Old timer at the shop told me to dry age on the bone, not off

A guy who's been cutting meat for 40 years at the shop I work at said to keep the bone in for dry aging. I always cut it off before because I thought it was wasted space. He showed me a ribeye he aged for 28 days with the bone on and the flavor was way deeper than mine. Has anyone else tried both ways and noticed a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_lane2919d ago

Bone in is the way to go and that old timer is right. The bone acts as a natural insulator and helps regulate moisture loss during aging, plus it adds a beefy flavor that gets pulled into the meat. Did you try his aged steak side by side with yours yet, or just going off memory? Because the difference is honestly night and day once you taste them together. I'd say try a 21 day age with bone in next time and see if you can pick up that deeper, almost nutty flavor he's talking about.

jones.grace19d ago

That's a really good point about doing a side by side taste test. I think a lot of us get stubborn about our own methods and miss out on learning something new from folks who've been doing it longer. Appreciate you laying out the science behind the bone in aging, makes a lot of sense.