# Is 'aging' meat a safe food prep method?



## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

The thread on Virginia or Smithfield hams got me thinking about how they age beef to develop flavor.

I don't understand if meat needs refrigeration, how can 'aging' it be safe? Or is this something applicable only to beef?


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

It is aged in refrigerated rooms with carefully controlled humidity. That is how we do it now days. If you go to the market in any third world country the fish, meat and poultry will be out in the open, usually in the shade. They try to fan the flies off as much as possible. I wouldn't imagine that it would last very long like that.


----------



## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

Beef needs to be refrigeration to age. Aging is a slow form of decomposition of the flesh. Hams are aged after they are cured. You can do the same with cured beef. Curing keep the meat fresh longer with out refrigeration by keeping it very dry and stops it from going bad.


----------



## AdamfromNW (Apr 16, 2012)

I can't speak for beef specifically, but with regards to elk we always quarter them out immediately after getting one and hang it in a tree until we are done hunting, up to about a week. Since the daytime temperatures are generally only around 45 deg at most and significantly cooler at night, with the meat in the shade it does not spoil, it will develop a crust on the outside of the meat. Once it has been brought home we will hang it in a shed until it has hung for a total of around 2 weeks, we take it down and butcher it when the meat begins to sag on the bone. The purpose of allowing it to hang is that it promotes the growth of bacteria that breakdown proteins in the meat, which causes it to be tender. The aforementioned crust is trimmed when we butcher and discarded. It is my understanding that the aging process with beef is something similar, but much more controlled, but I have no first hand knowledge of that.


----------



## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Ham has been cured, that is what preserves it at room temp. That is also what makes it ham and not pork. 

Aging of beef is not for the sake of preservation, it is done to enhance flavor and tenderness. If you cured, smoked or dried the beef into jerky it would be perserved.


----------



## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

I dont care for aging myself? At least as far as beef or game....

Hams and pork yes, but not 100% necessary...

More so this month been eating a bunch of BLT's! mmmm...

But yes as said prior aging is a controlled rot! 

Temp,PH and general handling have to be handled with care.

there's wet and dry aging...

its not to preserve but break down muscle fiber and develop flavor or perhaps deflavor the meat?as in that fresh meat taste... 

in the case of hams and bacon its to rid the product of moisture. being cured they do not require the refrigeration. 

35 to 40 degrees is the recommended temp to hang meat the cooler the longer it can hang...


----------



## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Pork will go 'slick' in just days, even if refrigerated, in just mere days, unless it's processed with preservatives. If you buy pork in the grocery store, by the time the 'buy by' date has arrived, it'll be heading south.

Brineing, salting, and smoking were the traditional ways, before refrigeration/freezers. Mostly done in the winter, because meat that doesn't have the heat 'removed' from the carcass will start spoiling immediately... and there are less flies/insects to deal with.

Rotten maggot infested meat won't kill you... it's just a cultural thing. I spent a season out on the tundra near Shismaref, Alaska, and they'd bring seals and moose quarters out to camp, and hang them from a rafter... flies would blow them on day one, day two there'd be skippers (tiny maggots), by day four, the meat would be literally whistling with activity... the natives would carve off a piece of moving meat and eat it heartily. The fermented rotten meat was tenderer and tastier than bland fresh meat.


----------



## BillHoo (Mar 16, 2005)

Dry-aging is not dried beef (which is a form of preserving)

As others have said, dry aging the beef is a controlled decomposition that promotes bacterial growth to tenderize the meat. It allso dehydrates the meat a bit so that flavor is concentrated. You pay $$ for dry aged beef because it has a beefier flavor and can be more tender. It results in a moist cut of raw beef, once you cut and throw away the dried parts.

It is not a way of preserving beef. On the contrary, you end up throwing away more of the beef that you would normally eat. This is because you have to throw away the BLACK outer crust or pellicle. That is the part that is exposed to the air and could possibly have some bad bacteria that produce toxic byproducts (might not kill ya, but you never know what's floating around these days). I've talked to butchers and chefs to see if there is any use for the cuttings and they do not recommend eating or even giving it to a dog. (I left it out for the my neighborhood fox who helps keep the rodent population down.)

I love to splurge on a good dry aged steak every now and then, and have used a spare fridge to dry age a top sirloin. But I have to admit, it is a very wasteful way of processing meat and is not a way of preserving.

I started out with 10 pounds boneless top sirloin, dry aged for 21 days in the fridge with a pan of water for humity and at 45 F - and got 7 pounds. then carefully trimmed and threw away nearly a pound and had maybe 6 pounds of edible, boneless steak.

Drying beef completely and making jerky is however a very good way to preserve meat that you can look up elsewhere on the HT forums. Dry-aging is not.


----------

