Tried dry-aging a ribeye in my home fridge for 21 days and it was a bust

I always thought dry-aging at home would be this amazing thing that saved me money and made the steak taste incredible. So I grabbed a whole ribeye roast from a local farm near Buffalo, set it up on a wire rack in my garage fridge with a fan, and waited 21 days. The pellicle developed okay, but after trimming I lost almost 30% of the meat to waste and the flavor was just slightly nutty, not worth the hassle or the electricity bill. Honestly, I'd rather just spend the extra cash at a shop that does it professionally with controlled humidity. Anyone else get tricked by the home dry-aging trend and end up disappointed?

2 comments

2 Comments

tarabell14d ago

That "slight nutty taste" being the big payoff is what gets me. I tried it once with a strip loin and realized the real issue isn't just waste or electricity, it's that home fridges can't maintain the specific humidity levels you need (which is something like 75-80%). Without that, you're basically just drying out the meat instead of actually aging it, so you end up with a chewier texture and more trim loss than flavor gain.

spencer_owens5815d ago

Lose the 30% waste right off the bat, that stings. Idk, the slight nutty taste just isn't worth the electricity and the trimming for me either. Might just stick to buying dry-aged from a butcher.