Rant: I called bull on dry-aging at home until my boss made me do it

Worked at a shop in Portland for 5 years and always thought home dry-aging was a gimmick for Instagram types. Then my boss bought a $45 Steakager fridge and made me dry-age a whole prime rib for 21 days. Trimmed off about 15% of the weight in pellicle and lost another 5% in moisture. The flavor on that roast was so concentrated it tasted like beef butter. I still think most home kits are overpriced, but the controlled environment setup actually works. Anyone here use a dedicated dry-aging fridge or just stick with wet-aged stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

caleb_stone2mo ago

Bet you could rig an old wine fridge with a humidistat for half that cost and get similar results... we did it at a buddies house and the meat came out killer.

wyatt522mo ago

You ever weigh the setup cost against how much meat you actually save?

patricia_green211mo ago

People get so caught up in the "science" of dry aging when really it's just letting meat sit in a fridge for a few weeks... the average person can't tell the difference from something store bought anyway. All that talk about exact humidity and fancy setups seems like overkill for a hobby that might save you twenty bucks a year on steak. Wine fridge with a humidistat sounds sketchy too, mold loves a dark damp place like that. It's just meat at the end of the day, not a lab experiment.