Tried dry-aging a ribeye in my home fridge for 21 days, figured I'd ruin it

Pulled it out yesterday and it actually came out pretty good, just had to trim way more than I thought. Anyone else try this at home and get a weird smell that's not rot but still makes you nervous?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowanellis25d ago

oh man the smell thing is SO real lol. i did a 28 day dry age in my regular fridge with a cheap usb fan running and the first time i opened it i was like "okay that's definitely not rotten but what IS that??" turned out to be mostly the pellicle drying out and a bit of that funky ammonia thing from the air moving around. what saved me was just being super aggressive with the trim like you said, i cut off way more crust than i thought i needed to and ended up with a perfect steak. the smell goes away once you cook it too, sear that sucker hot and it mellows right out.

hayes.jake25d ago

Pulling off way more pellicle than seemed right was my move too, and it was totally the key.

brian_ramirez24d ago

Keep it simple and just go for it way harder than feels right. I've noticed this same thing with all kinds of fermentation and aging, not just meat. You always gotta push past what seems normal to get the real payoff, whether it's trimming a steak or skimming a batch of hot sauce.