What Is Dry-Aged Beef?

Every beef we sell is dry aged 20 to 30 days. Folks ask what that means and whether it’s worth it. Here is the plain answer.

What dry aging is

After processing, the carcass hangs in a cold cooler, open to the air, for weeks. Two things happen.

The meat gets more tender as it rests. University of Tennessee Extension says the two big advantages of aging are better tenderness and a beefier flavor.

And it dries. UT says a beef carcass is 70 to 75 percent water. As some of that leaves the outside of the beef, the flavor gets stronger.

Dry aging vs. wet aging

Wet aging means the beef is cut, sealed in plastic, and aged in the bag. The University of Nevada, Reno says that’s what large processors commonly use.

Both ways make beef more tender. Nevada’s researchers found no difference in tenderness between the two. Kansas State found the same thing in 1989, and their taste panel found the dry-aged beef beefier, with more of a brown, roasted flavor.

So the difference is flavor. That’s why we dry age.

What it costs

Dry aging gives up weight. Water dries off, and the hard outside layer gets trimmed away before the beef is cut.

In the Nevada study, strip loins dry aged 21 days lost about 4.7 percent of their weight. At 42 days they lost about 9.7 percent. Wet-aged loins lost less than 1 percent. Kansas State researchers wrote in 1998 that dry-aging losses can top 10 percent, and that most of the industry had quit dry aging because of it.

That loss happens before your beef is packaged and weighed. We price on take-home weight, so you’re not paying for the water that dried off.

Why 20 to 30 days

Nevada says dry aging commonly runs 21 to 42 days. A Kansas State taste panel found the most beef flavor at 14 and 21 days, compared with 7. Ours hangs 20 to 30.

Common questions

Is dry-aged beef safe? Yes. Ours is processed at a USDA-inspected plant. The Nevada study actually found fewer bacteria on the surface of dry-aged beef than wet-aged.

Is all your beef dry aged? Yes. Every beef we sell, 20 to 30 days.

Does aging change how much beef I get? A little. Some weight dries off, but you only pay for what’s packaged. More on hanging vs. take-home weight.

We talk about this kind of thing every week on our Facebook page.

— Mitchell Family Farms

Sources: University of Tennessee Extension, PB 1822 · University of Nevada, Reno, Fact Sheet 19-01 (2019) · Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station (K-State), Warren & Kastner (1989) and Campbell & Hunt (1998).

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