Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Ok, 60'ish days later and I'll have to admit I'm pretty impressed.

I was a bit surprised with all the waste which means if I do this again, I'll be for a special occasion.

Once I trimmed all the nastiness away it came out looking like a normal prime rib but obviously a lot dryer. Like I said there was a lot of waste which explains why these cuts at the butcher are north of $30 per pound.   

My yield was just over 7 pounds deboned. I remember seeing on YouTube people do things with the trimmed fat pieces so I'm going to relook that up. The wife, mother-in-law, and I are having prime rib tonight. I'll let you know how it turned out.

Ok so I wasn't impressed. It was delicious but not worth the time, effort, and waste to do again.

Flavor wise none of us could tell the difference between store fresh and aged.

All and all about a $170 experiment which I'm glad I did but won't be doing again.

Steve

Well, I still give you an A+ for your effort.

I only do my prime rib one way....on the rotisserie. A meat thermometer makes it foolproof

How did you cook it??

Quote from: jigmaster501 on April 09, 2025, 12:33:42 AMHow did you cook it??

Baked, basted in it's own rendered fat.

It was wonderful.

 

Beef, it's what's for dinner. Definitely earn style points,  looks so delicious

Quote from: Crab Pot on April 07, 2025, 06:15:21 PMOk so I wasn't impressed. It was delicious but not worth the time, effort, and waste to do again.

Flavor wise none of us could tell the difference between store fresh and aged.

All and all about a $170 experiment which I'm glad I did but won't be doing again.

Steve

thanks for your honest opinion
I've always wondered what was all that buzz about an expensive aged prime rib on the restaurants

I held back from telling the story of my dad's foray into this game because I didn't wanna sound like I was being negative. His results were roughly the same as yours. It was good but not at all worth it. Only it took him about 10 tries to admit that to himself.

If you calculate how much you threw away, you might find you're not that far off from just buying a smaller portion of a better cut of beef. But where's the fun in that? Other than more fridge space for beer.

I'm glad Crab Pot shared.  I know there is a place here in SoCal (Sherman Oaks) that specializes dry aging cuts of fish.  I haven't been able to make it there to see what it's like. - john

"Dry" aging your own beef can be amazing, you have to start with great beef. "Choice" beef not really worth aging IMO.  Grade should be Prime or close to it.  I would not start with a cryo packed beef that I could not thoroughly inspect. Pre-order a whole rough-trimmed rib if you can, prime grade.

While You can take an average choice cut and make it better by letting it mature in your fridge until its close to spoiling, dry aging wont help it much.  I will be butchering a beef in a month or so, "grass fed" ranch beef, not a lick of it will be good for dry aging.

35%-40% loss when you dry age. By only Rough trimming helps leave some extra tissue to preserve the good stuff while letting moisture out.

Anybody who thinks they want to get into aging/curing meats might want to buy a used wine fridge, they work great for such things.

There's a good deal of "Meat Science" to be learned by interested persons. My brother-in-law was way into it. He used to talk about temp., humidity, etc., but I guess he was only scratching the surface. The rest of the science mentioned by Dave, Joel.B, and Eugene was pretty interesting.

Who is satisfied with the results of something as involved as this on the first go-around, Crab Pot?

Don't give up.

I have to ask what was your oven temperature and what was the internal temperature reached and how long did you hold it at temperature for?

The reason I ask is dry aged meat benefits from direct heat contact on the outer surfaces.

If you do a next time and I hope you do, bake the steaks in melted beef fat (fully covered-confit style) at a low temperature until the internal temperature hits 110F, then immediately season and place directly on a preheated hot grill or cast iron pan until you sear both sides. Internal temp at 135F and rest (covered)for 10 minutes. Your internal temp will likely rise to 145F ish but your steak will look rare because you limited oxygen exposure during most of the cooking.

I have wet aged beef with very good results. That is in a vacuum bag in the fridge for 1-2 months.

Cheap London Broils aged this way come out soft and tasty with a bit of tang.

Expensive cuts of meat are even better.

Cook the same way as above for steaks.

Eugene, I never heard of cooking steaks confit style.  I have made duck confit and pork shoulder that way.  Now I have to source enough tallow to try it. Thanks for the tip.  Dominick

Dominick,

If you can't get enough tallow, use butter. The butter is good over the potatoes as it brings the beef flavor to the potatoes.

Eugene

The way to minimize the waste from dry aging it to start by hanging half of a cow.