52 days later…

Some of you might recall that 53 days ago, I blogged about Umai bags and how cool they were (link here).

The concept is great, and was really excited to try it out myself, so I waited until strip loins were crazy low-priced and bought one up and that link above will show you everything you need to know about the Umai bag and the process…  Here are the results of my first Umai bag project:

The aging process went about as well as I imagined it would, and it appeared to be just like what I saw on the internet – it became waxy and dark.

There was definitely a turning point where I started thinking ‘is this right?’ It started smelling really weird, and when I flipped it over (as directed) I noticed that on the fat side, the seal had been slightly compromised. I had seen this happen to other users online, and because the bag clings to the meat, their stuff didn’t spoil, so I kept going. The ‘weird’ smell was kind of like a funky Prosciutto aroma that would actually transfer onto my hand through the bag when I touched it. Bizarre.

So it was finally time to break the bag open and check this out. Looked just like all the other folks online’s situation..

I cracked it open, and the kitchen filled with funk aroma. Here is the surface with the bag removed: Nothing green, nothing hairy..

I flipped it over, looked at the back. It was slimy, but I anticipated that. Again, nothing green, nothing nasty.

I started hacking away at it, trimming off the gross bits.

Scraps started piling up.

of course I cut myself like an idiot. I was actually pretty scared, because what if some crazy bacteria was on my blade from this meat – ! I chose to keep going.

I decided to just start cutting steaks and then cut the edges off – it seemed easier. Finally a cross section shot:

The meat on the inside looked good! I was excited! Still though, the smell of funky weirdness was almost overwhelming and the slime buildup from the fat cap was making my hands slick and trimming difficult.

The final steak didn’t look bad at all – surely this would be delicious.

I also noticed how supple the interior meat was, it was as if my finger could go right through them with ease – I took that as a sign of tenderness. I even decided to put a hole through one of the steaks, so I could show you guys – it did not take much effort for me to do this..  This also shows just how small the final steaks were after trimming and aging.

I chose 2 of the steaks and prepped them for Sous Vide.

I did them up in a hot pan with butter, making sure to brown the shit out of all 4 sides of the square prism shaped steaks.

Some damn fine looking steaks right?

Well…

 

….

 

They weren’t.

That’s right – you’re looking at a spit out piece of steak.

These steaks went right in the goddamn trash. The texture was nasty and mealy like freezer-burned chicken, that pungent funky aroma was all throughout the steak. I swallowed one bite reluctantly trying to convince myself that I was eat high-class artisan steak, but could not get through another bit. This is the first time in my 37 years on this planet, (these were birthday steaks) that I have EVER spit out a piece of steak. Even the 100% fat/grizzle bites of steak still make it down the hatch, but these friggin things? Hellllllll naaahhh.

My theory is that my beer fridge just isn’t cold enough to do dry aging, and certainly not the correct humidity level to achieve the results promised by the aging bags. Flipping the steak also compromised the seal – which probably wasn’t a big deal for the other people, because their refrigerators were probably close enough to an actual dry-aging cooler than my setup.

I blame myself for the results not working out – the bags are obviously getting results based on the research I’ve done on the internet, so I have not written them off yet. I have also not thrown out all of the steak yet – my theory is that it might actually benefit from a long, low bath in a sous vide, and if shaved thin like prosciutto – it could work as a mock charcuterie element. So that is my next step with this beef.

Disappointed? Yes.

Upset? No.

Will I try Umai again? Sure.

Will I blog about it? Yup.

 

 

 

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