What Is Dry Aging?

The dry aging process is one of the primary ways we finish our beef to perfection. There are two ways that dry aging works to make our steaks the most tender, juicy, and flavorful that you’ve ever had.

First, the meat’s natural enzymes slowly break down the muscle tissue, making it more tender. If you’ve ever had a steak so tender you can cut it with a fork, you’re starting to get the idea.

At the same time, the dry aging process brings out the meat’s natural flavor and makes it even stronger. By allowing the meat to dry out, we reduce the water content--which makes the flavor of the meat itself much more concentrated.

Old-World Style Dry Aging

The old-world style of dry aging that we provide at Chicago Steak Company is the best way to take a great piece of meat and make it even better. It infuses the steak with an earthy, woody smell and flavor that remind you of fall leaves on the ground.

Unfortunately, this style of old-world style dry aging is becoming more and more rare. And there are a few reasons why this is true.

For starters, many meat manufacturers simply lack the expertise needed to properly dry-age a steak. There are a lot of factors you have to get just right, including the exact temperature, humidity level, and airflow to properly age the meat. The process that we use here at Chicago Steak Company has been carefully perfected for generations.

The other reason why this is so rare is because it’s expensive. To dry age a steak, you have to remove a lot of the exterior trim--which drives up the cost. Many of our competitors care more about the pricetag than about giving you the absolute best steak available.

The Largest Dry Aging Room in the U.S.

Not only is our dry aging facility the largest of its kind in the US… It’s also a state-of-the art facility that produces the highest-quality dry age beef anywhere in the country.

This expanded capacity gives us the freedom to age steaks anywhere from 21 all the way up to 100 days. This way, we can infuse the exact flavor profile you’re looking for.

Our facility is equipped with highly sophisticated cooling equipment, humidity regulators, industrial-sized fans, and powerful blacklights that protect against unwanted bacteria.

We track each piece of meat very carefully, to make sure that we know exactly what’s being aged and how long it’s been in there. The dry aging room is secured with a special key that is controlled only by certain managers, which prevents unnecessary traffic in the room--keeping your meat in a pristine environment for aging.

No matter where you look, you won’t find a bigger or more sophisticated dry aging room anywhere in the U.S. It’s just one more reason why our steaks really do provide The Ultimate Steak Experience.