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O/T Butchering a steer...how long to hang

C

ChrisinMO

Member
Early in December we will be sending a couple of steers to the butcher. Never raised steers before, just hogs....

We're selling one and a half sides and keeping the last half for ourselves.

Soooo, how long should they be aged before being cut up? The slaughterhouse we use is pretty good and knowledgeable, but we just want some opinions, if you have any.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Christopher
 
The longer the better to a point. I try to get them to leave it hang 3 weeks. Most want to cut and freeze in 2. I have a cousen that lets them hang a month then cuts of the spoilage. Claims that the stakes melt in your mouth. You have more waste but he likes the tender meat.
 
The longer it is aged, the stronger the flavor gets. The more fat cover it has, the longer it can be dry aged. I go 2 weeks for most of my beef. 9 days is plenty for a lean beef. If you want to age a lean beef longer,wrap it with cheese cloth to slow down the dry out.
 
Im no expert,but I do know Prime beef is aged for 22days.Of course thats in a controled envirement.Exact temp and humidity.

Good Luck

Stan
 
Butcher told me two weeks should do it. Though he said they could hang longer. He said in Europe they let them hang for a month or so.
 
I butcher my own and have my own cooler to hang them in . I hang them about 2 weeks depending on when I get the help together to do it . I sell several every yr. to people to eat and the shop I take them to hangs them 8-9 days and I have not had anyone complain . I killed a very large buck several yrs. ago and did not get around to cutting it it up for over 3 weeks and it was the best deer I ever eat and the back straps were very tender .I am a beliver in hanging for atleast 2 weeks .
 
Chris, 21 days since you have your own cooler, hang time will make a difference. The longer the better, 2 weeks is a Min time, with 21 being better not a lot of difference going too much longer. Hope this helps
Later,
John A.
 
most places in central mo let them hang about a week, need to ask your shop how long they let them hang for.
 
When I was a kid (1950's) my father would kill a beef, then start cutting it up a little at a time in the evenings. They never hung for more than a week, and were always tougher than an old boot. Even in later years, when he got them cut at the locker, he always pushed them to get it done as quick as possible. They were still tough. These animal were , in general, worn out cows or useless heifers of whatever dairy breed he could get hold of.

In the sixties, he partnered up with a retired gent, and invested in some real beef cattle. The other man insisted in "proper" slaughter and butchering at a commercial plant, and they hung for at least two weeks. I don't know how much of the difference was in the breed, and how much was in the processing, but the difference was night and day.

My current beef supply is shares of dairy steers that a neighbor pastures on my land, and they are slaughtered on the farm, hung and butchered at a small processing facility, and have been just fine.
 
Old grocery store owner told me 50 years ago that he liked to hang his for 3 weeks until it had a little mold on the outside. I did that once and it was the most tender beef we ever had.
 
I worked for a butcher shop evenings and weekends while in high school. We found 2 weeks was about right- much longer, and you spend too much time scraping off mold, etc. Also, the longer you hang them in a commercial shop, the less capacity (and sales volume) you have.

If I were doing only one or two, and had the right conditions for hanging, I'd probably push it a few days beyond 2 weeks.
 
Dad had a meat market/butcher shop and the beef would hang over night in the kill room to allow body heat to escape. Then quarter and hang 5 days in the walk in cooler. From there it was cut, wrap, and freeze. The kill room had no heat and wasn't much warmer then the cooler so the only time the beef didn't hang over night was if warm or high temp. in kill room.
 
My former in-laws always ate their cull cows, and Mrs. always got picked on that her cooking made them real tough. Well, I grew up in a family that did the same thing, BUT we learned that thicker steaks (1.5") and cooking them RARE, or MED RARE at most was the way to go.

Now I raise steers, and last year we wanted to try aging longer, 19 days as I recall. Well, the steaks and roasts were fantasic! Kind of a deep flavor, but the burger was less appealing. Now we stick with the standard 12-14 days.
 
3 weeks is how long I let my 3 yr old Highland bull hang in commerial walk-in cooler. Great beef! Butcher who cut it up swore it would ruin but was wrong.
 
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