I used to think dry-aging bags were a gimmick... now I'm not so sure

I've been a butcher for about 8 years now, and I always figured those dry-aging bags were just a way to sell fancy plastic to home cooks. But last month, a customer brought in a ribeye he'd aged in one for 21 days and asked me to trim it. I gotta say, the flavor was way more concentrated than I expected, and the loss wasn't as bad as I thought. So now I'm wondering... are these bags actually legit for a small shop like mine, or is it still better to stick with the traditional open-air setup? Anyone here tried both and seen a real difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_mia20d ago

Oh come on, is this really something people lose sleep over? I mean you tasted one bagged ribeye and now you're questioning your whole setup? Look, I get that the flavor was good but that's one piece of meat from one customer. You're a butcher not a scientist running a control group study here. Traditional open air has been working for centuries and you're gonna swap it out for some ziploc bag because of one lucky steak? If the loss wasn't that bad on one cut then sure maybe there's something to it but I wouldn't go redoing your whole walk-in over a sample size of one. Just my two cents.

thompson.tyler19d ago

Probably got a couple years back when a guy from Nebraska brought in a dry aged roast he'd been experimenting with. Told me the same thing about bag aging doing something different. @the_mia is right though, one lucky steak from some customer doesn't mean you should tear down your whole system. I've seen guys waste money on new dry lockers and humidifiers just to chase that one perfect ribeye they had at a friend's shop. If you really want to test it, do a side by side with two same cut primals. Cut them both the same way, age them the same length of time, but one in a bag. Then you'll know if it's worth the switch or if you just had a freak piece of meat.