Raising the steaks: 150-day aged beef tasting

04 June 2014 by
Raising the steaks: 150-day aged beef tasting

The Jumeirah Carlton Tower's Rib Room Bar & Restaurant has been renowned for serving the highest quality beef since it opened its doors in 1961. Although the beef served is usually aged to 28 days, the hotel's executive chef, Simon Young, is always keen to review his produce, ensuring that the 132-seat restaurant stays on top of its game.

A conversation with Rib Room meat supplier Martin Blackwell, managing director of Direct Meats, led the pair to question what would happen to the flavour, colour and texture of a piece of rib if it was aged well beyond its usual spec. Aware of some countries dryageing their beef for 100 days, Young and Blackwell decided to push the envelope a little further and undertake an experiment to see what a rib of beef would look, yield and taste like at 150 days.

DRY AGEING In the past year, Direct Meats (and its partners CK Meats and Dingley Dell Pork) has started exporting fresh pork and beef to Asia. In fact, having had five visits from Asian operators in the past nine months, Blackwell says the company is now sending consignments to hotels and high-end retail operations in Asia on a weekly basis.

Prior to Blackwell's first visit from Asia, he had read that some Asian restaurants were dry-ageing their beef to 100 days or so, and he started to wonder if he could offer a similar product to the US-supplied product by ageing in the UK, enabling him to break into the Asian market, and for Direct Meats to be seen
as a forward-thinking butcher.

"Generally, when we have taste-tested beef aged 100-plus days everyone tends to comment on how tender it is," explains Blackwell, "but they have not been so positive about the flavour. However, we are yet to try roasting a whole rib yet, and I intend to do this with all the aged mouldy fat."

Earlier this year, Young and Blackwell invited seven leading chefs to witness the butchering of a Lincoln Red rib joint that had been dry-aged for nearly 150 days. They were: Henry Brosi, executive chef, the Dorchester, London; Mark Flanagan, royal chef and assistant master, catering, Buckingham Palace; Paul Gayler, consultant chef; Warren Geraghty, executive chef, Galvin Restaurants; Rob Kirby, chef-director, Lexington Catering; Dominic Teague, executive chef, One Aldwych, London; Cyrus Todiwala, chef-proprietor, Café Spice Namasté, London; and Andrew Turner, executive chef, Café Royal hotel, London.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS "I wasn't sure what to expect from the meat," says Young initially. "I thought it could be rancid. The outside was very dry with cracks, butonce it had been trimmed down it looked like a good quality rib with good marbling."

Todiwala was expecting the piece of beef to be much darker too, strong smelling and giving the impression of 'being cooked before cooking'. "I thought it would look preserved, and have more mould. I thought the smell of the fat being condensed might have been far stronger, but it wasn't.

"The initial appearance would have put many people off as the fat had been badly eaten by mould in places [the top had a typical fatty fungal growth]," continues Todiwala, "but as soon as it was taken off the bone it changed; it did not look dangerous or ugly. The colour of the meat meant it still had decent levels of moisture. As soon as the trimming was done and the slices were made you could feel that the texture would be great, though the taste was yet to be discovered."

For royal chef Flanagan, the exterior of the joint was "not a thing of great beauty".

"However, once it had been fully trimmed, the meat showed good marbling and the flesh had darkened - but it was not as dark as you might have expected after that length of maturation," he says. "I had suspected that the fat would go rancid too, the question then being would it in turn affect the flavour of the meat?"

Contract catering chef Kirby says he was surprised at the raw state of the meat. "It looked like it was going to eat well, nicely marbled and not as sticky to the touch as I expected."

Turner agrees: "The beef looked OK at firstglance but there were a few pockmarks on the fat, which was a little concerning. I thought that the beef would be too strong on flavour and taste more of ageing than beef. The wastage did not appeal to me either - not being able to use the sirloin fillet, the rib trim or the fat
would make this very expensive."

Galvin Restaurants executive chef Geraghty wasn't sure whether to expect a very rich and deep flavour, or whether that point would have passed and a deteriorated flavour would override it. "There was great marbling to the beef which showed well against a deep purple red colour; the large amount of trim that needed to be removed smelt strong and in places slightly rancid."

Prior to eating, former Lanesborough executive chef Paul Gayler says he was expecting the beef to be quite "high", even gamey in flavour. "The beef exterior was quite dark and looked well-aged. When Martin butchered it, once the exterior was removed, the inner meat revealed a natural colour - no different to a
30-day aged piece. The colour looked great and very appetising."

THE TASTE When it came to tasting the beef during a three-course meal served in the private dining room of the Rib Room, the flavour really varied from steak to steak. Many of the chefs referred to an overwhelming Stilton flavour.

"The centre pieces were well-flavoured and tender," explains Young, "while the end pieces had a flavour similar to blue cheese."

"Different steaks had different aromas and tastes," adds Todiwala. "Mine was surprisingly normal, which meant it came from somewhere in the middle.

However, some were veryStilton-like in smell and taste, making it a very strong flavour to handle for a large chunk of meat. The appearance on the plate would be like any other good quality beef as it did not show deep preserved colours or blackening of the meat. The texture was surprisingly still quite chewy in places and tender in others."

Flanagan agreed that there clearly were differences dependent on what part of the joint a steak had been cut from. "Some were much stronger than others, the stronger-flavoured cuts being too strong and bordering on unpleasant in my opinion, while the others were quite acceptable and produced a very tender
steak."

Kirby appeared to have a piece from the end of the joint too. "It was nigh on inedible with a pungent smell," he says. Turner's also tasted of "blue cheese", although he found the texture was fine.

Brosi, meanwhile, had been served one of the middle cuts. "The taste was actually very good if you had a cut from the middle of the loin. The front and end cuts were too offputting, with a very strong Stilton flavour, which made the beef very gamey and totally overpowered its original taste. The middle cuts were very tasty and tender and full of flavour."

Geraghty too had been fortunate to receive a middle piece: "Mine was definitely cut from the centre and actually had a pleasant aged beef flavour," he says.

For One Aldwych executive chef Teague, who would typically serve his meat aged between 28 and 35 days in dishes such as aged bavette of beef, with English asparagus, snails, confit garlic, parsley in the hotel's fine-dining restaurant Axis, or dry-aged rib-eye steak in the more casual Indigo, he didn't think the meat would benefit from any longer ageing.

"The flavour isn't enhanced any more. We all agreed the most important thing is the raising and nurturing of the cattle itself; it's just as important as the ageing process. The extended ageing didn't enhance the flavour, especially the portion I was served, which was an end piece. It was too strong and overpowering."

But Gayler was pleased to report that his was "extremely tender, edible and tasty."

TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL? So did the experiment sway any of its tasters? "At the Rib Room, we age our ribs for 28 days, which I think is perfect,"explains Young. "I don't see any benefit in ageing the meat any longer. I think our customers might find the story of longer ageing interesting, but I still feel the exercise would be a little pointless. Butchers and chefs would age meat longer if there was a benefit."

For Todiwala, something around 50 days plus or minus might be just about the limit to get the best out of the meat. "If the meat is cured in different cuts, sizes and techniques then I am sure older meat would do quite well. The larger the piece of meat, naturally the issues are different, penetration levels are different
and exposure is different.

"If sold in that way I am sure there are people who would try it. There is always a market for everything. The question is can you keep it in the same way and store out until sold. Would our dear friends the EHOs accept it?"

Flanagan, meanwhile, sees no good reason to age a piece of beef any longer than 30-40 days. "I really don't believe that it would be more appealing to restaurant guests to have the meats aged longer. It is terrific that more people are aware of and are interested in the ageing process, but I feel that it would be more of a gimmick than anything else. As someone that received a piece from the stronger flavoured area of the joint, I found the flavour to be overpowering for my tastes but extremely tender."

Kirby, who prefers 30-day aged beef, can't imagine his customers being drawn to a longer-aged product. "I think it's all spin really. Was I surpised at the outcome? Not really… it goes to show that nature will take effect and the meat does start to decompose."

At the Café Royal, Turner buys in beef that has typically been aged for between 15 and 28 days. "Air drying is fine; however, beef is normally hung a certain time for a reason," he says. "I wouldn't serve over-aged beef in my outlets. I wasn't expecting the meat today to be inedible, but putrefaction had set in and
made the experience hard to swallow."

A GOOD EXCERCISE
Ageing depends purely on the breed of cattle as far as Brosi is concerned. "I, for example, age mine for at least six weeks - Black Angus and Galloway breeds for 42 days and some breeds like Longhorn, Dexter or Red Poll for 50-55 days. Anything above that I feel does not make much difference, rather the opposite!

"It would only appeal to our customers if there were good taste differences from the normal ageing of 28 days evident with the same tenderness achieved. That strong Stilton and gamey flavour is offputting and would not be seen as positive by my clients."

Overall, Brosi was slightly surprised by the outcome. "It was a good exercise that showed that longer ageing really does not make a huge difference, apart from the strong gamey flavour and of course the huge waste generated from the hanging, trimming and yield (bearing in mind that only a third of the loin is outstanding and suitable for me to sell to clients)."

With previous experience of trying different ageing times, Geraghty says that 28-35 days is his prefered ageing time, however he warns that this is "very dependent on a good ageing process in a strictly controlled environment".

"I wasn't overly surprised at the outcome; it was interesting to see, and most definitely the cleaned rib looked in much better condition than I had expected. However, the flavour was not improved and although very tender, this would have been no different than when the beef was at 28-35 days."

For Gayler, his cut-off point is 35 days. "I think it makes for a more tender steak but not necessarily a more flavoursome steak. I am not convinced that ageing over 30-35 days does much at all. What will happen is that the price of the steak will be increased due to the extra storage costs and loss of revenue."

But is there PR potential? "If it is marketed as something special it could do well - clients are always looking for something unique - for example, Wagyu beef. As an eating experience my steak was good but not a lot different from a dry-aged 30-day steak. The extra ageing was perhaps not beneficial to the overall flavour.But it was a fantastic exercise."

A FAIR POINT OF DIFFERENCE Perhaps the final word should go to Blackwell who believes that some operators are missing a trick when it comes to buying in aged beef.

"It's about a point of difference," he explains. "I can't believe that if a restaurant put 100-day-old or even 150-day-old beef on their menu that they wouldn't get written about or sell out. Everybody craves something new.

"How many times have you drunk a glass of wine from a very expensive bottle and said 'that's great', but in the back of your mind you're thinking you have had wine for a fraction of the price. What I am saying is people will pay the price, eat it, go away happy and feel they have had an experience nobody else has had."

THE MENU Taittinger, Prélude Grands Crus, Champagne, France NV, supplied by Champagne Taittinger
\ * *
Seared scallops, cider and apple braised pork belly and butternut squash purée
Sharis, Livio Felluga, Colli Orientali, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Italy 2012, supplied by Liberty Wines
\ * *
150- day-aged Lincoln Red rib-eye steak with triple-cooked chips and béarnaise sauce
Brunello di Montalcino, Poggio San Polo, Tuscany, Italy 2008, supplied by Liberty Wines
\* \
\

Apple crumble soufflé

LINCOLN RED CATTLE
Lincoln Red cattle are one of the oldest UK native breeds, dating back to the Vikings. Natasha and Richard Mann, who supply Direct Meats, have been breeding Lincoln Reds since 2007, and the bull's bloodline can be traced back to the 1930s. The Manns are rated as the sixth-best Lincoln Red breeders in the world, and farm in the traditional way. All of their 225 cattle are raised naturally on the marshes at Iken near Woodbridge in Suffolk on their 800-acre arm.

ABOUT DIRECT MEATS
Direct Meats serves all areas of foodservice, particularly fine dining, and has just built a curing and cooking factory to prepare artisan bacon, ham, charcuterie, salt beef and jowl bacon, alongside a range of cold-smoked products in partnership with Dingley Dell Pork.

In addition to brands such as Dingley Dell, Direct Meats also works with Ben Rigby Game and Creedy Carver Ducks. Meanwhile, the company's own brand of beef, Dedham Vale, sees all animals slaughtered within 65 miles of Ipswich, and Blackwell says they only select certain grades.

It exports to Hong Kong, Macau, Dubai, Belgium and the Channel Islands, and will soon open links to Singapore.

On 26 September, Direct Meats will be holding a charity event where 100-day-old beef will be served by chef Michael Godfrey at Eton College.
www.directmeats.co.uk

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