There's nothing better than a dry aged steak.
Since now it is possible to dry aged at home I've been addicted to it. At the
same time many people have always asked me; Guga can you dry aged only one steak?
I've never been able to answer that question because it's not even a thought
for me. Dry aging takes time and spending all that time in only one steak it's
definitely not worth it. But at the same time if you want to try it to see if you
like it that's a valid question and today I am putting that to the test.
So let's do it!
To ensure there will be no variation between steaks I am cutting everything
from the same piece. I'm aiming for one and a half inches thick ribeye steaks.
Once I was done cutting I was left with four beautiful choice grade ribeye
steaks. I'm giving these ribeyes what's called a super trim. This part where you
see there's almost no meat and I love to use it for my burgers, so I'll be
completely removing this one. Once the trimming was done I was left with four
beautiful steaks. My goal is to resemble what you will find in your regular
grocery store. Since I have four steaks I'm not gonna be dry-aging every single
one of them. We're gonna do three different styles. This is an UMAI Dry bag.
Even though it's called a bag it is a membrane and the great thing is that it
allows you to dry aged at home without any special equipment. Depending on the
kit that you choose it comes with large bags. You're also able to find smaller
ones and says I'm dry aging only one steak I'll be using this one today. The
great thing about this membrane is that it allows moisture to escape without
allowing anything bad to get back in. Since these steaks are completely cut we
need a special setup.The first thing I need to do is choose the steak for the
dry aged and I'm feeling this one will be great. As you can see the top of the
steak there's no moisture if I just put it in the oh my dry bags you won't have
great content you want the meat to stick to the membrane and the way to do that
is to get a little bit of water on top of the steak. And here's how to do it
just get the surface nice and wet with cold water, be sure to apply it to both
sides and add the steaks to the bag. The kit comes with this special fabric which
allows you to suck all the air out. Using any regular vacuum sealer just seal as
much as you can. Once I was done vacuuming you can see there still a few
air gaps and that's okay. Now there's left to do is put it on a cooling rack
to have a dry-aged. Normally I will dry-aged a whole piece for no less than
35 days but if I do that to this one steak there's not gonna be anything left.
So I've chosen to go 14 days. Now there's nothing else to do but leave it in my
regular refrigerator until the time is done. The very next steak we're gonna be
using as a control now to preserve the steak as fresh as possible I will be
freezing it. If I leave it inside of the refrigerator for 14 days it will
be wet aging that's not what we want. As a control it would be frozen and then
slowly defrosted. It is the closest thing that we can get to a fresh steak. Our
next experiment is very interesting I'll be using butter and fish sauce together.
If you are unfamiliar with fish sauce there's a lot of people that swears by
dry aging it with a few days is amazing. And here's how to do it; to the bowl I
added three sticks of room-temperature butter followed by two tbsp of fish
sauce. Then I mixed up everything well until everything was combined together.
I started by spreading one side as much as possible. It is important that you cover
every single piece of the steak. If you don't, the parts that are uncoated will
be completely oxidized. Then I laid it down on some parchment paper. This part
is crucial because it ensures me that the bottom is completely covered with
the butter. Now all there's left to do is spread the rest on top and on the edges
and my fish sauce butter dry-aged is ready. The very next one is pretty
similar but instead of using fish sauce I decided to use the thyme then I
combined everything together with the butter until I made a nice herb paste.
I'm doing the same exact process of the previous steak which is coating the
first side then laying it down on parchment paper and then finishing it
off on the top and the edges. Once I was done you can see no part was left
uncoated. Now that we have both steaks ready all there's left to do is put it
on my regular refrigerator and wait 14 days.
After 14 days I took out of the refrigerator and this is what the
regular dry aged steak looked like. Even before opening the steak there's a huge
dent. It shrink the steak tremendously especially on the eye section. This is
expected and what dry-aged does it allows the moisture to escape from the
meat. Then I quickly opened it up and this is what it looks like.
Once I hold it in my hand I can t ell you that it feels hard and it's also pliable.And
smelling it oh wow it smells nice. I would say this is a perfectly dry aged
steak. One of the biggest fear I had dry-aging only one steak was the amount
of loss we're gonna have. So I started by trimming the edges off. I have never been
so careful trying to remove as little as possible. When you are dry aging a big
piece you really want to take out as much as you can and with this steak I
was really careful not to take too much out. A lot of people have always asked me;
Guga why don't you just leave it and eat it with it? Guys it's not good it is
great for something like a long cook like a chili or maybe it even making
hamburgers out of it. But to cook it medium rare and a steak it is not ideal,
trust me you will not like. Once the whole trimming was done I was left with
a tiny little steak.
I would normally trim even more, but I feel like if I do then we'll have no
steak left. It used to be an inch and a half thick,I would say now is less than
an inch. After doing so many dry ages in my life I can also tell you that it feels
just like a real regular dry aged steak. It also smells wonderful and I can't
wait to find out what it tastes like. By that time the herbs and the butter dry
aged ones were also read. The interesting thing about the butter ones
is that it becomes a crust and you can just crack it open like a nut shell. You
can easily peel it off like nothing. Once I smelled it it just smells like
regular butter nothing else and this is what it looks like.
Even though it looks a little bit of oxidized in some parts I say that it's perfectly preserved.
Then I jumped right into the herbs one, and as previously it cracks like a nut shell.
A lot of people have asked me before; Guga can you reuse the butter that you dry
aged with? I am not sure if you can I recommend not to. Even for basting I
don't recommend using it it is best to discard it. After removing it you can see
that is slightly oxidized as well. But the wonderful thing is that no trimming
is needed. I would say the steak remained the same exact size it started with and
that's a plus on my book. The control steak was also defrosted and
it remained the same size. Once that was done this is what they looked like.
To make sure I really tasted the steak I only season them with salt and pepper
nothing else. Now that I have all these steaks seasoned I'll be using my
wireless thermometer to ensure they're all cooked to the exact same temperature.
But now I say it is enough talking and it is time to cut down so let's do it!
Alright everybody we have our beautiful steaks here. What do you think Angel? Well
they're a lot better than last week. That's right!
Today I got a big, what? Crust.
We are the crust people if you don't make a steak with a
crust it's not good do you agree? Yeah. Yeah and last time I did it last week we
had the pineapple steak and didn't have a wonderful crust and crust is important.
Very, very important. What does that face you like that pineapple. That pineapple was so bad.
Don't go watch that video, please. Anyway they want to see us try a steak Angel.
Are you ready to try it? Sure let's see. So we have an experiment here we have steak ABC and D.
I want to know which one you like best and what is the difference between them.
But I say is enough talking let's give them a try. Yeah? Cheers everybody. Cheers!
That's a good steak. That's Guga steak right there my brother. That's what I'm talking
about. Way better than last one. That's a good one! That is phenomenal everybody absolutely
fantastic. It's time for the second one you ready? Always ready. Dig in.
Cheers everybody, second one.
Mmmm, that's a good one!
That's nice! More tender. Mm-hmm. Super juicy I'm about
to go like this. Man oh I like that one. It tastes almost like if you marinated
it or something. Yes it's true. You marinated it? No I didn't. Oh I thought
you were saying like yes cuz you did. There's no marination whatsoever
but you can definitely feel a different additional flavor like there's some
additional taste in there like some herbs. Yes. in there or some marination in there.
There's something going on here it doesn't have an even the aftertaste is a little bit...
It has a nice aftertaste in the end and that taste is nice and... And it lingers.
Yeah it stays there in your mouth that is wonderful.
Okay. Ready for the third one? Yes! Go for it Angel. Dry age steak let's go!
What do you mean dry stake why are you saying that? Just because it's smaller? No!
I'll know for sure after I try it. Look, Angel is becoming a steak guru you
know I give you and trick him anymore. Just because the steak is smaller you
automatically assume that it's dry aged. Next time you gotta cut them all nice
and small like that, like they're all like that.
Third one everybody.
Um huh...oh man. What happened Angel? It's dry aged steak. The dry agedness is there. Um hum.
You can feel that dry agedness right away hits you it's not an overpowering taste.
It's a it's an amount that is perfect for me, if you ask me. So how many days of
that? How many days of what dry aging? I can't even trick him anymore everybody
he's getting too smart on me. I'll tell you after we try all of them sounds good? Alright.
But yes you're right it is dry aged. Alrght Angel let's go for the last one.
This is gonna be a good one? Best for last? Cheers
Oh.
Well. You say best for last.
Well I was wrong.
What happened? You didn't like that one?
I must say. It wasn't the best. Super tender. It is tender. But it has an off
flavor. Yeah the aftertaste on this one was a little...
Describe it to the audience will you feel on that one. You immediately go to the second one
You see my face? No, no description necessary?
If I have to describe this one... Tell me. I will say everything I love about this one is the
opposite in this one. It's the opposite. The opposite flavor of this one.
Alright are you ready to find out what it is?
I mean I know this one. You know this one right here, so all of these...
I wanted to do this video to give an experience to somebody that never dry aged before to let them
know to try only one steak dry-aging. Is it worth it? Yeah for sure!
it works!
I think you know what I think that's awesome yeah that's a good idea.
It works you can give it a try that I would recommend a little bit thicker
steak though because this is a little bit too thin you know and... But then if
they go thicker then maybe they have to go longer but regardless I think if
you're trying like let's say you've never had a dry steak before.... A lot of
people ask me all the time Guga what does dry aged feels like It's very difficult to describe.
If you never had, then one steak by itself you put on a bag dry age it for
14 weeks? It is not a big commitment everybody and you can give it a try
yourself home. Wait, how long, how long was that? 14 days. Oh days I keep saying weeks. Dang 14
weeks Angel are you crazy?
We don't recommend this one everybody the fish
sauce. Do not put rotten liquid on your steak. That's right and if you are wanting to
try and not have a big commitment with a big piece of meat this is recommendable
and it is worth and it works. I like that one yes. I would say I cut my steak one and a half inches
thick just cut it maybe two inches thick you
have a better yield. But this worked out great. Anyway guys these are the results
I hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you do enjoyed this video, make sure you
give it a thumbs-up. If you're not a subscriber be sure to subscribe for
future videos. Remember if you are interested in anything I use, everything
is always on the description down below thank you so much for watching and we'll
see you guys on the next one. And as you can see you're going straight for the
dry age. I cut I cut some for both of us I'm a nice guy. I see that very nice oh you've got we
got to where the thermometer was. What are you gonna do? Don't matter
thanks for watching guys we'll see you in the next one take care everybody bye, bye.
Mmm so good.
That is my favorite one. You? I'm between this one here and this one here.
I have to go this one just cuz it's the perfect amount of dry aged for me.
But this one is so good if this wasn't here it would have been this for sure
100%. There you go everybody our favorite is
this one second one is definitely the herbs. Thanks for watching and we'll see
you on the next one take care everybody. Bye, bye.