moment Similarly, aged meat can pick up aromas from your refrigerator Unless your refrigerator is odor-free, a mini-fridge is the way to go • A fan To promote drying of the surface and even aging, you want to stick a fan inside your fridge to keep air circulating This works in much the same way as a convection oven, promoting more even cooling and humidity I used a slim computer fan I ordered online for about $30 • A rack The meat must be elevated on a rack I tried aging pieces of meat on a plate and directly on the floor of the fridge Bad idea The part in contact with the plate or refrigerator floor didn’t dehydrate properly and ended up rotting Aging on a wire rack or directly on a wire fridge shelf with a rimmed baking sheet underneath to catch drips is the way to go • Time Patience, little grasshopper You will be rewarded with the steak of your dreams for your patience Q: But what about humidity? I hear humidity needs to be kept [high, or low, or medium, or nonexistent, or etc.] What should it be and how can I control it? I aged meat in fridges kept at relative humidities ranging from 30 to 80 percent as well as in fridges that fluctuated wildly with no controls Guess what? All of them produced excellent aged beef And it makes sense As noted above, after the first couple of weeks, the outer layers of the beef become all but impenetrable to moisture So, it really doesn’t make much difference how humid or dry the environment is, because the interior meat is protected That’s good news for home dry-agers! Timing Q: OK, I’m nearly convinced How long should I age my meat? I had tasters taste steaks aged for various lengths of time In order to ensure that all the steaks were fairly ranked and that differences in actual cooking were minimized, I cooked them in a sous-vide water bath to 127°F before finishing them with a cast-iron pan/torch combo The steaks were tasted completely blind The final results were largely a matter of personal preference, but here’s a rough guide to what happens over the course of 60 days of aging: • 14 days or less: Not much point No change in flavor, very little detectable change in tenderness Few people preferred this steak • 14 to 28 days: The steak is noticeably more tender, particularly toward the higher end of this range Still no major changes in flavor This is about the age of the steaks at your average high-end steak house • 28 to 45 days: Some real funkiness starts to manifest itself At 45 days, there are distinct notes of blue or cheddar cheese, and the meat is considerably moister and juicier Most tasters preferred the 45-day-aged steak above all others • 45 to 60 days: Extremely intense flavors emerge A handful of tasters enjoyed the richness of this long-aged meat, though some found it a little too much to handle ... order to ensure that all the steaks were fairly ranked and that differences in actual cooking were minimized, I cooked them in a sous-vide water bath to 127°F before finishing them with a cast-iron pan/torch combo The. .. preferred this steak • 14 to 28 days: The steak is noticeably more tender, particularly toward the higher end of this range Still no major changes in flavor This is about the age of the steaks at your average high-end steak house... itself At 45 days, there are distinct notes of blue or cheddar cheese, and the meat is considerably moister and juicier Most tasters preferred the 45-day-aged steak above all others • 45 to 60