Wet Age VS. Dry

What does it mean when the label says dry aged beef?

Before refrigeration was available, meats were kept in cool dry areas of the home hung by a hook, uncovered and left to naturally age. The process allowed the natural bacteria in the muscle of the meat to break down the fiber's to insure optimum tenderness.

Then and now, proper dry aging can also add a unique flavor to meat. In my shop when I know someone is buying dry aged beef for the first time, I tell them to smell the aroma. If it's truly dry aged at a minimum of 14 days, there should be a hint of a nutty aroma. The nutty aroma also adds to the unique flavor to dry aged beef.

If you do not smell this aroma, then most likely it hasn't been dry aged long enough or not at all. Dry aged beef has a premium price tag. So be careful if your paying a higher price. Ask to smell the steak or roast before it's wrapped. This will tell you if it has aged enough. Or better yet, tell the butcher you know what you are talking about.

Wet aging is the norm these days. This means the meat left in its vacuum sealed bag from the packer to age in its own juices. The meat still ages in the package but much slower. Many old timers swear unless it dry aged it's not aged. Wet aging takes about 3 times as long and the flavor profile doesn't come anywhere near the rich flavor of dry aged meat.

I've had a lot of experience with dry aging. My research comes from years of asking questions and observing different methods. Recently after several tours of dry aging rooms in commercial meat companies in the Baltimore - Washington area, I find the methods are all the same. Whole loins are positioned on stainless steel racks, each loin not touching the next, the temperature slightly humid to encourage bacterial growth to break down the muscle (red part) of the loin. There is also dimmed lighting to dark most of the time. There's also a musky odor
in the room.

The meat is soft to the touch. Dry age times vary mostly to what the customer requests are. Chewier meats like sirloin requires longer dry aging, with four to five weeks minimum. More tender cuts like prime rib fourteen to twenty one day should enough.

Wet aging takes longer for sirloins like five to seven weeks, prime rib four to five weeks minimum. There's a lot more information on aging out there. Google Colorado State University/ Dry Age, and you'll find more technical information.

Once your beef is dry aged, you need to trim the loin, taking off all the outer surfaces an minimum of 1/4 inch. You lose about 20% of the weight by aging the whole loin, then you lose another 5% to 10% in trim. This is why dry aged meat is much more expensive than wet aged beef.

Our Roseda dry aged beef from is from Monkton, MD. It is dry aged on the hoof, meaning the whole side of beef is hung for 21 to 28 days. This process only looses 7% in its drying process since it has less outer surfaces to trim away. Many of the whole loins are internal to the carcus.

Come in my shop, and I'll let you smell the difference.

Happy Holidays from all of us at My Butcher and More!
www.mybutcherandmore.com
410-451-3296

High Heat Searing

High heat searing simply allows the meat to close its pores to keep all those great natural juices in the meat instead of losing the juices to the fire.

When a steak is put on the grill at a low heat, it can still purge its juices. Searing at a high heat of 350 degrees and above seals in the juices and keeps the meat juicy, not dry.

Look at most recipes for roasting. If it first suggests that you sear at a high heat, turn it down for further roasting afterwards.

Have a great day!

Mike Smollon, Co-Owner
My Butcher and More
meatheadchef@aol.com
www.mybutcherandmore.com
410-451-3296

To marinate or not to marinate - that is the question.

If you have been following my weekly blog, I've already mentioned marinating meats is a matter of choice in most cases. For some meats, it's a must to help break down the muscle to make it more tender.

Outside meats, meaning working muscles like skirt or flank, need marinating to promote tenderness. If you’re purchasing your meats from the average grocer, you may have to marinate even the non-working muscles like the rib eye, tenderloin and strip steaks because of the lack of quality and/or little to no age of the product.

New customers generally return the second time and say they can't go back to the grocery store to buy their meats since they have had ours at My Butcher and More. Our meats are fine steakhouse quality all the time. If my quality was the same as the grocery store, I'd be out of business already.

You get what you pay for. I don't think we're expensive - I think the grocery stores just sell cheap product. If you want to use a simple wet seasoning mixture, try olive oil, chopped garlic, cracked black peppercorns and sea salt. These subtle flavors can be added to all kinds of meat, beef to poultry. If you want to use a tenderizer, add a little fresh lemon juice. The acid breaks down the muscle of the meat.

See you on your next visit to the My Butcher and More!

Mike the Butcher

www.mybutcherandmore.com
meatheadchef@aol.com

To Season or Not To Season? That is the question.

Our Roseda Dry Aged Beef has such a natural nutty flavor that I feel it's almost sacreligious to add any additional seasoning. Kobe beef also has its own flavor characteristics that shouldn't be adulterated.

Now when talking about our regular wet aged beef, veal, lamb, or pork, salt and pepper works for me just to enhance the natural flavors in the meat.

Dredging meat in heavy seasonings like season all, blackening seasoning, or Cajun rubs has its benefits if you’re in the mood for lesser expensive meats and you need to add flavor or use these added seasonings to help tenderize the meat. But let's face it, if you’re purchasing a quality well aged middle meat from a reputable butcher like a rib eye, strip or tenderloin steak, you should not have to add any enhancers to it.

I have had the same question time and time again -- Doesn't salt pull the juices from the meat? I really don't think so. In general I lightly salt and pepper my steaks once they have come down to room temperature and sear them on high heat. Once seared they’re sealed! Now if you stab, fork, or press down on your steak, you better believe it's going to lose a lot of its natural juices. Try using tongs instead.

I'm a salt lover, but I also appreciate a good steak, so I know my limitations. Let’s face it - it's all about what you like. I'm not going to tell you how you like your steak.

I see new customers coming in all the time and ask how they should marinade our steaks. My advice is always that you should not have to marinade a well aged middle meat (strip, tenderloin or rib eye).

I bet you if you still continue to use these marinades or heavy seasoning with our steaks you will still see a BIG difference in better quality. But please try our steaks without all that added seasoning. Appreciate the natural quality.

If you learn to appreciate one of our fine steaks with little to no seasoning, you can be assured it will be healthier for you and better for your children in the long run, especially our all natural and organic meats.

If you have any questions, I will try to answer them. If I do not have the answer, I will try my best to find it for you. Just send me an email or stop by My Butcher and More and say hi!

Happy Grilling!

Mike Smollon
meatheadchef@aol.com for questions
http://www.mybutcherandmore.com/

Middle Meats vs. Outside Meats

When I use the the terminology middle meats vs. outside meats, my reference is to the location of the cuts in the animal.

Example: Middle Meats: Rib and Loin
Rib : Rib eyes, Rib Roast etc.
Loin: Strip Loin, Tenderloin, Sirloin

These middle meats are your non-working muscles so there more tender usually best grilled, pan seared or broiled marinating should not be needed if you're purchasing your meats from a reputable butcher. These steaks may just be lightly seasoned and quickly cooked to your preferred internal temperature.

My favorite middle meat is the Porterhouse. You have the strip on one side and the tenderloin on the other. If you're buying for two, ask for a thick porterhouse steak so you can grill just one and split between the two of you. Grilling meat on the bone is always the best - the bone adds a lot more flavor to your steak.
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Example: Outside Meats: Leg, Shoulder
(H) Leg:Top Round, Eye Round, Rump, Hind Shank
(F) Leg: Chuck, Brisket, Fore Shank
Belly: Flank, Skirt

These meats are considered working muscles so they're proned to be cooked either with moisture (braised) or roasted slowly. If you are grilling an eye round, top round or chuck eye steak, marinating the steak beforehand is a must. The muscle fiber in these cuts are tight and need to be broken down. Some cuts need more marination than others. If you're purchasing your product from My Butcher and More or another reputable market, ask the butcher the recommended time for your cut to marinate.

My favorite outside meats are the briskets. They have enough internal fat to keep the meat fork tender if you slow roast or smoke it for several hours. The other is the skirt steak. With just a little marinating in our bourban glaze or just using salt and pepper, this meat is awesome!

Please try to support small businesses when you can where quality and service is always' the best!

Choosing Cuts

This is my first blog attempt, so I hope this will be one of many useful postings for you as I share my vast knowledge of the the meat business.

I have spent over 35 years in the the foodservice business starting as a dishwasher at the Harbor House in Annapolis in high school back in 1976. Then I worked my way up the ladder to attending The Culinary Institue of America in Hyde Park, New York (CIA), graduating in1980.

Soon after the CIA, I realized nights, weekends and holidays for a young man wasn't going to cut it for me (pardon the pun) so I landed a sales position in a restaurant distribution business selling to high-end steakhouses, country clubs, and hotels in Washington and N. Virginia. Not wanting to be left speechless during a sales call, I strove to learn all I could about what I was selling, especially since I was meeting with Executive Chefs and owners of restaurants like Blackies House of Beef and Sam and Harry's in DC. I stayed late after work and spent many hours in the meat cutting rooms asking questions and eventually had some hands on practice.

I still ask questions, never stop. Now I'm the owner and have a responsibilty to my valued customers to give out the right information. Being honest about what we have to offer is priority one to me at My Butcher and More. I'm a "go to" person for fresh meat information. Do I know everything? NO. Can I offer good advice about grilling? YES.

This first blog entry is about choosing the best cuts - what to look for in both the best quality and the worst.

Beef for Consumption (steer) vs. Dairy cattle (cow).

1. Steers are raised from birth to slaughter for consumption only.
A . The fat is very white in color, the muscle (red portion) is pink to light red, and the steak or chop is stocky in width hand length.
B. A natural beef flavor exists and the texture should be free of grainy, stringy or chewy bites.
C. A steer is a naturally stocky animal that is fattened for consumption.

2. Diary Cattle (cow)
A. The fat is less white to yellow in color, the muscle is most times darker red to almost light purple, and the steak or chop is long and narrow. If you have every seen a dairy cow, you'll notice it's narrow in width and its belly hangs low. That's from the years of milking. These cows are milked out then fed grain to fatten for consumption. The USDA can grade this inferior product as USDA Prime or Choice if it meets the criteria of the marbling (fleck of fat) score in the muscle (red meat) that is required to authenticate the proper grade standards.
B. The flavor is grassy with texture being grainy, stringy and sometimes chewy. "You can put a fur coat on a cow but it's still a cow!"

3. Labeling
A. Look carefully at what you're buying. Many of my customers tell me most of the pork and chicken sold in your average grocery stores are marinated or pumped with a sodium solution. This is done to give the product a longer shelf life, add flavor and or make it tender. So in turn you're getting a lesser quality product that's been adulterated to make better profits. I recommend you shop at a health-conscious store like My Butcher and More or another locally owned small business who cares about their valued customer's health.
B. What is a USDA Grade? It's a requirement by the US Department of Agriculture to hold the farmers accountable for marketing their product for its true value for quality.

Top Grade to the Lowest sold in grocery stores and butcher shops:
USDA Prime - USDA Choice - USDA Select.
Other grades lower than USDA Select go into TV dinners, canned products, and pet food.

Next week's blog will be about tips for grilling middle meats (higher end cuts) and outside meats (economy cuts).

Email me with any of your questions at meatheadchef@aol.com.

Until next week - happy eating!