I’ve had a chunk of beef which will become New York steaks dry aging at the local butcher since Sept 26th and the initial plan was to cut it into steaks this Saturday, after a 35 day age. However, consumption plans have put the cooking date one week later at November 7th. the butcher has some concerns about loss / small remaining meat if we let the dry age go any longer and wait until november 6th to do the cutting.
If we cut this saturday, is there anything lost by freezing the steaks for a week before cooking them? Or should I wait and have the steaks cut a week later, with the chance of too much loss?
if you can vacu-seal them before freezing, no issues. Another week of dry-ageing won’t lose too much more.
Vacu-seal should certainly be an option. Thanks.
At this point, I would figure that the primal has given up as much weight as it is going to. It will only get funkier from the extended aging…so if that is what you like, then let it hang the extra week. If not, I would have no problems suggesting that you have the butcher remove the funk and fabricate your strip steaks and then Vacu-Seal them. As the water is minimal, the freezing process won’t really affect the texture of the beef.
Rob, are you aging at Los Gatos meats or somewhere else? If LGM did you bring the meat in or did you purchase the meat with them? What do they charge to dry age for you?
Thanks,
J.R.
This is over at Scotts Valley Market. They do dry aging there already so I just got the butcher to let it hang about twice as long as they normally do.
Picked them up yesterday and ended up with 6 nice 35 day dry-aged New York steaks. (butcher took an additional two for himself) Due to the amount of loss from the aging process, the size is a little smaller then I would have hoped for NYs but still decent enough to be part of a full meal. They are vacu-sealed and will be cooked next week.