1. Funkify your meat
Dry-aging a steak gives it such an incredible boost of flavor that restaurants typically sell aged steaks for twice or even three times the price of non-aged. So aging your own is a sure way to show off your chops.
It may seem extreme, but do you want to hit the grilling heights or not?
It’s fairly simple. The goal is to dry out the meat’s exterior—so bacteria forms and imparts flavor—but avoid rot-causing moisture, says The Food Lab author J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, of Serious Eats.
Start with a bone-in prime rib (with the fat cap intact), which will make about six rib-eye steaks. While it’s a bit pricey ($150 from omahasteaks.com), it has enough fat to protect the interior from bacteria—cheaper cuts don’t.
All you need is a mini fridge (“The meat will pick up too many aromas in a regular fridge,” says Lopez-Alt), a cooking rack, a small fan, and some time.
The steps:
1. Plug in the fridge and the fan. Set the fan inside (cut a tiny hole in the door’s seal for the cord, if necessary) to circulate air and speed up the drying of the fat.
2. Place the meat on a wire shelf or cooking rack (not a plate or solid shelf). Close the door.
3. Wait three weeks—or, for a more umami (savory) flavor, four.
4. Remove the meat and trim areas that have the texture of beef jerky (typically the fat cap) until the meat is purplish-red.
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