Getting ready for tonight's dinner;

Braised Rack pork ribs + baby back pork ribs, finished on the BBQ. 

Served with jacket potatoes and sautéed red cabbage with balsamic vinegar and roasted pine nuts. 

Here is the recipe for the meat marinade and BBQ sauce (I add a little mesquite liquid smoke for extra flavour)

 

Ribs coming out soon to go on to BBQ. 

Been experimenting with dry aging beef primals but rather than spending a ton of cash on either the UMAi dry aging vacuum bag or other dedicated box solution I thought I try a dirt cheap method involving a $5 plastic box, rack and some rock salt.

 

Theory is that dry aging not only enhances the flavour but also helps tenderise the meat. The trick is to keep humidity low so you need to make sure the rock salt is soaking up all excess humidity replacing it as necessary and after approx 14-32 days you are rewarded with some excellent tasting beef.

 

Day1.

 

For this i deliberately choose a lower grade of scotch hoping the aging would bring the quality up a few notches and yep it sure did. Melt n the mouth beefy buttery goodness....

 

 

After trimming off the waxy shell. notice the deep red colour compared to the usual pink you see in supermarkets

 

 

YUM!

 

Man you make me jealous just had some series of dental job. I love dry aged beef. Can get them at the local Woolies where I live but I got some stitches in my mouth :/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ready to consume

 

17 hours ago, Tubularbells said:

Been experimenting with dry aging beef primals but rather than spending a ton of cash on either the UMAi dry aging vacuum bag or other dedicated box solution I thought I try a dirt cheap method involving a $5 plastic box, rack and some rock salt.

 

Theory is that dry aging not only enhances the flavour but also helps tenderise the meat. The trick is to keep humidity low so you need to make sure the rock salt is soaking up all excess humidity replacing it as necessary and after approx 14-32 days you are rewarded with some excellent tasting beef.

 

Day1.

 

For this i deliberately choose a lower grade of scotch hoping the aging would bring the quality up a few notches and yep it sure did. Melt n the mouth beefy buttery goodness....

 

 

After trimming off the waxy shell. notice the deep red colour compared to the usual pink you see in supermarkets

 

 

YUM!

 

Would you be so kind as to go into more detail about what you did exactly? Looks very interesting.

 

Do you keep the meat in the box in the freezer?

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

3 hours ago, betocool said:

Would you be so kind as to go into more detail about what you did exactly? Looks very interesting.

 

Do you keep the meat in the box in the freezer?

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

 

Sure, What you need to create is a safe bacteria free environment with low humidity so that the meat can begin the aging process by losing moisture and thus intensify the flavour of the meat a bit like a sauce reduction on the stove.

 

What im using is a 10ltr plastic container with a lid that does not seal (very important) that allows airflow but still protecting the meat from any potential contamination from other things in the fridge.

 

To the container I added a cooling rack (im using the ones that come with the disposable foil trays also found in Bunnings) as well a 1kg of rock salt (any course salt will do) making sure the rack is still sitting slightly above the salt so there is no contact with the meat. You then add the meat in which you wish to age and pop it in the fridge (a dedicated fridge would be better but as I dont have one  im just using the household fridge).

 

Key is to keep a close eye on the meat and salt replacing it as soon as it starts to cake (indicating its adsorbed as much moisture as it will take) as if you don't then the excess moisture will go to work on the surface of the meat making it slimy and not safe to eat.

 

Within the first 7 days you should notice a hard waxy "crust" start to form that will intensify the longer you age. How long is up to you and in theory you could go for a year or more and it would still be safe to eat but personally I dont go over 30 days as to me thats the sweet spot for flavour and tenderness. 

 

When its time to eat simply trim off the hard bark around the meat, slice, cook and enjoy!!!

 

@Tubularbells, thanks mate!

 

I'll pass the recipe past the boss, see what she thinks, and give it a try.

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

No worries, its real easy to do and the results can be stunning. Put on a fresh batch yesterday and as this cut is a very expensive Angus prime I am taking extra precaution with extra dehumidifying via a non toxic Cli-Mate bag into the container as well as a 3 month dehumidifier box in front of the meat just in case the salt gets spent before I manage to check in on it.

 

 

Mayura station fullblood M8+ scotch. Didn't want to mess too much with this, and wanted a consistent medium rare, so this went into sous vide for 4 hours at 50C, then separated into muscular groups to remove the excess large clumps of fat, and finally grilled on my konro over binchotan charcoal. I brushed a little home made seasoned soy over it during grilling to increase the maillard caramelisation. Was sublime.

Edited July 3, 20178 yr by Zammo

That marbling is SUPERB! Bet it was melt in the mouth tender 

4 minutes ago, Tubularbells said:

That marbling is SUPERB! Bet it was melt in the mouth tender 

Right up there with the very best texture I've had in a steak. Perfect tenderness, very juicy (sous vide helps a lot in this regard), and a buttery mouth feel from the fat without being overly fatty/rich as some wagyu can. 

I'd never heard about sous vide until just now. Very very interesting.

 

Guys! I don't need any more hobbies!

 

@Zammo, did you put the whole piece of steak into the water and then (after the 4 hours) grilled it? Looks awesome!

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

I'd never heard about sous vide until just now. Very very interesting.   Guys! I don't need any more hobbies!

 

[mention=109000]Zammo[/mention], did you put the whole piece of steak into the water and then (after the 4 hours) grilled it? Looks awesome!

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

 

 

 Yes Alberto. The whole piece was 1.2kg. Placed in a zip lock bag - air removed using the water displacement method. You then place the bag in the water bath. Removed from bag still warm after the 4 hours, split in to 3 pieces, then grilled. The meat looks a horrible gray colour after the sous vide. Definitely needs a grill or sear on a pan to look the goods.

 

 

Cheers Zammo, very good information!

Yeah sous vide is going to be the next step in my journey to food greatness. Gee this food stuff is beginning to get as expensive as Hi-Fi isnt it 

Yeah sous vide is going to be the next step in my journey to food greatness. Gee this food stuff is beginning to get as expensive as Hi-Fi isnt it [emoji14]

I use an ANOVA sous vide stick. You whack it on any old pot or tub and turn it into a water bath. Not too expensive. The results have been extraordinary. It kinda feels like cheating it's just so consistent.

Yeah sous vide is going to be the next step in my journey to food greatness. Gee this food stuff is beginning to get as expensive as Hi-Fi isnt it [emoji14]

Color me intrigued by the plastic bag method and happy to be test guinea pig at next GTG [emoji2]

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Had my first crack at making sausages as well as a few "ring burner" salami's today. Sausages were pork with fennel, garlic, apple, leek, parsley and white wine. Must say they also taste pretty good for a first attempt.

 

 

 

am thinking you are ready for market   they look fantastic !

And back to dry ageing beef, gave the plastic tub the flick as it was doing more harm than good keeping way too much moisture in even though there was ventilation at the top (which I was compensating by burning through kilos of salt to keep humidity levels down) so now im back to the pyrex dish and at 2.5weeks in is looking fantastic. Lots of waxy bark on the outside and has shrunk considerably since it went in.

 

Vegematics look away now.... 

 

Marinated 12hrs, Slow BBQ'd for 4hrs yesterday. Served shredded/thin strips on warm pita pockets (smeared with crushed tomatos and harissa) with couscous and a tomato and cucumber salad. Remaining meat was used on pizzas today. 

 

Edited July 23, 20178 yr by frankn
Added info

18 minutes ago, frankn said:

Marinated 12hrs, Slow BBQ'd for 4hrs yesterday. Served shredded/thin strips on warm pita pockets (smeared with crushed tomatos and harissa) with couscous and a tomato and cucumber salad. Remaining meat was used on pizzas today. 

 

 

Mmmmmm now we're talkin'

 

Can almost smell it from here 

 

On 7/23/2017 at 5:40 PM, Tubularbells said:

 

Mmmmmm now we're talkin'

 

Can almost smell it from here 

 

 

 

.....And it smells guuuuud!

 

 

 

 

Picked up a Pit Barrel Cooker yesterday and tonight was its first cook. Had a ton of BBQ's but all I can say is wow with this unassuming little unit. Not only did it exceed my expectations it has threatened the very existence of all my other three BBQ's some of which are five times the price of this inconspicuous little 33 gallon drum.

 

Truly a set and forget, I have to admit I struggled to not continuously monitor pit and meat temps like a hawk  and just let it do its thing. First cook was a couple of sacrificial chooks and going against the instructions I dutifully installed my Thermoworks Smoke to monitor pit and meat temps. Once you have the bottom vent set according to altitude the instructions said 2 hours for my chicken and sure enough I hit the ideal temp of 75C in 1 hour and 58 mins....AMAZING.

 

Also have to say I've cooked countless chooks using all kinds of cooking methods and have NEVER had such a flavourful and juicy chicken ever!

 

Best yet is that all this can be had for under $500. It's incredible! ......Buy it!!!!!!