very dry with paper towels. I then wrapped it a few layers of cheesecloth. My intention is to leave it undisturbed in the refrigerator, except for changing the cheesecloth. When I did the prime rib, it only called for changing the cheesecloth once after the first 24 hours. However, that was only aged for a week. For this experiment, I'll probably end up changing it once after the first 24 hours and then every 5-7 days as needed. If the cheesecloth looks dry, I'm not going to mess with it. I'll also take pictures along the way so you can see the progress. Since I have over 6 pounds, I'm guessing I will be able to get at least 6 steaks taking into account the fact that it will shrink some. And since I refuse to subject anyone besides myself and my husband to this experiment, it looks like we'll be eating a lot of steak over the next few weeks...not such a bad deal. I'm planning on aging it 2 weeks and then cutting off 2 steaks and trying it then. I'll age the remaining 4ish pounds another week, try 2 steaks then and freezing the last 2. That's 3 different opportunities to see how the experiment is going and thus 3 different opportunities to eat rancid beef. Just kidding. I'm perfectly confident that this is safe. (Though if you do it wrong and get sick, don't hold me accountable.)

P.S. In case you're wondering, a pregnant, wannabe chef in Harry's Farmers Market is not good for the budget. Should you find yourself in that situation, don't say you weren't warned.

Day 1