I've been noticing a trend in my game meat consumption. If meat stays thawed in the fridge for a week or two, it seems noticeably more tender. For example, I just fried some round steaks last night that had been thawed for a almost a week. I was commenting to my wife how tender they were. She informed me that they weren't nearly as tender as the steaks she cut from a blade roast she had while camping with some of her girlfriends last week. This blade roast had been thawed in the fridge (and cooler) for almost 2 weeks. I've had fresh tenderloins that were tough as hell. I always butcher my meat within a week of the kill. Is it all in my head, or does "fridge aging" meat actually make the meat more tender, just as if I had aged it before butchering it?
Fridge Aged Meat?
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Rainer
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When your ageing meat in the fridge your actually drawing out the moister. When this is happening the cells in the meat are breaking down(I don't want to say rotting but, thats whats happening). Dry ageing has been around for centuries. Go to any highend steakhouse and they do the same thing with their steaks
Gellar
Well-known member
Make sure that you have air flow around the entire cut and it is not sitting in its blood as it drains out. So the meat needs to be hanging or on a wire rack with a drip pan below it. They just talked about this on the Meateater podcast a week or so ago with a professional chef.
I have a fridge in my barn just for aging deer. When I shoot a deer here in Indiana during early archery it is always hot so I quarter my deer and put it in the fridge for a week and then process it. Works great and cheaper than a walk in cooler.
jzeck2
Member
There is such a thing as wet aging meat, I don't believe you want air then. Check this out:
"Wet-aging is a relatively recent technique that developed along with advances in plastics and refrigeration. In this process, cuts of beef are vacuum-sealed in plastic and shipped to the market. The aging takes place in the 4-10 days between slaughter and sale while the meat is in transit" http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-dryaging-78737
On a Meateater podcast a year or so ago they talked about aging in the freezer and how some folks won't touch it until it has been in the freezer a year.
"Wet-aging is a relatively recent technique that developed along with advances in plastics and refrigeration. In this process, cuts of beef are vacuum-sealed in plastic and shipped to the market. The aging takes place in the 4-10 days between slaughter and sale while the meat is in transit" http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-dryaging-78737
On a Meateater podcast a year or so ago they talked about aging in the freezer and how some folks won't touch it until it has been in the freezer a year.
JohnCushman
Well-known member
I usually end up freezing my primal cuts immediately, especially in archery season. When I get a couple of animals to butcher at once I thaw them in fridges in the garage. The shelves are wire racks with a drip try in the bottom. Once they are thawed I let them stay in there a couple of days to age. Then I'll butcher them and put them back in the freezer. I've never noticed any toughness or crappy meat from freezing and thawing and refreezing.
7mm08mo
Well-known member
This is what I do here. Works well.
We hang all of our game for at least a week except cuts for grinding. Sometimes we can dry age for up to 14 days depending on the animal.
Did buy a whole beef loin to wet age ourselves after learning about the process from a small town USDA butcher. What a difference it made. Left the loin in the cryovac pack for 14 days in frig at appropriate temp then unwrapped and dry aged to finish for 7 days in the garage with some hanging quarters.
Guess we are lucky in that our fall temps allow us to age our game in our own garage. We do now have access to a coolbot powered walkin cooler for warmer weather.
Coolbots are awesome . Want one to convert part of our garage to a true walkin.
Did buy a whole beef loin to wet age ourselves after learning about the process from a small town USDA butcher. What a difference it made. Left the loin in the cryovac pack for 14 days in frig at appropriate temp then unwrapped and dry aged to finish for 7 days in the garage with some hanging quarters.
Guess we are lucky in that our fall temps allow us to age our game in our own garage. We do now have access to a coolbot powered walkin cooler for warmer weather.
Coolbots are awesome . Want one to convert part of our garage to a true walkin.
MJE2083
Well-known member
Someone on another forum was just telling me about these temp control units that you can use to essentially turn a chest freezer into a cooler. This guy sort of hung a rod across the freezer to hang quarters from. I think I might give it a try since I have a chest freezer that I'm not currently using. After you're done using it to age meat, you can just unplug the control unit and it's right back to being a freezer.
AggieOutlaw
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Same thing the kegerator guys use. I think dry aging tastes better but wet aging loses less mass. I think most beef is wet aged to avoid loss of market value weight. Good steaks are dry aged for a long while but are expensive because they lose moisture and weight.
You can also use a fridge to salt cure whole muscles. Delicious. Like a prosciutto only better.
DRAFTSTUD
Well-known member
I also have a Designated Frig for aging. I wonder if one of those small battery powered RV Fridge Fans would help the process. I may have to give that idea a try this year. John
Tiredofthebickering
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I've wet aged a few deer now just by keeping them covered with ice in a cooler with the drain plug opened. We quarter the deer and then just check on the ice every day to make sure it's totally covered/surrounded. Plus I use a long thermometer to make sure the quarters stay cool inside and out. We aged my dad's Idaho mule deer from last year for a week that way (the first three days were just driving back home, lol.) The meat definitely comes out more tender that butchering right after the kill.
teej89
Well-known member
Would you mind explaining the use of the fan? Or is it strictly just for mold?
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