40 Day Dry Aged Ribeye - Grilled

The concept of dry aged beef fascinates me and I've been down that path before. Recently I saw Anshu Pathak of Exotic Meat Market post something about dry aged steaks on Facebook and I messaged him asking if he had anything dry aged longer than 40 days? I've read that the real magic of dry aging happens around 45 days, when a cheddar cheese or blue cheese taste starts to appear. He said he did, so I went in to his store the other day to pick one up. Unfortunately Anshu was not there, but his assistant was and could find nothing aged longer than 40 days. So I picked up a 40 day dry aged ribeye. 

The dry aging eliminates moisture in the meat, shrinks it a little, tenderizes it and concentrates the flavor. The dry aged meat looks darker. 

This is prime beef, the top grade given to U.S. beef. 

I love seeing the darkness on the outer fat, a sign of the aging process.

I rubbed on vegetable oil and liberally sprinkled it with sea salt and pepper and put it on our outdoor grill in the center using indirect heat (only the outer burners were on). I cooked it about 8 minutes on one side and 6 minutes on the other. 

Covered in vegetable oil, salt and pepper.

It was beautiful looking on the outside. 

Off the grill - it was beautiful on the outside. 

On the inside, the dry aged meat has a different look. It is less bloody and more pink than red. The meat has a stronger, different taste. The meat cooked evenly throughout. 

Nice and rare to medium rare and beautiful tasting. 

Judy and Sam both raved about it. Sam's trying to eat vegetarian and had one bite. Judy, who'd told me she was full from lunch and didn't want any, kept coming back for more bites. I enjoyed it a lot. I prefer ribeyes over other cuts of beef anyway, but with the dry aging, that extra moisture from the fat is particularly nice. 

I'm still trying to find that elusive 45 day or longer aged ribeye. I'm going to have to go back to Anshu and see what he can do.