Hybrid Ageing of Beef

[WhiteSmoke]

     I have read the posts on here about ageing beef, and Olds seminal work on the subject as well as reading internet sites regurgitating largely the same information until my eyes bleed and have grasped the fundamental desire for the concentration of flavour in dry ageing and the tenderness that both wet and dry ageing produce and the convenience and timeliness of wet ageing.

Now being a complete newbie, I asked, why can't I have both?

     I realize that this has occur ed to many, I'm a little slow sometimes, but not a complete idiot..  :D  Anyway, also having a background in engineering solutions for complex problems and being a bit of a tinkerer I decided to noodle about until I could bring something to the table.

Hybrid Ageing.

    The sole purpose of ageing meat being to concentrate flavours and to allow enzymatic processes to tenderize meat under controlled conditions that minimize the risk of food contamination. 

    Existing dry ageing techniques concentrate flavour and tenderize meat but take extended time and loose 5%-8% of mass to dehydration and a further 8% to 12% approximately to mold, crust and other unusable product and the introduction of potential off flavours from the byproducts of surface bacterial and mold action entering the serum of deeper tissues.  Conversely wet ageing tenderizes meat in a shortened period of time without loss due to dehydration nor cutting, but there is no significant concentration of beefy flavour and some taste test appear to report a serumy/metallic flavour in the meat possibly due to the containment of excess liquids in the inter cell spaces.

  So...

   If I cool the meat to be aged to about 34 degrees Fahrenheit and place it on a rack in a cooler and use a vacuum pump, actually a $15 tire pump reverse kluged to suck instead of blow I found on the Internet, and lower the air pressure in the box slowly over a few hours then osmotic pressure will migrate moisture out of the meat to recover air pressure in the box which is continually being slowly evacuated will effectively dehydrate the meat concentrating flavour until the target loss of 5%-8% of mass loss is achieved and then seal the meat in a vacuum sealer and wet age for an appropriate period to tenderize.

   The advantage of dehydration in this manner is that it is even and the exterior of the meat is not dry.  In addition the negative pressure on the meat will ensure that bacterial settling on the meat in the cooler remains on the surface.  Provided good practices for food safety are followed in opening the cryovac and preparing for dehydration as well as some surface antibacterial practice is employed prior to vacuum sealing for the wet age stage is followed I see no reason this will not provide the best of both worlds.

   I have drawn up a list of parts, prices and suppliers I will need to implement the project, but am wondering if anyone else has already been down this road.

[Habanero Smoker]

WhiteSmoke;

Welcome to the forum.

Looks like an interesting project. Keep us posted.

[car54]

WhiteSmoke,

  Welcome to the forum. It sounds like a very interesting project. Have you heard of any commercial places doing this?
Please keep us informed.

Brad

[Tenpoint5]

Sounds interesting but a little to complex for my brain these days.

[lumpy]

Wow........that just gave me a headache!
All I know is that I'm hungry ;D

Let us know of yuor results.

Lumpy

[WhiteSmoke]

Sorry lumpy...

That first paragraph of explanation of mine is just one looong run on sentance.

Guess I was kinda excited.

I'll pick of some of the odds and ends I need and start assembling this weekend and update as I go along.

It'll give me something to do while the summer sausage is smoking.  Never smoked summer sausage before, just made it plain, but with my new toy the thought of nice tangy Summer Sausage reeking of hickory smoke is making me slobber on the keyboard.

[BigFella]

Interested to see how it goes!

And don't forget lots of pics! :)  (I'm a fast learner)