Learn the history of dry aged beef and how to age your steak

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Only the finest restaurants in the United States serve steaks with the flavor optimized through special aging processes. There are several aging processes used to age beef with dry aged beef, sometimes called the “Old World Style”, used by the most scrutinizing restaurants. Dry aged beef is not typically sold in supermarkets due to the time and expenses involved in the dry aging process. The process of dry aging meat goes back to around the 1950s when butchers discovered curing meat through the dry aging process created a more tender and tasty steak. The flavor of the meat matures with the aging process to produce a richer flavor which intensifies as the meat continues to age until the optimal aging has been reached. Only high quality cuts of beef are used in the dry aging process. The beef cuts must be cut thick enough with adequate marbling to handle the rigorous aging process and maintain enough body mass to produce a thick juicy steak.

Dry Aged Storage Temperature

Once a piece of beef has been selected as adequate for dry aging, the beef is hung in a refrigerated room with temperatures maintained between 32 and 39 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 to 4 degrees Celsius and humidity is controlled to ensure freshness. The preferred humidity setting varies from 50 – 85%, according to individual preference, but usually is set closer to 60%. The recommended air flow is 0.5 – 2 m/s or 1.6 – 6.6 ft/s. to ensure optimal weight and trim loss during the aging process. Once you learn how to age steak properly you will know how imperative it is to control the temperature, humidity, and air flow.

The process has to allow the beef to age naturally in order to enhance the flavor and texture of the beef. During the dry-aging process, the normal chemical processing in the body will cause the breakdown of muscle and connective tissue which aides in the tenderization of the beef. The temperature is regulated to allow for dehydration which causes the beef to shrink. The dehydration allows the exterior of the beef to dry while the interior loses water at a much slower rate resulting in increased tenderization. The loss of mass is expected to be between 10-15%. To reach optimal weight loss, the entire process takes approximately 20-40 days.

The resulting dry aged steaks are very popular in high-end restaurants by avid steak lovers, or even the occasional steak taster, because of the rich, tender, and juicy steaks served every time. Whenever dry aged steak is advertised by a restaurant, the customers automatically know the steak will come from only high quality beef put through a rigorous processing to ensure a scrumptious steak.

At Chicago Steak Company, we hand select only the best steaks for our customers. The dry aged steaks are always abundant in marbling to ensure the mouthwatering flavor our customers have come to expect. The rich flavor guaranteed by our dry aged Ribeye, Strip Steak, Filet Mignon, T-Bone, and Porterhouse Steaks are sure to please even the most scrutinizing of steak connoisseurs.