I just ordered some 30 day Flannery dry aged strips on BD that should arrive later this week. Once they arrive, is there a recommended period of time to cook them by (or not so much since they have been aged)?
Periodically Costco has really good pricing on whole prime strips in vacuum seal packs. Any experience or recommendations on the recommended period of time to cook them in relation to the last sale date on the package?
I ask both questions since on previous threads I’ve gathered from the beef experts here that there is not too much concern on either front, but I wanted to ask directly in case I misinterpreted some of the posts.
Never cook based on time. Get thee an instant read thermometer! If you can afford to drop some coin on Flannery than you can afford to drop some coin on a Thermoworks thermometer. But to answer your question dry aged meats cook considerably quicker than meats that haven’t been aged at all.
I buy those subprimals semi-often and while I don’t wet age them I don’t see anything wrong with keeping them sealed in the bag for up to 30 days. But if you’re going to do that then you might as well do this.
I think Elliot may have misread the first question.
I can’t answer question number 1 specific to flannery, however I know that I did a 35 dry age NY loin (bought at Costco) of my own recently and after trimming and portioning the steaks, I left two of them in the fridge (individually vacu packed) for a week and they were just fine- so I think you have at least a week to use the flannery, assuming not frozen I would bet they are fine for longer as long as you have the original seal.
With regards to number 2- 100% agree with Elliot- I think it also depends on when you take it out of the bag. Once out of the bag seal, I would cook it within 3-4 days- however still in the sealed bag I think it would be fine for up to 3-4 weeks from the sell date. Recall that many (lesser, IMO) steakhouses will “WET AGE” their beef which is basically what leaving in the sealed primal bag is doing. If you are going to open the bag and cook it in increments, I recommend freezing portions vs. refrigerating.
Just put the Flannery steaks in the freezer if you’re not planning on cooking them within a few days of receipt. They’ll last for at least a year in freezer with no noticeable effect.
Bryan (or maybe it was Katie) posted the following on the BD thread … figure you’ve got 4-5 days of fridge life from when you receive the steaks, but don’t hesitate to throw some in the freezer to enjoy later. I’ve pulled steaks out of the home freezer after over a year, you won’t see any detriment.
Hi Brian - #1: Yes, if you think about it, dry aging + freezing = OK. Since a lot of moisture has been removed during the aging process, there is less intra-muscular tearing (which seems to affect texture) when you freeze dry-aged beef.
#2: I would say a few weeks if you leave the bag sealed. Once you open it, you will likely want to freeze it, or cut into steaks that you can freeze. However, some people simply put this sub-primal on a cooling rack/cookie sheet, uncovered, in the refrigerator, and cut steaks as they need them. The meat will dry-age. Obviously, you will need to remove any desiccated pieces, and there will be more waste. Not sure how this really works in practicality, maybe others can chime in.
I wet aged a whole Costco Prime Rib Primal for Christmas and everybody said is was the best rib roast ever. I went about 28 days past the purchase date. The way to calculate total age is to look at the pack date. Most places pack after 10 to 14 days of hang time. Then allow about 10 days until the sell by date. So my rib had a total of about 38 days of age. Not long enough for funky flavors, but long enough for extremely tender meat. I also salted and peppered heavily the morning before I was going to cook, put on a rack in the fridge uncovered to let the surface dry completely before going in the oven for the reverse sear method.
Now as to the rest of the primal, I cut two steaks and one roast and vacuum bagged and froze. The steaks were eaten about 3 weeks later and were perfect. The roast is still in the freezer. I always vacuum bag the cut up primals into serving sizes or individual steaks, the vacuum bags are good for about a week in the fridge. If I know I won’t use them, I put straight into the freezer.
For the record I have bought whole tenderloins and wet aged them for 4 weeks without any issue and with a marked increase in flavor.
Wet aging is a great tool if you have folks that don’t like the funky flavors of long term dry aged beef (my wife). The added unspoken benefit is of course the waste factor.
I would bet they are fine for longer as long as you have the original seal.