Title: meat-aging-msg
Subject: The ageing of meat to tenderize it in period and today.
Author: Edited by Mark Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: medieval, meat, aging, cure, store, tenderize

meat-aging-msg - 1/10/08

The ageing of meat to tenderize it in period and today.

NOTE: See also the files: cheap-meats-msg, meat-smoked-msg, exotic-meats-msg, organ-meats-msg, pickled-meats-msg, roast-meats-msg, steaks-msg.

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NOTICE -

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This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Spices and Cooking (oop)
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 13:44:10 -0500

Leaving the fermenting skate aside, from the description, I would say the
meat may be "aged" rather than "bad."  Icelanders may be a little extreme in
the aging process, but I seriously doubt they let the meat get truly toxic,
since that represents a self-correcting error, evolution in action.

In the modern process of dry aging, a carcass with the outer layer of fat
intact is quickly chilled to about 40 degrees F, then hung in a refrigerated
environment between 32 F (0 C) and 38 F (3.3 C) with 85 to 90 percent
humidity and an air flow of 15 to 20 linear feet per minute (to quote U. of
Missouri Ag Bulletin G02209).  The carcass is sometimes covered with cloth
to keep off insects, dirt, etc.

During the first 3 days, the internal enzymes soften the meat bringing it
out of rigor mortis.  During the next 7 to 10 days, the enzymes soften the
connective tissue in the carcass.  The process tenderizes the meat and
increases the flavor.  Beef, for example, may be aged as much as 42 days.

Because the process is expensive, dry aged beef is seldom found outside of
specialty meat dealers and fine restaurants.

The considerations on aging are a layer of fat to help keep bacteria from
the meat, cool temperatures, a clean, dry place to hang, and an air flow to
evaporate moisture escaping from the carcass.  A farm shed in Iceland in
late autumn just might fill the bill, the same way farm sheds were used for
hanging the deer carcasses in the US in October and November before the
advent of the professional processing plants.

Bear

> Don't know about other countries but here in Iceland, many people used to
> actually prefer meat that had gone "bad". For instance, a common treatment
> of cattle and horse bones (with some meat attached) in the 18th and 19th
> centuries was to hang them in the cow shed for a couple of weeks for the
> desired taste (I'm not making this up); then they were boiled (sometimes
> after a brief smoking) and the meat was eaten. This was called "hraun" and
> the fat rendered from it was eaten with bread and highly thought of.
>
> I don't know why everybody didn't die of food poisoning but presumably
> people were much more tolerant back then because of constant exposure to
> germs. And cooking will kill most of them anyway. Besides, not all bacteria
> that "spoils" food is harmful to humans - I'm reminded of some very potent
> surface smear cheeses I've had, for instance.
>
> Here, almost all slaughtering was done in a relatively short period during
> the autumn because in Iceland, it has always been more expensive to feed the
> animal during the winter than to preserve the meat somehow. Fresh meat was a
> rarity, and not neccessarily popular - perhaps because it was thought to be
> bland compared to the usual fare. Fresh meat was more often than not cooked
> in a soup made with soured whey to liven it up and make it taste more like
> preserved meat.
>
> Spices were rare in pre-20th century Icelandic cooking. Too expensive, and
> we didn't need them because most of our food was fermented, putrefied,
> dried, whey-preserved, soured or smoked, and tasted strongly of it - and we
> more or less preferred it that way.

<clipped>
> Now, something like that sure doesn’t need any spice, and no
> spice in the world would mask the flavor.
>
> The point I'm trying to make is that not all meat may have been fresh. But
> that doesn't neccessarily mean people felt any need to mask the
> "off-flavor". Some of them may have preferred it; there is
> ample evidence to show that Icelanders often did.
>
> Nanna

Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 14:34:25 -0500
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
From: Nicolas Steenhout <vavroom at bmee.net>
Subject: Aging meat (was Re: [Sca-cooks] Spices and Cooking (oop)

>Leaving the fermenting skate aside, from the description, I would say the
>meat may be "aged" rather than "bad."  Icelanders may be a little extreme in
>the aging process, but I seriously doubt they let the meat get truly toxic,
>since that represents a self-correcting error, evolution in action.
><SNIP>

In French, aging meat, especially wild meat and game is called "Faisander",
from the bird Faisan, which is a Pheasant.  My grand father (in Belgium)
told me how is father used to go hunting for pheasants, and to age the
bird, they'd hang it by the neck until the weight of the bird would break
the neck/skin/feathers and the bird would fall down.  I have no doubt this
could be a little exagerated.  Yet, this tells me that "over" aging of
meats was something likely to be common.

Also, from having worked in professional kitchens on both sides of the
proverbial pond, I can say that French/Belgian tends to keep meat a little
longer, and actually prefer a stronger tasting meat than the American
palate likes.

Nicolas
http://www.bmee.net

From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Spices and Cooking (oop)
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 14:28:39 -0500

That depends on how it has been processed and packaged.  The sausage got
cooked, the hamburger got tossed.

The problem with refrigerators is they don't have the air flow to keep
moisture from building up on the meat and giving bacteria an environment to
flourish and even if they did most fresh meat we purchase is cryovac
processed (or "wet" aged) which doesn't last as well or have as fine a
flavor as dry aged.

Bear

> From: ruadh [mailto:ruadh at home.com]
> >and you worry about week old meat in the fridge >???
>
> A farm shed in Iceland in late autumn just might fill the bill, the 
> same way farm sheds were used for
> hanging the deer carcasses in the US in October and November
> before the advent of the professional processing plants.
>
> Bear

From: "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nanna_R=F6gnvaldard=F3ttir?=" <nannar at simnet.is>
To: <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Spices and Cooking (oop)
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 23:40:05 -0000

Bear wrote:
>Leaving the fermenting skate aside, from the description, I would say the
>meat may be "aged" rather than "bad."  Icelanders may be a little extreme in
>the aging process, but I seriously doubt they let the meat get truly toxic,
>since that represents a self-correcting error, evolution in action.

True, but what is rather well-aged meat to one person may be totally spoilt
to another. In Icelandic, and some other languages, there is a special word
(k=E6sa, related to cheese) to describe food that has been intentionally let
go "bad"; I've used fermented, and occasionally putrefied, to translate this
but it isn't really correct. "K=E6sing" is not really the same as "aging" and
in some cases, fairly warm weather is preferred or the meat or fish will not
be properly "k=E6st".

For instance, I was reading yesterday about Faroese "r=E6st kj=F8t" (they are
even more extreme than us Icelanders); the meat is usually left to hang in
an airy outdoor shed from October until maybe February and the weather
mustn't be too cold, or the meat will not be properly cured, but not too
warm either, or there will be too many maggots. I've heard the Faroese
describe this as the delicacy that is "ready exactly half an hour before the
wife and children move out of the house". My ex-husband once made some k=E6=
st herring that smelled exactly like that (much like Swedish surstramming, I
suppose). I said "either that herring goes or I go". In retrospect, I wish
he had kept the herring. Oh well.

>The considerations on aging are a layer of fat to help keep bacteria from
>the meat, cool temperatures, a clean, dry place to hang, and an air flow to
>evaporate moisture escaping from the carcass.  A farm shed in Iceland in
>late autumn just might fill the bill, the same way farm sheds were used for
>hanging the deer carcasses in the US in October and November before the
>advent of the professional processing plants.

Yeah, but the "hraun" I was describing didn't have a fat layer (quite a lot
of fat but also quite a lot of exposed meat), the cow sheds weren't always
cool (although that depended more or less on the number of cows), they were
very far from being clean, they weren't dry (a mud hut never is clean or
dry) and as for air flow, I can personally attest that an old Icelandic cow
shed in winter has about the stuffiest, stalest air you can find anywhere on
earth. I never tasted "hraun" made in this manner - my mother simply hung
the meaty bones to smoke for a couple of weeks - but it must have been
pretty potent. And definitely "k=E6st", not "aged".

Icelandic rock ptarmigan, on the other hand, can safely be left to hang
outdoors in an airy place for up to eight late autumn/winter weeks and will
develope a strong, gamy taste, but it is not considered "k=E6st".

But I realize that yes, us Icelanders are probably a bit extreme here. I was
merely trying to make the point that even though there was an "off" taste,
even something people nowadays might consider "rotten", others may not
neccessarily have seen it that way, or thought there was any need to mask
the flavor.

Nanna

From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Spices and Cooking (oop)
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 09:23:13 -0500

> There has to be some kind of difference between the way meat is aged properly
> and meat that has been in your fridge for a week.
>
> Kiri

The meat in your refrigerator tends to be wrapped in plastic but not vaccuum
sealed and pooled in it's own blood, which allows aerobic bacteria to attack
the meat.  "Dry aged" meat is hung in a cool and relatively dry room with an
air flow to remove the moisture which provides the primary environment for
the bacteria.  "Wet aged" meat is vaccuum packaged (to keep aerobic bacteria
from multiplying) at the slaughter house in a cool room, then allowed to age
in the package as it is transported and stored under refrigeration.  The
"wet aged" process is the most common in the U.S. today.

Bear

From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Spices and Cooking (oop)
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 12:54:00 -0500

> How long does it usually take for the
> meat, once packaged, to get to the retailer?
>
>     Elizabeth

Most meat is delivered from the packing house to the retailer within 4 to 10
days.  Carcasses with little fat should not be aged more than 5 days and for
the rest, 7 to 10 days is considered optimum for normal production.  As long
as the meat isn't frozen, it is aging, which means that it can be aged in
transit.  In terms of storage requirements, it is uneconomical to hold meat
beyond 10 days, with the exception of retailers specializing in high quality
dry aged cuts of meat.

For short distances to retailers who will butcher the carcass, sides and
quarters may be hooked and hung, although you will often find quarters
sealed in plastic.  For cuts of meat and longer distances, the meat is
almost always vaccuum packed.  It is worth noting that once aged, cuts of
meat can be flash frozen for up to a year of storage with negligible
degradation of taste.

Packing houses use the "wet aged" process is because it retains the moisture
in the meat, lowering the per pound price at the grocery.  It also allows
greater packing density for shipping, since you don't need to maintain the
seperation between the carcasses for air flow.

Bear

Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:07:35 EDT
From: Devra at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] lamb vs. mutton
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

         When we were at the Oxford Symposium this month, they had a banquet
at which they served mutton, 2 yrs old. It was also hung for 5 weeks, rather
than 2. They had a gentleman from 'The Mutton Renaissance' (no cracks please) to
talk about the meat, and how promoting mutton is one of Prince Charles'
projects. The meat was delicious.

      Devra

Devra Langsam
www.poisonpenpress.com

Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 21:00:21 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] aging meat
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

A lot depends on the hanging conditions and the quality of the carcass.
Proper aging requires near freezing temperature, proper humidity and
constant air flow.  Depending on the size of the carcass and the quality of
the meat (and its fat layer) a commercial processor can age meat up to about
six weeks.  The less mass the shorter the time.

Outside of a commercial environment meat can be hung below 50 degrees F
without special equipment for around 2 to 10 days.  This tenderizes the
meat, but often makes the taste gamier.  Given England and wartime, I would
place my money on farm butchered and hung meat without quality commercial
processing (commercial aging is expensive).

Bear

> My American mother married an Englishman in 1939 and lived over there for
> 5 years, mostly with her inlaws, because it was wartime.  She never cared
> for hung meat, but perhaps it was hung longer in those days.
>
>  Cordelia Toser

Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 11:50:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Carole Smith <renaissancespirit2 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] aging meat
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

I'm pretty sure that this was not commercially hung meat, partly  
because Mom said it was really gamey to the point she didn't eat much  
of it.  Everybody else seemed to think it was delicious that way.  Of  
course they had rationing because of the war, and meat was one of the  
major things rationed.

   Even at late as 1952 in England they were still rationing meat  
(personal experience).  You didn't get very big pieces of meat for  
meals.

   Cordelia Toser

Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 16:04:08 -0400
From: "Saint Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Fwd: [PSG] Preservation & Preparation of Meat
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Just picked this up from the primitive skills group. Thought it was a
very interesting take on aging meats.
----------------------------
  HANGING/ AGING MEAT is something I have experimented with a lot but
still cannot give rules about... Books will tell about standard aging
of slaughtered dressed beef, wrapped in a wet sheet or plastic or
kept in high humidity, hanging for a week at least at 40 degrees,
basically refridgerator temp. This is certainly sound practice for
larger livestock. To begin with it lets the rigor mortis wear off the
meat before you freeze it, which makes a huge difference in the
tenderness factor.

   However there are other forms of aging: In Europe hunters hang
pheasant, hare or other small game WITH THE GUTS STILL INSIDE until
the feathers start to fall off or the belly turns blue. Yes I l know
this sounds gross but I tell you when you cut that animal open tall
he guts come out in one package and the meat has the most heavenly
smell---- !  Enzymes inside the flesh of intact unskinned small game
are gradually digesting it as it ages, just like ripening fruit.
However, the drawback to this degree of aging is that enzyme
activity cannot be stopped by a freezer--- therefore once you age
meat like this you have to cook it within a few days of when it gets
good and "high" I have put a bunch of rabbits in the freezer, cut and
warpped after they had "aged" till their bellies turned blue, and
they contuned to "age" in the freezer and were pretty much purple six
months later and not tasty, not good, but like over- ripe fruit. The
enzymes basically "cook" it, break it down. This happens to some
degree even in standard aging as above. But I am a great believer in
hanging your fresh WHOLE kills in an old fridge for up to two weeks.
Try it and discover amazing flavors, like fine wine. No
Kidding. Hanging is an art and you have to use your own judgement
with it, like cooking.

    A third alternative, which I have done a lot, is indeed to wait
for cooler weather and then let my sheep carcasses sit for up to two
weeks at 40- 50 degrees outside. Its okay if the weather creeps up
to 60 for a day or down below freezing. Yes they do get moldy, a thin
white layer just along the spine usually. I do indeed gut these
first, but I don't skin them, and I don't really bleed them out all
that carefully. They just lie around the garage until one by one I
get them all cut up and wrapped and frozen. If the legs get a little
purple and stinky where exposed to air, I cut that off. Everything
covered by skin will be perfect, sweet and tender.

    Now there is a traditional Skandinavian way of  building a windy
shed like a corn crib in which to keep carcasses all winter, and into
spring--- just shaving off the mold and eating the somewhat dry,
somewhat chilled meat as you need it. This aged lamb is called
"skerpigjot" but I have never found any info on it except a photo in
an old National Geographic about Norway !
-- 
Saint Phlip

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	meat-aging-msg	Page  of