Rant: Tried wet aging primals in the walk-in and it turned into a nightmare

Had a whole New York strip primal in the cryovac for 3 weeks... looked great on the outside but when I opened it, the smell hit me like a truck. The meat had this weird ammonia funk and the texture was off. Turns out my walk-in temp was bouncing between 34 and 38 degrees, not holding steady at 34 like I thought. Anyone else have trouble dialing in their cooler for wet aging, or do you just stick to dry aging on the rack?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery1918d ago

Does your temp gauge need recalibrating or could the door seal be shot?

the_adam18d ago

Honestly, that ammonia smell is the worst thing ever in a kitchen. Ngl, I gagged just reading your post because I've had that exact same thing happen with a striploin last year. @emery19 makes a good point about checking the door seal, that could totally be the culprit if your temp is swinging that much. 34 to 38 is way too big of a range for wet aging, like the meat basically started to sweat and breakdown in the bag instead of aging properly. Tbh, I gave up on wet aging in my cooler after that disaster and just started doing strictly dry aging on wire racks to avoid the whole moisture and temp inconsistency nightmare. The funk from a bad wet age is something you never forget, man, it haunts you.