Bluestem":2in3xscj said:
GANGGREEN":2in3xscj said:
Wow, those are two vastly different answers and precisely why I asked the question. Now I have no clue how much loss to anticipate for dry aging and 3waycross is suggesting that you not dry age your beef. Seems like the vast majority of folks that butcher their own or have beef butchered suggest that you should dry age. Ah, the internet.....I've gotten so much wonderful information but I've also had situations like this where the answers just muddied the question even more.
Thanks for the responses though guys, I'm curious to hear some more opinions on this one.
Sorry I smoked up your answer. Double checked my numbers. They're accurate. My opinion, dry age. You won't notice the weight loss. The other
way is the way its done in the packing plants, to save time and money.
Not trying to start a fight here BUT, I just spent 30 minutes on the phone with one of my competitors whose family has been custom killing and cutting beef for over 50 years. He kills anywhere from 10 to 15 cows and steers a week and here is what he had to say: Unless you are one of the major packers with humidy controlled coolers the amount of shrink is 5 to 6 percent the first 10 to 14 days, after that it slows down but does not stop. Going out to 21 days you will approach 12 to 14 percent. plus generate a lot of trim because of the BARK that forms on the meat which has to be removed in order to cut it.
If those number don't sound like a lot to you, say you are in the business of selling meat direct to the end user, could you take a 10 to 14 percent shrink on every carcass and stay in business very long. Besides if the shrink didn't kill you the extra trim would.
If we are talking meat slaughtered at home for home consumption do it any way you want but I know my numbers are correct.
One last point here is this. What is actually being argued here is not what is known in the beef industry as DRY AGE. It is actually hanging age or whole carcass age. Contempory dry age is done in smaller facilities on racks on primal cuts such as top butts, strips and ribeyes. For what it's worth in almost every case they have to cut or scrape off the mold before it is cut into steaks, there are also some issues regarding aerobic and anerobic bacteria that come into play here that I won't go into but they are revelant to what is being served today as DRY AGE steaks, and why in my opinion they taste and smell so bad. Not at all like Bluestem describes what he likes.