Bummer of a Dry Aged Steak - Questions

[FishTalesNC]

AR Experts - I need your help (again)! I went to the Durham Farmers Market on Saturday morning and picked up some boneless ribeyes from a vendor I haven’t used before. I’ve also never knowingly purchased dry aged steaks, but that was my goal and the gentleman manning the Fickle Creek Farm tent said he dry ages his 14 days - not too long, but ok. I couldn’t really see the steaks inside the frozen packages, and nothing on the label indicated a grade or the dry aging but they were his last 2 boneless ribeyes so I took them. Upon opening them today, I was taken aback by the lack of marbling - these looked like Select grade to me. They are grass fed - does this fact, or the dry aging, affect the marbling?

I went ahead and seasoned them with Penzey’s steak seasoning about 90 min before I put them on. I put a full chimney of KBB in the SNS XL overtop of some leftover Weber briquettes so the SNS was pretty full. Let it preheat, put mine on for a few over indirect, then my wife’s, then started searing them.



I noticed I had zero flare up issues, and again wondered about the lack of fat. When I took them off my wife’s was 132F and mine was 143F right about where we like them. She made some hasselback potatoes with butter and every day rub and a little cheese, they were yummy.

(Gratuitous shot of AR knife included!)




Overall the steaks were a huge and expensive disappointment. I did notice a somewhat more intense and unique beefy flavor, but as I feared they otherwise lacked juiciness and flavor. Really disappointed and so I’m curious - is this typical of dry aged steaks? Do you think I just got some low grade ones? Why wasn’t there a grade on the label? Do you think the grass fed aspect contributed to the quality (again not something I typically purchase)?

Thanks in advance for any insight, I’d love to understand more about what could be contributing to the poor results, and I don’t *think* it was my cooking process! Maybe I don’t appreciate dry aged beef and should’ve made burgers?

[Troutman]

Dry aging does just that, it dries the beef by evaporation of moisture and allows the nature enzymes to start to break down the proteins. The result is a denser, beefier flavor. In fact I don't like it much more than 30 days because they tend to get too dense. My sweet spot is about 28 days.

Having said that, I do it with choice meat from Costco that has really good marbling. It appears as though yours were in fact select grade and probably didn't have the marbling you are used to in high choice or prime. I don't think 14 days of aging would cause an adverse dryness to your meat, it's probably just a bad cut.

Lastly, was it grass fed AND grass finished? All cattle start out grazing on grass, it's the final corn finish or grass finish that makes the difference. I don't like grass finished beef, that could also have affected the taste and quality.

[FishTalesNC]

Thanks for the info Troutman I’m not sure about it being grass "finished". Their website just says their beef is "certified grass fed on pesticide free pastures, no hormones, no antibiotics". I expected a denser, beefier flavor but didn’t expect it to be so dadgum dry and chewy, in fact I expected it to be more tender! Ah well... learning thanks to you guys.

[Backroadmeats]

Fish TalesNC .just a heads up no farmer sprays his pasture or hay.. every farmer gives their cattle antibiotics.. can u raise kids with no antibiotics?? Nope cuz they slobber all over each other and cattle are 10 times worse.. I will agree on the hormone free,. If you have good genetics you will not need hormones.. please don't think I am trying to be a jerk or anything just so many marketing schemes out there..I see hobby farmers taken advantage of all the time being sold hay with no spray!

[Backroadmeats]

Sorry ran out of room on last post.. no farmer would spray pasture or Hayfield because it would kill clover and alfalfa and that is what makes good hay and pasture !! And the grass fed is a personal preference.. if you prefer venison steaks over prime rib eye.. buy grass fed if not buy prime beef!!

[JoeSousa]

I would guess the low quality was more due to the grass fed nature of the steaks as opposed to the dry aging. 14 days isn't really long enough to develop any really funky flavors. Some grass fed beef is great, some is really bad depending on a lot of different factors. Sounds like you got one of the questionable ones.

And most small farms like that don't get USDA grading so I wouldn't necessarily expect a grade when buying at a farmers market.

[FishTalesNC]

Thanks for the info! My regular "meat lady" at the farmers market (another local farm) does have grades on hers, but she wasn’t there Saturday. Might have to try this once more when she’s back, hers are dry aged a little longer too.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I agree with the above posts. Just saying "grass fed" doesn't mean much if the pasture wasn't a good quality mix. If the cattle didn't have access to enough quality water they will stress and that can effect the meat. There are so many variables to getting good protien it's a wonder we ever can.

[Willy]

I’d guess anyone who advertises "grass fed" means the entire life of animal—or they lie. To claim a grain finished steer is grass fed is just plain dishonest.

[FishTalesNC]

Thanks everyone for the education. I wasn’t really thinking the grass fed aspect was significant, I only mentioned it because I’m ignorant about raising cattle and processing them (despite a recently deceased uncle being a rancher, and a retired aunt being in charge of quality control at plants in NM, TX and OK!) and because it was mentioned on their website. I think I know where I went astray - I bought steaks with no grading that I couldn’t actually see, and they were of poor quality and overpriced. Lesson learned. At least I did get some idea of the impact dry aging has on a steak, and learned a lot thanks to you all. 👍🏻

[fkrall]

Great thread, learned a lot. Thanks!