Finally broke down and tried dry-aging a ribeye in my home fridge after 20 years of buying aged beef from the supplier

I compared my $25 dry-aging bag setup to the $200 pre-cut dry-aged steaks from the specialty shop in Omaha, and the taste difference after 28 days was so small I could barely tell them apart, has anyone else tried this at home and found the same thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesley_jones1mo ago

Hold on are we really comparing a $25 bag setup to a $200 steak and calling it a win? I mean yeah sure if you can barely tell them apart then I guess you saved some money but let's be real here. The dry aging bag thing is a pain to get right with humidity and airflow and all that junk, plus you're losing like 20% of the meat weight to trimming. The shop steak is already trimmed and ready to go with no guesswork. I just don't get why people act like this is some huge breakthrough when really you're just saving a few bucks on a hobby that's supposed to be fun.

joel_clark371mo ago

Actually the weight loss thing is a bit off. You're not losing 20% just to trimming with those bags. Most of that weight is water evaporation over time, same thing happens in a pro setup. The trimming only takes off like an eighth of an inch if you're doing it right, maybe a bit more on the pellicle. I've done a few 45 day runs with those Umai bags and I'd say I'm losing maybe 15% total, not 20. And the taste difference is real if you let it go past 30 days. But I do agree that it's not some earth shattering savings when you factor in your time and the fact that a good butcher can do it better anyway. Just depends if you like tinkering with stuff I guess.

diana6171mo agoTop Commenter

Oh man, I gotta say... I feel personally attacked because my last dry age experiment turned into a science fair project gone wrong... I was so proud of my setup and then I forgot about it for like two weeks too long and ended up with what I can only describe as beef jerky with a bad attitude... @joel_clark37 you're totally right that the trimming isn't the bulk of it, I think I probably hacked off a good inch of pellicle just to get to anything edible, not my finest moment... But honestly I still do it because I like feeling like a mad scientist in my kitchen even if I'm just saving like ten bucks in the end...