Question for all you chefs (Meat)

[Orlong]

Why is it if you buy a steak in a grocery store, throw it in your refrigerator, and let it sit for 3 days, it becomes spoiled and is rotten, yet fancy restaurants can dry age a steak for over a month and it doesnt rot? What is the difference? I would think dry aged meat would be rotten like animals that become roadkill after a day

[Deleted]

It's aged under carefully controlled conditions. Wikipedia will tell you how it's done.

You can't dry age anything in a fridge because it's not dry.

[cudomix]

You need to wrap meat in plastic (preferably vacuum sealed bag), if you're gonna leave it in fridge.

[Stir]

Basically: (lack of) humidity, suspension and air flow must be carefully monitored and controlled. And even then, that is not enough. Aged beef is often hung by the carcass. Quality hams remain covered in skin while cured.

Curing (or dry aging) meat is a special skill that requires specially built shelters and near-to-perfect conditions.

Here's a video on how to DIY dry aging of beef, using salt in order to soak up moisture:

[serenka]

dont leave meat uncovered in the fridge!
if you want to dry meat, you need special conditions, and somewhere dry, so not a fridge!

[belfpala]

It's aged under carefully controlled conditions. Wikipedia will tell you how it's done.

You can't dry age anything in a fridge because it's not dry.

I disagree. For example, http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/01/t...f-at-home.html

It's not rotten, necessarily. Dry aged beef just looks that way.

Edit: note that I didn't say it's worth doing. Also, I wonder what the OP means by "rotten." I've never had a steak go rotten in my refrigerator in three days if I bought it and misjudged when I was going to cook it.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Meat doesn't necessarily go bad in 3 days in the fridge, they just give you a date that's well within safety limits to avoid liability from outliers. I've eaten meat that was cooked well after it was supposed to have gone bad. It didn't smell, look or taste any different. Hell, I've had sour cream and other stuff months after the date.

[Orlong]

It's aged under carefully controlled conditions. Wikipedia will tell you how it's done.

You can't dry age anything in a fridge because it's not dry.

Wikipedia tells me how its done, but they dont tell me why it doesnt rot like other meat would if you just left in in a refrigerator for a month

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Meat doesn't necessarily go bad in 3 days in the fridge, they just give you a date that's well within safety limits to avoid liability from outliers. I've eaten meat that was cooked well after it was supposed to have gone bad. It didn't smell, look or taste any different. Hell, I've had sour cream and other stuff months after the date.

After about 2 or 3 days it turns brown, and I wont eat it if its brown. That means all the blood is gone and its starting to rot

[Deleted]

Wikipedia tells me how its done, but they dont tell me why it doesnt rot like other meat would if you just left in in a refrigerator for a month

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After about 2 or 3 days it turns brown, and I wont eat it if its brown. That means all the blood is gone and its starting to rot

You do know blood dies in minutes after the host dies?

[Sunseeker]

If your meat is going bad in 3 days in your fridge, you are buying shitty meat.

[Deleted]

If your meat is going bad in 3 days in your fridge, you are buying shitty meat.

Or he has not got his fridge plugged in.

[serenka]

If your meat is going bad in 3 days in your fridge, you are buying shitty meat.

or he isn't covering the meat.

[Sunseeker]

or he isn't covering the meat.

If your meat is rotting while uncovered, yet refigerated, I would seriously consider cleaning your fridge.

[Orlong]

or he isn't covering the meat.

I buy it at the store wrapped in cellophane and leave it like that. After 2 days it starts turning brown. I wont eat it if it isnt bright red like it just came off the animal, regardless if it stinks or not. Of course I also throw milk away 3 days before the sell by date in case they calculated the date wrong and there is bad bacteria in it that hasnt started to stink yet

[Sunseeker]

I buy it at the store wrapped in cellophane and leave it like that. After 2 days it starts turning brown. I wont eat it if it isnt bright red like it just came off the animal, regardless if it stinks or not

They spray hormones on that stuff to keep it red long past when it should. If you want meat as fresh as the day it was cut, you need to buy it from a butcher or specialty meat market, not the grocery store.

[serenka]

If your meat is rotting while uncovered, yet refigerated, I would seriously consider cleaning your fridge.

oh were talking about rotting? i just meant the meat going bad, if you leave most meats uncovered in the fridge they don't stay too well in there, if the meat is dried/cured its not too bad.

[Sunseeker]

oh were talking about rotting? i just meant the meat going bad, if you leave most meats uncovered in the fridge they don't stay too well in there, if the meat is dried/cured its not too bad.

Yeah I wouldn't give uncovered meat more than a few days(4-5 I think at max), but properly sealed meat can last for quite a while.

[Deleted]

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/74917/oxid...-to-prevent-it

2nd post.

[belfpala]

They spray hormones on that stuff to keep it red long past when it should. If you want meat as fresh as the day it was cut, you need to buy it from a butcher or specialty meat market, not the grocery store.

Or even from a grocery store, but go up to the counter and have them hack off a couple cuts from whole for you.

[Windfury]

After about 2 or 3 days it turns brown, and I wont eat it if its brown. That means all the blood is gone and its starting to rot

A lot of meat is dyed to be redder when you buy it as that's more appealing for customers. A rapid change in colour is pretty often just the red dye fading out.

That said obviously be careful how you store meat.