Dry-Aged Prime Rib – I Waited 42 Days to Be Confused

If you’re thinking of dry-aging your very own Prime Rib of Beef for the holidays, then you really need to watch this video. You might learn a thing or two, and there’s even a chance you’ll still want to do it. By the way, I’m not trying to discourage you, since it is a fun, and fascinating foodie project, which does produce a delicious, juicy, and tender Prime Rib, but if you’re after “that funk,” then like me, you may be a little disappointed.

I’ve dry-aged meat before, but never longer than a week or so, and after doing lots of research (mostly on Serious Eats), I knew I’d have to go at least 30 days to enjoy any kind of noticeable change in favor. So I decided to go well past that, and ended up aging it for 42 days before it went into the oven. It looked great, and it smelled great, but ultimately it did not have the level of funky fermented goodness I was after.

I’m not sure if I needed to go even longer, or my garage fridge is lacking in desirable bacteria, or my saltwater wipe-down sterilized the surface, but whatever the reason, I was left with nothing more than an amazingly juicy, tender, and delicious Prime Rib. That’s not something you’d normally complain about, but after waiting 6 weeks, I wanted more.

So, if you have any advice or theories as to what happened, or didn’t happen, please pass them along. I’m assuming a few of you brave souls will give this a go, and if you do, I’d love to hear about your experience. In the meantime, I’m going to make an extra funky blue cheese butter to serve with the leftovers, and pretend. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Bone in Prime Rib (mine was 10 pounds, 8 1/4 after aging)

enough salt to season generously

For the salt wipe:

1/2 cup cold water

2 teaspoons kosher salt

- Roast at 500 F. for 20 minutes, then reduce to 300 F. (or lower), and continue until you reach your desired doneness. I usually pull at 122-125 F. to get something close to a medium rare after resting.

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