Okay, idiot noob question about aging a steak. Do you cut the

goddamn, you have to cook it first and then age it in a brine then slice

Once it's dead, it can no longer be aged.
You know how like when your grandmother is reminiscing about her dead siblings, she'd say "if my sister were alive, she'd be 82 right now".

Well that's what you're doing. "If my beef was alive, it'd be this age".

Well its not. It's just old fucking meat sitting in your fridge, you weirld little faggot.

It depends, Most manufacturers cut them about an inch thick and, then let them artificially age (look up industrial molding techniques), but the authentic meat-agers actually cover a whole animal in the spores, and cut away the surface, once it's ready

You need to do way more research. During aging, the outer half-inch of the meat turns into a sort-of crust that protects the rest of the meat from bacteria and drying out. Once it's done aging, you have to cut off that crust. So if you're going to age something yourself, you need not only a large piece of meat, but you want one with as much of the outer fat still on it as possible. I also hope you have an awful lot of fridge space. It's honestly not something you should attempt half-heartedly.

>>8326845
you basically need a dedicated minifridge and a ventilator at the very least, its an awful lot of work and investment for something like this.
if you do have all of that you would leave the piece of meat whole

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You want something big enough that you'll have most of it left when you trim the outside off.

I age my own cheese. Like, when those blocks start to get mold, you cut off he mold and eat the inside. Easy. Just leave it inside a bag in your fridge with some yogurt for the bacteria.

>>8326845
Big chunks

Like >>8326862 said, the entire outer surface and then some inwards is gonna be a hardened dry inedible crust

There's a loss of meat that's inevitable with the process

>>8326873
Why can't I just leave it on the counter for a month?
Same shit, right?

>>8327713
Not the anon you're replying to, but no. You have to have a relatively cold environment like a refrigerator. But the air in a plain refrigerator is too dry and the outer part will dry too quickly. So you need a refrigerator with a humidifier and humidistat so you can control the amount of humidity.

If you left it sitting out without refrigeration and proper humidity control, it will just rot.

>>8327713
If you don't want to invest in a dedicated refrigerator with humidifier and humidistat, there is a product that's a special kind of vaccuum sealed bag called UMAi that you can place the meat in, vacuum seal and place in a regular refrigerator. The bag is constructed to permit a certain amount of airflow, yet maintain humidity. Do a google search for UMAi dry aging. If I remember right, the bag to do a whole shortloin costs something like $26.00.

The people I've talked to that have tried it say it works very well. You have to be sure to vacuum all the air out, though.

>>8326845
depends, if you are just doing a couple days to remove some moisture then cut it

if you are looking for like 30-60 days leave it intact since you will get mold and stuff you need to cut off and this will reduce waste