Page 32 - FEB 2021 Digial Edition

grilling tips
THE SCIENCE OF
Meathead, AmazingRibs.com
DRY AGING STEAKS
AT HOME
Time And Temperature Create Incredible Tasting Beef
Sometimes during the winter, I don't get outside to grill as often as I’d like. As if that weren't bad enough, this year my favorite steakhouses are closed or re- stricted due to COVID. So I can't go out for a juicy, well-marbled, dry aged steak in a beautiful restaurant either. But I can dry age my own steaks at home. If you love dry aged beef like I do, try this lockdown project: Make your own dry aged steaks. Some spe- cialty butchers charge $35 or more for a single 12-ounce dry aged rib- eye. But when you age beef at home, you pay only for the meat, despite some loss in the total weight.
Aging Tenderizes Meat
A few hours after a steer is slaughtered, its muscles get stiff as rigor mortis sets in. This "green" beef is tough, dry, and not very tasty. It takes a few days for the muscles to relax and enzymes to kick in and begin to tenderize the meat. Enzymes are "nano-cooks" in the words of food scientist Harold McGee, and they do what chefs do when cooking beef: They break down the proteins, amino acids, and other
compounds, creating new com- pounds, including glutamates, the source of savory flavor known
as umami, which is the main flavor we look for when eating steak. As the beef ages, more interesting flavors emerge, and that's what all the fuss is about.
At the slaughterhouse, meat is usually packed in vacuum bags (cryovac is a popular product) that have had most of the oxygen re- moved. The meat rarely stays in the bag for more than 28 days. During that "wet aging" time, en- zymes tenderize the muscle, but they have minimal impact on the taste. If you buy vacuum sealed meat, check the packing date and if you wish, you can store it in the
fridge for up to 28 days from the bagging date. Don't push wet aging beyond that, though, and don't try to bag meat yourself. If there are bacteria on the meat or in the air, if there is oxygen in the bag, or if there is a leak in the bag, things can go south in a hurry. But just leaving this meat in the fridge until day 28 gives enzymes more time to do their work. Brisket cooks swear that wet aging up to 28 days makes a difference in the tenderness of this tough cut. A
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FEBRUARY 2021