Always Keep Dried Steak in the Refrigerator
About a month ago I found two-for-one steaks and bought a whole bunch. After reading an article recently that claimed that steaks can be dried out by simply leaving them in the fridge for a long time, I decided to give it a try. Things didn’t quite go as planned, but everything went well, and now I have a new favorite cheap little luxury: freezer-dried steak.
Technically, the steak is dry- aged in the sense that it is placed in a dry, temperature-controlled environment and left to rest for some time, which reduces the moisture content, tenderizes the meat through enzymatic action, and allows it to develop an unusual nutty flavor, rather than being found fresh. beef. Moisture loss is why steakhouses and butchers raise the price of dry-aged steaks: steaks that were originally 16 ounces can drop to 11 ounces after aging.
Why doesn’t steak spoil?
Leaving raw meat for a long time, even in the refrigerator, seems naughty and dangerous, but it is completely safe. Again, it’s all about moisture. Bacteria and other nasty things thrive in humid environments, and the cold air circulating in your refrigerator dries out the surface of the steak, creating a protective layer that is unfriendly to bacteria. Sprinkle with salt (which is naturally antimicrobial) and your meat is unlikely to go bad. (There is a small chance that a small layer of fuzzy white or blue mold may develop, especially if you keep a lot of unusual cheeses in the fridge, but you can just wipe it off with a little vinegar.)
Size matters
When it comes to dry aging, the amount of meat you work with matters a lot. Large cuts of meat, such as the one suggested by Serious Eats here , contain enough moisture to stay in a dehydrated environment for an extended period of time without becoming tough and chewy. This does not apply to smaller individual steaks. After just a week in the fridge, my tri-types (both salted and unsalted) took on a dried-out look that only got tougher when I tried toasting them, or even just toasting them slowly in a low-temperature oven. (Due to the lack of moisture, these steaks are easy to overcook.) However, the inside was flavorful, a bit quirky and tender.
Why You Should Dry Your Steak
I do not recommend cooking a small steak aged in the refrigerator. It’s just not moist enough. However, I recommend cutting the desiccated piece of meat into small pieces for the steak. These thin slices of cured, salted meat taste and feel like a cross between carpaccio and bresaola, with a microscopic layer of beef jerky around the perimeter. Dried steak can – and should – be thinly sliced with a mandolin (or a very sharp knife) and used to make adorable little beef toasts (I make mine with caramelized onion butter and horseradish cream), or sprinkle them over salads, pasta dishes, and soft fried eggs.
Elegant and exquisite cured steak
Ingredients:
- Steak (I used a triple tip, but experiment with different cuts. Start cheap).
- Kosher salt
Sprinkle kosher salt over every inch of steak for a shiny crust. You should still be able to see the meat through the crystals, but feel free to. Place the steak on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the refrigerator. Leave alone for a week.
After a week, take the steak out of the fridge and cut it as thin as possible with a very sharp knife or slicer. Take a bite. I recommend starting with steak and eggs. A cured steak will keep in your fridge almost forever, although it will get drier and drier every day. (It’s okay. You can always grate it like parmesan .)