The Flavor and Tenderness of Dry-Aged
What do you think distinguishes a good steakhouse from a great one? Great steakhouses serve dry aged beef. What does dry aging do to steaks? Dry aging does for red meat what cave aging does for cheese, or what cellaring does for Bordeaux. Aging improves the taste significantly.
There are many chemical reactions happening while dry aging red meat. Simply put, water content in beef evaporates while it ages, leaving behind the meat’s original flavor. There is breakdown also of connective tissue enabling the meat to be more tender, but again, there is no loss of flavor.
Many diners would love their steaks really tender so they’d opt for more tender cuts, like filet mignon. However, they may be less flavorful. The loss of flavor for tenderness is a compromise not found with dry aged beef. If you choose rib eyes or porterhouse/T-bones, where you go after the meat nearest the bones for flavor, if the beef is dry-aged, you get both tenderness and flavor.
Dry aging beef to enhance its flavor and tenderness is used by a very small number of meat purveyors for upscale hotels and restaurants and by an even smaller number of retailers for the gourmet market. Dry aging at refrigeration temperatures for one to five weeks allows the natural enzymatic and biochemical processes to result in improved tenderness and the development of the unique flavor.
Omaha Steaks are, of course, one of the more revered products out of Omaha, Nebraska. Family-owned and operational since 1917, the brand is recognized nationally. Beef are grain-fed, USDA-inspected, naturally aged and trimmed by hand. The vacuum-wrapped beef are flash-frozen to seal freshness. Omaha Steaks is the largest small parcel direct shipper of gourmet foods in the US.
Aged Omaha New York Steak: Flo’s Pride
Flo does its steaks like no other. Dry-aged Omaha steaks come with a slight Japanese twist that diners love. Pan-seared, the New York style steak comes with house-made Yuzu ginger Demi Glace or teriyaki and sautéed with seasonal vegetables. A must-order for special occasions.