Dry ageing a joint of beef yourself.

[KungFuPanda]

Booker cash and carry are doing rib of beef joints at £5.99 kilo. They look good but are however vacuum packed and look very vividly red.

I want the beef to go deep ruby red and have more flavour.

I was planning on wrapping the beef in muslin and hanging it to age in a cold outdoor room. Would this be feasible and wosk??

[rdjohn]

I am not an expert, but I would have thought that it should be sub 6 degC.

We recently bought a superb rib from farm nearby and the butcher explained to us that the reason why supermarkets vacuum wrap their beef is to retain moisture. i.e. the water content of the beef is higher and so it is possible to sell at at cheaper rate per kilo.

The piece he sold us had only been hung for 14 days and he suggested another 14 days stood vertically in the fridge. It was notably smaller when ready to eat, but the taste and texture was superb.

Sounds like yours could be perfect for Christmas.

[KungFuPanda]

Cheers RDJ. Yes I was thinking about it for Xmas alongside some turkey too.

[21TonyK]

The rib from Booker isn't bad at all and you can age it further quite simply in a domestic fridge, ideally between 2-4 degrees. It needs good air circulation so wither on a rack or turn it morning and night.

[AndyHCZ]

Have a look here - https://www.facebook.com/BestButchers/photos_strea...

I imagine they are keeping the room below 5-6c and humidity below a certain level.

The colour of the rump looks gorgeous.

There's a guide here - http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/the-food-lab-co...

[KungFuPanda]

Cheers guys.

Tony, the meat at Booker is usually ok. The large sides of pork bellies at £3.49 a kilo are good value too. Excellent for roasting off. I'll probably grab a rib joint next week.

[AndyHCZ]

Do you have a Costco near you? They had some aged beef joints when I was in yesterday on offer.

[jogon]

I normally put my steak or joint of beef on a wire rack with some kitchen towel underneath and then in the fridge, it gradually darkens after a day and even more if left longer, not brilliant but tastes good to me.

[KungFuPanda]

Just had a nosey at the butcher counter again today and they're doing big rib steaks from the same rib of beef joints at £5.99 a kilo. Given the drop in temperature, I'm going to get one of the steaks and hang it from one of the garage rafters for a few days to see if I can improve the flavour. Wasting a steak would be better than wasting a whole joint!

[zygalski]

I would think this is a fairly straightforward little project for the enthusiastic home cook with a budget of around £10k for an industrial chiller unit which could house a dehumidifier.