Anyone ever dry age a brisket? Would I just leave it in the cryopac and in the fridge?
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?118-Aged-Sirloin&p=138 (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?118-Aged-Sirloin&p=138)
The post above is for wet age.
I have dry aged top loin and made some fantastic NY strip steaks. It is best to age the meat in a refrigerator that doesn't have any strong smelling foods in it, or the meat will absorb the flavors.
For my dry aging I followed the instructions on the following link:
Dry Aging Meat At Home (http://www.askthemeatman.com/is_it_possible_to_dry_age_beef_at_home.htm)
For the towels, I purchase a package of hand towels at Sam's Club, you will find them in the same section they sell the restaurant supplies.
GR, two kinds of aging for beef.
1. Wet age - done in the cryopac. I've heard two guidelines, 28 days and 35 days. The time is from the meat packers packing date, not the in-store pack date or sale date. The meat packers date is indicated on the box thatthe meat is shipped in. You typically have to ask, and if it's already on display and the box is gone, they may not know.
2. Dry age - tricky to do at home. HabS has covered one method. Another is the drybag technology that NePaS is using on a brisket, as shown here
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=19087.0;topicseen#lastPost
Steve Graves (Ask-A-Butcher in the newsletter) uses a combination of both to produce what he feels are the best steaks he has ever had.
Dry aging is not that tricky or difficult to do so at home. Though I have a dry curing cabinet, so I can devote my entire refrigerator to aging beef. FoodNetwork just aired a rerun of a Good Eats episode, which Alton Brown demonstrated how to dry age beef in your home refrigerator. You just need to commit to the time and space.