Aging Beef

No this does not mean letting the cow get older.    Cut sides of beef, primal cuts, or The process of aging creates tenderness and develops flavor in beef.

There are two types of aging:

1. Wet Aging  
2. Dry Aging  

Beef is generally aged from 21 to 28 days.    However wet and dry aging are very different.

Wet aging involves holding a piece of meat in an air tight sealed bag.    This type of aging is pretty common.    All the meats juices remain in the bag.    The waste and loss of the product is reduced.

Dry aging involves hanging a piece of beef in a cooler that is controls both temperature and humidity.    This is an expensive process and leads to cuts of beef that have very high price tags.

No matter which type of aging is used the concept is the same.    The beef that we eat is muscle.    Muscle is made of protein fibers, amino acids, enzymes, etc.    Aging breaks these down.

The result:    Tenderness and concentrated beef flavor.