A Guide to Dry-Aged Beef

You’ve probably been to a fancy steakhouse where dry-aged steaks were on the menu. But if you’re like me, you likely passed on them because 1) dry-aged beef is a bit pricier, and 2) you didn’t exactly know what it meant for a steak to be “dry-aged” in the first place.

After today you’ll understand what happens to a steak when it’s dry-aged (and why an aged steak consequently costs more).
What Is Dry-Aged Beef?

The steak you typically eat is fresh. It’s red and full of moisture, which makes it nice and juicy.

A dry-aged steak is, as you surely guessed, aged before eating. You can find steaks that have been dry-aged from 7 to even up to 120 days. The most common timeframe for a steak to be dry-aged is 30 days. The meat doesn’t spoil during this time, because you age it in conditions that tightly control the levels of moisture and bacteria.

During the dry-aging process, moisture is drawn out of the meat. This causes the beef flavor to become even beefier and more flavorful. What’s more, the aging process causes the beef’s natural enzymes to break down the connective tissue in the meat, making it more tender. A crust of fungus which grows on the outside of the meat while it ages furthers this tenderization process, while adding a nice, corn-like flavor to your beef (you scrape this fungal crust off before cooking).

Dry-aging is basically a controlled decomposition of the meat, which sounds kind of gross, but results in a meat that is 1) more flavorful and 2) more tender.

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