Dry Aged Grass Fed Beef
Dry aged beef is beef that has been hung to dry for several weeks. After the animal is slaughtered and cleaned and placed in a cooler.
This process involves considerable expense as the beef must be stored at or near freezing temperatures. Only the higher grades of meat can be dry aged, as the process requires meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. For these reasons one seldom sees dry aged beef outside of steak restaurants and upscale butcher shops.
The key effect of dry aging is the concentration of the flavor. The taste of dry-aged beef is almost incomparable to that of wet-aged with four weeks being a recommended minimum. The process enhances beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Second, the beef's natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef. Dry aging of beef is rare in the United States today due to the significant loss of weight in the aging process.