I little while back someone discussed leaving a vacuum sealed brisket in the refrigerator for upwards of 90 days to wet age it. My question is, how does wet aging affect the flavor of the beef?
I have a prime packer in the freezer now that I had in the refrigerator for two weeks before I threw it in the freezer. Will I taste any difference after two weeks of wet aging?
I little while back someone discussed leaving a vacuum sealed brisket in the refrigerator for upwards of 90 days to wet age it. My question is, how does wet aging affect the flavor of the beef?
I have a prime packer in the freezer now that I had in the refrigerator for two weeks before I threw it in the freezer. Will I taste any difference after two weeks of wet aging?
As texastweeter said, wet-aging is more about tenderizing than flavor enhancement.
Wet-aging does not tend to enhance flavor (although some people will swear it does). Rather, wet-aging allows breakdown of meat fibers over time and produces a more tender piece of meat. I always wet-age my briskets.
If you want to age with the goal of flavor enhancement, then do dry-aging. That dehydrates the meat and forms a crusty outer layer (which must be shaved off before cooking). In essence, the dehydration halves the meat by weight, thereby producing meat that has much more flavor per bite. That's the reason dry-aged steaks cost so much.
And BTW, wet-aging for only two weeks is not going to do much for your brisket. 28 days has been determined (by trial and error) to be the optimum time for wet-aging beef. 21 days minimum, and some people (like myself) go 40 days.
Started Low-N-Slow BBQ in 2012. Obviously, it's taken hold (in chronological order:
1.) A pair of Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5's
2.) #LilTex, a 22" Expensive Offset Smoker (looks like a Yoder Witicha)
3.) #WhoDat1, a HUGE Gravity Fed Insulated Cabinet Smoker (cooking chamber 3'x2'x6')
4.) A Full Size Commercial Dryer/converted to Vertical Smoker.
5.) Jambo Backyard stickburner (my FAVORITE Pit so far)
6.) GrillMeister, a huge 24"x48" Adjustable, Charcoal Grill from Pitmaker.com
7.) 22" Weber Kettle with Slow-N-Sear
8.) Vault insulated reverse-flow cabinet smoker from Pitmaker
9.) BarbecueFiretruck...under development
10.) 26 foot BBQ Vending Trailer equipped with HUGE Myron Mixon 72xc smoker is HERE, Oct 2016!
11.) Opened www.PaulsRibShackBarbecue.com Food Trailer officially in March 2017
12.) Austin Smoke Works 500 Gallon Propane Tank Offset Smoker, named "Lucille" as travel pit for PaulsRibShack, Oct 2018.
12.) Opening Brick & Mortar location at 4800 Nelson Rd, Spring 2019. Had a pair of 1,000 Gallon Austin Smoke Works pits, both in RibShackRed for our new place!
Fabulous Backlit Thermapens, several Maverick Remote Thermometers (don't use any remotes anymore), Thermoworks Smoke, Other Thermoworks toys, Vacuum sealer, lots and lots of equipment...
I'm loving using BBQ to make friends and build connections.
I have #theRibList where I keep a list of new and old friends and whenever I'm cooking, I make 1 to 20 extra and share the joy.
Aged is a little better. Tender, as the fella's mentioned. I've gone out to 80 days and it definitely gets to probe tender a few hours faster, and the color looks a little more like Pastrami. I would like to do some side-by-side tests and get more data on the topic.
Thanks for the input. I am not intentionally wet aging, I just had the one brisket in my garage refrigerator for two weeks before I remembered to freeze it. I also have one I got last week still in the refrigerator. I am cooking both for a tailgate in 9 days, so I was asking mainly to be sure that I can leave the second one in the refrigerator and go ahead and thaw the first one without any extreme impact on the finished product. It sounds like both should be good to go.
Wet Aging Brisket/Beef
Comment