Hyper Aged Meat and Poultry.

jason.r.whitworth

I have read a lot recently about meat being aged well passed the "normal" amount of time at restaurants like Faviken, Saison and Blanca.... 

Things like beef, rack of lamb, Game birds, etc...

I assume its basically about carefully controlling temp and humidity. 

Is this something someone could do at home? What kind of setup would you need ? 

What kind of times are you looking at for different kinds of meat, whats the prep work involved?

Chris_Young_80640

@Amida0616 Yes, carefully controlled temperature, humidity, and airflow are important—especially when you start aging for weeks on end. Here are some tips:

(1) You want the temperature around 37–41 °F / 3–5 °C

(2) You would like the relative humidity to be between 80–90%

(3) Airflow should be a steady breeze

The basic idea is to have water evaporate from the surface at about the same rate that water within the meat can diffuse to the surface. If your humidity is too low, the surface will become very hard and leathery and you get uneven results. If your humidity is too high, you have water condensing on the surface that allow bacteria, yeasts, and molds to grow and spoil the meat. 

Ideally the meat is suspended in a way that lets airflow around all sides so that you get even dehydration. But if this isn't possible, you need to rotate the meat every day or so. 

Initially, enzymes in the meat help to tenderize the muscle tissue. But this process reaches an end around 18 days or so for even tough, red meats. After 18 days, you're dehydrating the meat, which concentrates the natural sugars, salts, umami-tasting compounds in the muscle tissue, which enhances the flavor. You are also aging the natural fats in the meat to develop the flavor. Done well, and it can make the meat wonderful—like a very well aged cheese. Done poorly, and the flavor is rotten.