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Standing/Prim Rib- dry aging debate

post #1 of 12
4/29/05 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 
I have been 'charged' with the delight of preparing a buffet style dinner for our Legion dart league. I sold them on a Prime Rib dinner as I thought it would impress the crowd, ~ 30ppl. I want to do it 'Alton Brown' style.

My dilemma is; I've researched, (to death) dry/wet aging beef and really hate to ruin 40 or so lbs of rib. Food costing is a major factor here which prohibits buying the beef from my local butcher friend. I have the oportunity to purchase two whole roasts, not sure of the grade but I believe they're at least Canada AA choice for about $3.99/lb which is a total steal.

They are cryovac'd and he will ensure that I get the youngest ones (6 days max post mortem). The problem is that I must purchase them on May 5th to get this price but the banquet is May 28.

I have a walk-in cooler at my disposal, great air-flow and ~34F avg. temp. Can someone with experience in this field suggest a good time-line for either leaving them sealed and hanging for x days etc? I'm fully aware of the sanitation issues et al and at the same time don't want to offend the people who may not have an appreciation for the flavor of properly aged beef that seemed to vanish 20 or so years ago.

Sorry so long winded, thanks in advance for any input offered,

Gary
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post #2 of 12
4/29/05 at 11:07am
cryo kills the chance of effectively dry aging the beef. What you are referring to is a psuedo dry age. Without a raw primal, a bac-ban light, and time, you're out of luck for true dry aging.

I would opt for an older cryo'd cut-not much you can do with a young one other than wait. 21-28 days is about standard for aging, a cryod' cut will store for much longer as i'm sure you know.

If ya want to try the psuedo aging, just follow the directions, make sure ya got a primal-or as close to it as you can get-highest grade possible(not familiar with Canadian grades) and hang for up to a week. Just make sure they are on the bone with fatcap(or primal, but at that weight and cryo'd i doubt it) or it's not gonna be worth it.

If going through this much trouble, i'd consider a plated meal instead of buffet.....

p.s. the key is dry, do not let sit in blood on a sheet, hang if possible or rack em over a sheet, wipe off before storing out of cryo-rotting meat is not a good thing ;).
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post #3 of 12
4/29/05 at 1:29pm
You might want to swing by the library and check out Jeffrey
Steingarten's two books, "The Man Who Ate Everything" and "The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything." In one of the chapters he goes into aging and pseudo aging in depth.

Make sure you buy enough meat, as you lose quite a bit through trimming/loss of moisture.
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post #4 of 12
4/30/05 at 9:54am
Thread Starter 
Thank You Dano and Scott for your insight. The grade I think would be equivalent to US Choice 1 or 2. It has the entire fat cap but unfortunately the chine removed. If I understand Dano correctly, my plan is now to age in the bag until about 6 days prior and then wipe/clean and hang for the remainder. Trim, Kosher salt pack and bake low and slow with a back-in flash sear after rest. My reasoning for doing it buffet style is mainly due to a very limited working area and holding capabilities. The kitchen I'm dealing with is extremely small with VERY little set-up space. I was going to rent a carving station as I absolutely despise cold food which is what I'm slightly afraid of accomplishing by serving plated. Not even going to get into the fact that I have to manage to roast all the parisienne potatoes during the rib rest time etc. (only a small Garland with a 4 burner top). Also plan to have a butane stove at the carving station for simmering stock to finish the portions for those who requested well done (killed dead) gross doneness.
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post #5 of 12
4/30/05 at 11:21am
at that weight it sould be on the rib right? Just chinebone off. I might think about picking up something with a little more time in the bag but hey, if the price is right....you can't beat it with a stick.

Good luck and don't forget the Yorkshire puddin' ;).
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post #6 of 12
4/30/05 at 11:52am
Thread Starter 
Dano, you are correct, only thing missing is the chine, tons of fat cap and are you saying that more than 3 weeks in the bag is okay? Keeping in mind that I'm going to hang dry for 5-7 days etc.... As for the Yorkies, I know it's sacrilage to serve prime without it, I just can't see putting this all together with the limited resources I have, I really need that oven for veggies n stuff and don't see Yorkshire as a doable deal. Being anal about Yorkshire I just can't imagine using pre-cooked frozen either, better than nothing perhaps (marginally) but far from proper. Unless: now that I think about it, I can manage to do a 16"x14" pan of Yorkshire while I roast the taters.... Never tried that large of a pan for York. I usually use 12" dia. deep dish pizza pans for it as I can keep 4 on the burners to preheat the drippings etc. I can see the frizbees already if I try that one for so many lol. When all is said and done, at least there's a draft beer tap close at hand to quench the cook ;)

Thanks again,

Gary
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post #7 of 12
4/30/05 at 1:53pm
As long as its cryo'd and stays intact, it's fine for quite a while. Remember, it's an aging process also.

If ya got some muffin tins, make individual yorkie's.

30 heads is easy money to roll out buffet style. Veg and starch can be cooked off ahead and finished in the oven or over a burner.
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post #8 of 12
4/30/05 at 3:57pm
Gary, a link re: aging, if ya haven't run across it before:

http://www.goodcooking.com/steak/aging/aging.htm
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post #9 of 12
5/3/05 at 12:17pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks again Dano, I'll likely end up doing the 13" deep dish pizza pan Yorkies just for simplicity, this will be a surprise as I'm not currently offering Yorkshire at all so I do have the choice to cancel it if the oven availability is challenged.
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post #10 of 12
5/10/05 at 11:54pm
Thread Starter 
Just a quick update, I have the beast finally. It weighs in at around 30.5 lbs. and is still in the cryo. Alton Browns method was for a 4 rib and his time estimate was ~4 hours @ 200F. I'll be using a remote probe and pulling at 120F but I suspect that this size of roast will take considerably longer, like 6 hours. Anyone care to hazard a guess at approx. oven time? I have a time restriction and can't afford to serve much later than 6pm.

Thanks again to all that offered advice and knowledge :)

Gary
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post #11 of 12
5/11/05 at 6:39am
i think you mentioned you had hot boxs somewhere. Start it early and don't sweat-this will also untie oven space for you. Not to mention i'd rest as long as possible before carving anyways. Give yourself plenty of time, big hunks of meat are pretty forgiving. Your numbers sound good-and you can always ramp the temp up a little if needed too.
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post #12 of 12
5/11/05 at 11:34am
Thread Starter 
Thanks again Dano, I'm sure I'm getting myself into a lather over nothing :crazy:
I 'may' bring my offset bbq in and do it in that IF it'll fit. Either way, thanks for the valium prescription ;)

Gary
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