The Mere Mortal's Guide to Fine Dining by Colleen Rush

Author:Colleen Rush [Rush, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-48816-9
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2006-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

When Old Meat Is a Good Thing

If “aged beef” sounds like the last thing you'd want to pay top dollar for in a restaurant, you'd be wrong. Aging beef may be time-consuming and expensive, but the few restaurants offering it do so because the process turns great beef (only Prime and Choice beef can be aged) into sublime beef.

Dry-aged beef is hung, unwrapped, in temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms for up to four weeks. It is the crème de la crème of meat for two reasons: First, the aging process releases enzymes in the meat that break down muscle fibers, which tenderizes the texture of the beef. Second, the meat loses moisture and shrinks during aging, which further concentrates the flavors. Meat dry-aged for twenty-one to twenty-eight days loses up to 30 percent of its weight in the process.

Wet-aged beef uses the same technique, but the meat is vacuum-sealed in airtight plastic so there's no shrinkage—an important factor for restaurants because they get a better return on their money if the meat doesn't shrink. It also means wet-aged beef won't have the distinct, concentrated flavor of dry-aged beef. If the menu only states that the steaks are “aged” or “prime-aged,” chances are the beef is wet-aged.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.