What tools are recommended for trimming dry aged beef?
- The Chefs Knife
- Cimitar knife
- Boning knife
- Hack saw
- Safety glove
The Chefs Knife
Let’s start by going over the tools required to tackle this large piece of meat. The Chef’s Knife is also known as a cook's knife or French knife. The chef's knife is an all-purpose knife that is curved to allow the cook to rock the knife on the cutting board for a more precise cut. It is a large, general-purpose kitchen knife usually 8 to 10 inches long that has a blade curving upward along its length and ending in a narrow point. Of all the options of useful tools, the Chef’s Knife has become known as the workhorse of the kitchen, particularly when it comes to getting started with trimming dry aged beef. The chef’s knife works great to remove the exterior pellicle once the sub-primal has been dry aged.
Cimitar Knife
Another option from the Chef's knife is the Cimitar knife also known as the cimeter or scimitar. This is a large, curved butcher's knife, with a blade typically 8-14" (20-35 cm) long. It is used primarily for cutting large pieces of meat into retail cuts such as steaks because it makes slicing through a sub-primal easier to maneuver. This knife allows for better control because rather than having to saw the muscle, one or two slices can get through a 20-30 pound sub-primal.
Boning Knife
The third knife required to complete the job of trimming dry aged beef is the boning knife which is a type of kitchen knife with a sharp point and a narrow blade. It is used in food preparation for removing the bones of poultry, meat, and fish. Some designs feature an arched blade to enhance the ease of a single-pass cut in removing fish flesh from its bones. The flexibility of the blade allows the ease of getting around each of the heavier bones in a sub-primal.
Hacksaw
Another useful tool is the 10-12 inch HackSaw that can be purchased at any hardware store. This comes with a steel or aluminum frame and removable blade that is easily replaceable when worn out. This blade is best used to get through the feather bones.
Safety glove
The use of a safety glove is also most important. There are many options available in a durable, lightweight and breathable fiber construction that works as a second skin while slicing, chopping or using a hacksaw. Many options are food grade safe and machine washable.
Methods for trimming dry aged beef
Once the dry age process is complete, there are one of two ways to cut steaks from the sub-primal. The first option is to take the dry age process to personal preference, like 65 days, then remove it from the Steak Locker, butcher it with the tools discussed above, place the individual steaks into vacuum sealed bags and freeze until ready to cook.
The second option would be to use the tools above to cut one or two steaks off the sub-primal, remove the pellicle from each steak and cook them up. Then replace the remaining sub-primal back into the Steak Locker to continue to age for another 10 – 15 days and repeat this with the remaining sub-primal.
Learn More About Dry Aging
To learn more about the process of dry aging and how Steak Locker’s meat aging fridge can help you to create the most flavorful you can imagine, check out some of the other posts on our blog. Discover our favorite prime beef recipe or even the dry age process time scale which talks you through the tastes to expect at each point in the dry aging journey.
