Done it, the thick layer of duxelles comes first and I found the Parma ham did more to keep the pastry from getting soggy. I find seasoning, brushing with good oil, getting a good maillard crust and finishing in a hot oven does a very fine moist roast whole fillet. I'm not sure how beef just past "blue" rare can be dry anyway.
Meat was different in the nineteenth century so I can't say, though I'm quite familiar with the literature. It's OK to disagree and I admit I'm missing my slow food days of 40yr. ago. My experience is that the meat has most/all of the flavor and I personally don't make the moist = flavor connection that directly. The best beef I've experienced (butcher long dead) was aged dry in an open meat locker until an 1" of black whiskers grew on the outside.
I also have cooked rack of wild venison rare no larding half the guests ran away more for the rest of us. I don't think it was common to cook game rare in olden times either. I learned to like the taste of high game British style with really "organic" tasting Burgundy or old school Barolo. Modern wine people don't think I'm serious either.
I think you are right that game was never cooked rare, and in fact was traditionally cooked to a point we would likely consider over done (or ruined). But then if it was hung until "high" it probably needed to be cooked very well done to kill the bacteria. 
A shop here has been selling some dry aged pork steaks, which are very good. I think the dry aging concentrates the flavour.
A shop here has been selling some dry aged pork steaks, which are very good. I think the dry aging concentrates the flavour.
Matter of opinion.
I'm only able to eat stuff that still is in the clear zone or fresh. A little off the mark, and my system switches to flush mode.
A week over-aged steak opens up every sewer valve within 24 hours. Something more dramatic locks down the dam, makes me vomit myself empty within hours plus hose the bottom section. Happened once with oysters from the shell which were bad. On one occasion with scallops out of the shell, 1lb plastic container, apparently not kept on ice well enough.
Single advantage is that I can't ever get a food poisoning. I once had to stop eating and drinking altogether for three consecutive days, to quiet down and reboot the digestive tract. In the last week, whatever I ate or drank made a gravity drop and fell out five minutes later.
Already mentioned before, I can't handle wet-aged beef. Dry-aged beef I can eat all day long, whiskers or not. Same same for venison.
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Our cafeteria does that to me once every three months or so. Same for just a little too much oxalate, instant peristalsis.
5 minutes between drinking a cup of water and a cup of crystal clear water exiting, with about 30ft distance inbetween, boils down to an inch per second.
More like instant peristampede.
(standard peristaltic wave propagation velocity is about 1/7'' per second, movement of digestive material is a fraction of that)
More like instant peristampede.
(standard peristaltic wave propagation velocity is about 1/7'' per second, movement of digestive material is a fraction of that)
Question is whether wet-aged beef is to be considered food.
On this side, meat is hung after the slaughter for short of a week, to two weeks max. Before portioning it.
A chef I worked with, came up with the brilliant idea to order pre-cut and vacuum sealed steaks, then let them wet-age for at least a week longer in the bottom kitchen refrigerator.
He then put them on the brasserie menu as a special (goes in the resto bizz here by the name arrangement), sold like hot buns.
I tried it a couple of times, stomach cramps and flushing the gate the very next morning every single time.
The largest supermarket chain here has been carrying extended wet-aged steak for several years now.
Tried it once, lowest priced one does €14/lb. The morning-after ordeal was the exact same story.
Thing is, wet aging should be done under 37F.
Above that temperature is asking for trouble.
The refrigerated room in the bottom kitchen of the place I worked at was at 39F.
Supermarket refrigerated display cases can't even guarantee that temperature.
(That chef started his own restaurant and went broke in a few. Then took on a job at a museum restaurant. He currently cooks the final touch of his 'brilliant' career at a fancy apartment building for retired folks. Gawd almighty help them if he pulls his wet-aged trick again)
On this side, meat is hung after the slaughter for short of a week, to two weeks max. Before portioning it.
A chef I worked with, came up with the brilliant idea to order pre-cut and vacuum sealed steaks, then let them wet-age for at least a week longer in the bottom kitchen refrigerator.
He then put them on the brasserie menu as a special (goes in the resto bizz here by the name arrangement), sold like hot buns.
I tried it a couple of times, stomach cramps and flushing the gate the very next morning every single time.
The largest supermarket chain here has been carrying extended wet-aged steak for several years now.
Tried it once, lowest priced one does €14/lb. The morning-after ordeal was the exact same story.
Thing is, wet aging should be done under 37F.
Above that temperature is asking for trouble.
The refrigerated room in the bottom kitchen of the place I worked at was at 39F.
Supermarket refrigerated display cases can't even guarantee that temperature.
(That chef started his own restaurant and went broke in a few. Then took on a job at a museum restaurant. He currently cooks the final touch of his 'brilliant' career at a fancy apartment building for retired folks. Gawd almighty help them if he pulls his wet-aged trick again)
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I see the problem, I don't even consider that vacu-packed stuff for anything but immediate consumption. I even remember when it was first introduced by some of the big suppliers and my arguments with them. In fact every bag (almost without exception) that I open has a hint of anaerobic spoilage. Same holds for cheese, it needs an open humidity/temperature controlled environment to ripen.
This place does 75 day dry age try that in your bag. David Burke?s Primehouse - 927 Photos - Bars - Near North Side - Chicago, IL - Reviews - Yelp
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My soon-to-be-ex-employers recently invested in this company:
https://epicbar.com/animal-oils-detail/29
Answer :
F = food
A = acidic
T = temperature
T = time
O = oxygen
M = moisture
Beef = high protein (F)
10 days = high time (T)
Submerged = anaerobic bacteria (O)
Wet = high moisture (M)
Leaves 2 factors, A and T
Temperature of refrigerated storage has to be at 39F or less.
For some products, HACCP demands less than 36F.
Most domestic fridges are set at a temperature which is a bacterial hazard.
Bacteria do most of their toxin thing in the Acidity range of 4.5-7.5
Blood is around 7.4, water is the neutral 7
Wine is lower than 4
A for Andante and T for Tardily : acidic environment + salt
Be Serious => B. Cereus !
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"back of fridge" is a far cry from a food professional that know's what they are doing and has the equipment. I don't think I would put a whole cryoed fillet in the back of my fridge for a month after last sale date. This kind of meal is rare enough that I just bite the bullet and pay for the dry aged stuff.
Your link did lead me to some info on using ammonia to kill e-coli, I would think this would mask markers for anaerobics. I wish I didn't read about the stuff the industrially sized producers do.
I've discovered Aussie style yogurt, our Greek yogurt makes my tzatziki a little too thick for my taste, and our regular a little too thin.
Do tell (links please).
A chef mate used to rave over Cryovac'd beef until I told him I reckon it don't taste/smell/chew right.....put him right off the stuff.
Good. There are some really nice ones..Margaret River and King Island plus their Camemberts/Bries.
Dan.
What I fail to understand is why people do not taste the huge difference between hung and wet-aged only. Speak about livery juices.
From anyone else I might thing that was talking about products from a butcher. But as it's you I hate to ask...
Note: despite being a Brit and despite spending a lot of my childhood on a farm I did not share the love of things hung till the neck rots through to get that 'gamey' taste.