What are the benefits of aging meat? What does it do to the flavour and appearance of the product?Updated 3 years ago

Australian beef farmers are custodians of almost half of the continent and this great Southern land encapsulates a range of climatic, topographical and geological environments. As such, and to ensure the consistent supply of beef there are two main farming methods in Australia – grass fed and grain fed. 

Revered by good butchers, dry ageing was traditionally a way to hold beef over for weeks, if not months, when refrigeration was tight or non-existent. 

Dry ageing uses freshly butchered primals (large, distinct sections) or subprimals (whole muscles), hung in a controlled environment for between four and six weeks (and in some cases from six to 12 months). Traditionally this would have been done in a meat locker, but now modern dry-ageing rooms are custom-designed to maintain a temperature and a humidity. 

As the moisture slowly evaporates from the beef, the flavour intensifies. A protective layer forms around the cut; this is not mould, but rather a hard, dark crust. As the piece of meat ages and matures those deeper, stronger, beefier flavours emerge. 

This is not a practice you will see everywhere. Instead, most beef is now wet-aged in airtight cryovac bags. Wet ageing does improve tenderness; however, it can deprive meat of some of the natural juices. Compared to dry ageing, which allows the juices and liquids to be reabsorbed into the muscle, in the cryovac bag some of the blood and juices are lost, and this is where much of the flavour is found.  

Our advanced dry-ageing program means that at any given time we have roughly 11 tonne of product developing age and flavour in our custom-built dry age rooms. Our program is not however limited to beef. This ageing process can and is applied to various proteins including Free Range Australian Lamb and our Rare Breed Berkshire Pork.   

To read our article on Dry Ageing, simply click here