"Aged" steak?

[sr71blackbird]

I always hear about high end resturants touting "aged" steak.  What do they mean by it?  Is the meat old?  I saw in a supermarket they had this meat section behind this glass case with meat that was kind of black and weird looking.  Why would older meat be safe for one, and better for another?

[Hottub]

<a href="http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ5968.html" target="_blank">Hanging beef for 2 or 3 weeks really improves the tenderness</a>.

[JPMNICK]

<p>It makes a huge difference. Once you have an aged steak, you can taste the fresh blood taste of a steak from the supermarket</p>

[torker]

I like my carrion medium rare.

[FUNKMAN]

i'd rather beat my meat with a hammer...

[Hottub]

Substitute &quot;hammer&quot;, with &quot;fist full of Jergens&quot;, and we are definitely on the same page!!

[FUNKMAN]

<strong>Hottub</strong> wrote:<br />Substitute &quot;hammer&quot;, with &quot;fist full of Jergens&quot;, and we are definitely on the same page!! <p>is that Jergens or Jerkens?</p>

[Bulldogcakes]

<p>Yeah, believe it or not, really good steakhouses will hang their steaks in a musty old locker <br />for months before serving it. It gets moldy on the outside, they cut that off and the remaining meat has broken down from the aging process. Then when they cook it, it melts in your mouth like butter. Whole unsliced meats are pretty resistant to rotting, if slaughtered and stored properly. They'll eventually dry out and turn to beef jerky, which is still edible. <br /></p><p>Think about it SR. People have been eating meat long before they invented refrigerators. And they ate it through the winters, too. So aged meat has been around a long time. </p>

<span class=post_edited>This message was edited by Bulldogcakes on 3-7-06 @ 8:35 PM</span>

[Death Metal Moe]

<p><img height="180" src="http://english.pravda.ru/img/idb/13-anna_nicole_smith.jpg" width="120" border="0" /></p><p>&quot;I love aged meat!&quot;</p>