How our Beef Is Processed
We strive to maintain a low-stress environment starting from the time that our cattle are born and continuing throughout their entire lives. To complement this calm and caring environment, our cattle only travel 9 miles to the processing facility from our farms. As opposed to most cattle that travel hundreds of miles, if not more, to be processed.
All our beef is processed by The Butcher’s Block, a family-owned USDA inspected meat processing facility located in Dry Fork, VA, just 14 minutes away from our pastures.
All our beef is dry aged for 21 days before it is cut and vacuum sealed, preserving each package at the peak point of freshness.
Why aging beef matters
During the aging process, the muscle fibers and connective tissue break down, creating shorter fibers that are easier to chew and digest (We refer to this as tenderness). The main purpose of aging is to allow the beef to develop a more palatable texture.
Why we dry age our beef
Dry aging occurs in an open-air space (a special refrigerator in our case) while wet aging involves vacuum sealing a cut of beef in its own juices. Both processes involve chilling the beef just above the freezing point to prevent dangerous microbial growth.
Dry aging uses temperature, airflow and humidity to safely mature and dehydrate the beef. This results in a significant concentration of flavor as the beef’s natural enzymes break down the muscle and connective tissue enhancing tenderness. The reduction of the moisture is a key factor here. Therefore, dry aged beef tends to have a richer and more robust flavor than wet aged beef. Wet aged beef, typically found in your local grocery store, is sealed in its own juices in plastic bags and travels yet again, hundreds of miles… if not more.
Dry aged beef typically costs more than wet aged beef due to the extra time and effort needed to complete the process and the loss of moisture weight. Because dry aged beef is exposed to air, it loses some of its bright reddish-pink color, which most consumers would mistakeably relate to freshness. But bright red doesn’t necessarily mean fresh. In fact, some meat shops and producers treat their meat with carbon monoxide gas to give it a shopper-friendly red hue. We personally find that deceptive.
Out of the two aging processes, dry aging produces a darker red color. In addition, the dry aging process allows more time for the fat to “melt” into the beef, infusing it with a buttery flavor.
Our goal is to make high quality, dry aged beef available to you locally. Choosing to go for the gusto, we age our beef for a full 21 days. Then our beef is expertly cut and packaged so that you can have high quality steaks and beef on your plate from a source that you can trust.