I bought a piece of beef the other day as my husband is a big fan of cow. I perused my Cooks Illustrated book "THE BEST RECIPE" for some ideas on cooking this chunk of chuck. I was intrigued by their blurb on dry aging beef at home. Sounded good to me, risky because of what I might be putting in my stomach, but hey, I was feeling adventurous. So I laid the beef on a rack, put it over some paper towels on plate and left it in the back of the fridge uncovered for 3 days. (That was the minimum recommended, and I didn't feel comfortable going longer that that. I followed their instructions and turned it each day and today I took it out for an exam. There were dried parts and greyish parts. My greatest fear would be that it would have that STINK that ground beef gets when it was too old. No stink so I proceeded to slice off the dried bits, actually about 1/4 inch off all the way around. I lost about 1/2 a pound of meat in the process. Well, I hoped it would worth it.
I found a nice recipe by Tyler Florence on foodtv.com and followed his technique with a few substitutions/ omissions. Mind you, I have never made pot roast before. I love Tyler F., not only for his attractiveness, but because his recipes work and taste good. 3 hours later, a nice smell filled the house. I plated the veggies, put the meat on the carving board to rest a bit and turned the pot juice into gravy. I didn't even taste test that much. I had faith. We sat down to dinner and I had a piece of the very tender beef. YUM! So rich in beefy flavor and such a nice texture. I really wonder if it was the aging. I will try next time without aging and see what happens. All the beef was eaten by the end. I guess it was a bit expensive (one piece of meat to feed 2 people cost $6.50), but it was better than some steaks I have had.
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