Meat – Hanging at Home: Best Practices for Dry Aging

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I'm looking into the technique of 'hanging' meat, and whether there are 'home' applications that would be safe and have a beneficial effect.

Now, there are a lot of (possible) synonyms that muddle the waters (for me). There's hanging, dry-aging, faisandage (for game birds), and more. What I'm looking for is the 1-3 day (near) room-temperature storage of meat and the spoiling / enzyme process that will cause a flavor change. Feel free to help me along by clarifying the answer.

Basically:

  • Is there any (good) use for this technique / process for supermarket / butcher cuts of meat?
  • What should be taken in consideration for safe execution?

Best Answer

I investigated the possibility of dry aging beef at home a while back and decided that in my small apartment, at least, I did not want to risk the possibility of spoilage or contamination. These are the resources I found at the time:

Because I'm not highly confident on controlling my refrigerator temperature in my rental and don't have a lot of space, I didn't end up trying these techniques at home. Some day, perhaps!