Dry aged meat: What’s the beef?

As part of National Butchers Week, we take a look at dry aged meat - what is it and what makes dry aged meat so expensive?

It is the order of the day for many chefs around the world, from Daniel Humm’s Eleven Madison Square in New York, to Mark Hix’s Tramshed in London. But what exactly is dry aged meat? How is it different to other meat products?

Dry aged vs wet aged meat

Dry ageing meat is a process that was most popular until vacuum packing became available in the 1960s. The vacuum packing method allowed butchers and producers to age and distribute their meat in a more cost effective way and this overtook the dry ageing process. When wet aged, no moisture or weight is lost and the timescale for ageing is a lot shorter. Beef is wet aged between seven and 21 days. It looks distinctively different to dry aged beef and according to some chefs, the flavour and feel is distinctively different too.

How do you age meat?

The dry ageing process requires a whole or half carcasse and selected cuts to be hung or placed on a rack in a temperature controlled room, for a long period of time. As the meat is left over time, enzymes and “good bacteria” are active in breaking down connective tissue as well as large protein molecules into smaller, more flavourful ones. This process happens in the first 14 days, tenderising the meat and enhancing the flavour, so why do some chefs and artisan butchers boast about meat aged for days, weeks or even months longer?

Is dry aged meat really better?

The Hannan Meat manufacturing site in Northern Ireland is home to Europe’s first Himalayan salt chambers for dry ageing meat. Their beef ageing period ranges from 28 to 45 days. Peter Hannan, founder of Hannan Meats, revealed that to have good quality meat after a long dry ageing process, there has to be control. He said: “Most people hang a piece of meat in a cold room and say it’s dry aged, and technically it is, but they’re not in control of exactly what is happening.” In the salt chambers, there is complete control. After a six year long study into the best way to prolong the ageing process, their regime for dry ageing has a number of factors that ensure good quality meat is produced.

Peter said: “You have various ways of extracting moisture, things with light, air-speed and temperature. It’s part of the bacteria control regime that we use the salt.” Peter and his team found that the Himalayan salt, which is the purest salt in the world at 98.5% Sodium Chloride, was the key in combatting the deterioration of the meat. But what is the importance of extracting moisture in the dry ageing process?

How do you dry age meat without it going bad?

Peter said: “Just think of making a jeux or a reduction, as you displace water, you concentrate flavour. And that’s exactly what you’re trying to achieve - its a concentration of flavour.” So the longer the meat is aged, the more concentrated the flavour. However, after the initial hanging fortnight, good bacteria are combating bad bacteria, and over time are outnumbered. The bad bacteria takes over, leaving a slimy consistency on the product and the strong flavour synonymous with dry aged meat.

Peter said: “It’s very, very common, and what most people perceive to be dry ageing but it is something that you want to avoid. As time goes on a kind of blue cheese taste and slightly rancid flavour will happen and that’s not what you want.”

The Hannan Meat team have trialled the meat ageing process up to 72 days. Peter said: “We’re not marketing it as the grand cru, because our taste panel cannot consistently