Dry Aging: 101 The Basics Attend this Intermediate-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have! Why Dry Age? So, what is happening when you dry age meat? Well first, during the initial 21 day process of dry aging the collagen and connective tissue are being broken down within the meat by enzymes that are naturally present in beef. The results of this process are similar to what happen when we cook a tough brisket or a pork butt all the way up to 190°, in that process the collagen and connective tissues are being broken down by heat, in this process the enzymes are eating and breaking them down, so similar results but with totally different processes. Most of the tenderness is set in by 21 days, beyond that flavor profiles might change but you will not have increased tenderness. Why Don’t People Dry Age That Often? One of the reasons that very few people dry age their beef is because as you dry age you are going to lose as much as 25% of your product, obviously it could be higher, in fact, you could lose 100% of it if things go really wrong. For someone doing this at home once in a while that might not be a large concern but for a commercial processor this is going to increase costs per lb significantly. Another reason is that you cannot take a 2 inch thick steak and dry age it, you need a large subprimal cut like a strip loin or ribeye, which is going to be fairly expensive. As the drying continues the outside is going to “spoil” as most of the moisture is drawn out from the meat and evaporates off, this process intensifies the flavor of the meat but does account for a decent amount of the product loss. The trimming is why larger subprimal cuts are necessary for dry aging. Dry Aging Sausage Is More Difficult In this process we are going to rely on a pH drop and then the good bacteria to outcompete the bad bacteria to prevent anything harmful from growing on the meat. This is why it really is critical to have a place where you can reliably control both the temperature and the humidity. I know that some people have done it forever in their basement during a certain month of the year or other but this isn’t a process we recommend, a drying cabinet of some sort that is easily sterilized before and after use is important. You will have to have a way to reliably measure the pH of your sausage to be able to make sure this process has been successful as well. Different starter cultures have different requirements but an example of one would be for Spanish Chorizo where we are using Bactoferms T-SPX. We are going to ferment it at 75°F with 90% relative humidity for 36-48 hours or as soon as we see the pH falling below 5.2. After that we are going to dry it until the Water Activity is below .85 which can take weeks. Shop waltonsinc.com for Victorinox Straight Boning Knife Shop waltonsinc.com for our Newest Sales!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Label Printing Scale? I don’t need one as sophisticated (aka as expensive) as the CAS CL 5500 they sell here. Something simple that would make basically a custom exempt label: product name, date, not for sale and maybe an address.

Ok folks. According to Hakka brothers. Which is the sausage stuffer I have. 16 mm or 1/2 in tube is the smallest I have. I’m wanting to make venison sticks.I am needing a 12 mm tube for 19 mm casings? I’m a newbie here. I looked on Hakka brothers site. They have a 10 mm. But Isn’t showing a 12 mm. Any suggestions?

Great info…Thanks

Meat Hacks: MSG and Umami, how are they related? Learn about MSG and it's use in meat seasonings, plus what benefits it provides to meat products with Walton's and Meatgistics. Read the guide and then post your questions or comments below. Meat Hacks MSG or Monosodium Glutamate is a naturally occurring amino acid that first entered into the Mainstream consciousness back in the 80’s and 90’s when there were health debates over its use in the food industry. I am not going to try to convince you one way or the other on the health issues associated with MSG, you can easily google it and there are plenty of articles out there both for and against the use of MSG. I encourage you to do your own research if you want to know more about it. The one thing I will say is that there is strong evidence that a small percentage of people do have a bad reaction to MSG again there are differing opinions on what percentage of people it affects and you can find all sorts of statistics on both sides. Like I said, I am not going to go into the health issues, the FDA says it is okay for use in food products and that is good enough for me at this point. MSG works as a flavor enhancer and is commonly added to canned or packaged foods to make them taste more fresh or to increase an already present flavor. MSG is an inexpensive ingredient so it is often used in conjunction with more expensive ingredients to cut back on production costs. It is able to be used this way because to some degree MSG takes on the flavor of whatever you add it too. So say you had a recipe that called for a lot of nutmeg, well nutmeg is currently very expensive so what some companies will do is cut back on the nutmeg and add MSG. As you have probably seen we sell a few seasonings that have both an MSG Free and a normal version. If the seasoning you have been getting from us does not say MSG Free don’t worry, that does not mean it has MSG in it, it just means that if it does there is not an MSG Free version of it. Mono-sodium Glutamate has to be listed plainly as an ingredient in any seasoning that uses it so you can easily check on Waltonsinc.com by selecting the seasoning and then at the bottom clicking the additional information tab. You have probably heard the word Umami pop up in the past couple of years. For those of you who do not know Umami is defined as a strong meaty taste and it is now considered one of the basic flavors along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. If you think of it in those terms then it makes sense that there HAS to be a designation for something like Umami out there right? Would you call a steak sweet, sour, bitter, or salty? If you would then you have been cooking your steaks all wrong and you should check out our post on reverse searing a steak to see how you should be doing it! You should probably check out that post anyway as reverse searing a steak gives you a beautifully cooked steak every time. Some foods commonly said to have an umami flavor are beef, pork, chicken, some cheeses, tomatoes and mushrooms. That’s a pretty good list other than mushrooms which in my opinion should never be eaten! So how are MSG and Umami connected? Well you taste something with an Umami flavor through the same taste buds or receptors that you taste glutamates in. So, since MSG is a glutamate we can assume that since they are experienced through the same receptors that they will probably taste similar or at least go together right? Well we could…but by now you should know that we are NEVER going to pass up the opportunity to fire up our grill … you know … for science! I went out and purchased a managers special bottom round steak from the grocery store. We are going cut it in half, marinade both in the same authentic steak sauce but we are going to add MSG to one of the marinades and see which one ends up with a better taste! I put them both on the grill and cooked them medium rare, about 135 degrees. There is no question the one with the MSG had a better taste to it. The non MSG one was still tastier than I would have expected from a $5 steak but the one that we added MSG to was loaded with flavor. So, should you cook with MSG? From a flavor standpoint it is a no brainer, it makes whatever you are cooking taste better and since it is inexpensive it saves you on the final cost. From a health standpoint that is up to what you believe. Subscribe to WaltonsTV Make sure you subscribe to WaltonsTV and remember to tap the bell next to the subscribed button to get notified about all new videos, plus like and comment on this video, and visit waltonsinc.com and meatgistics.com to find Everything But The Meat! Subscribe to Meatgistics Easily subscribe to any category or topic on the Meatgistics community site by clicking the green “Subscribe” button to get an email each time a new post is made! Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Additives Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube Authentic Steakhouse Sauce Mono Sodium Glutamate

@johng5 got some in there, over time we will look for images that will have a white background but that’s gonna be down the road a little!

@jonathon

@deweymeats I dont think they will every go bad but @Tex_77 is right, 2 years for the seasonings before they start losing their potency and around 3 for the cures. Some cures will harden up though if you don’t store them properly for a few years.

I’d love to try and make your tender turkey venison as soon as possible! It looks so tender and scrumptious. Along with the fact your turkey venison has a long shelf life. Thank you for sharing how you make your turkey venison

@jonathon cover’s all the food groups and the FDA food pyramid.

@PatrickB Hope Jon doesn’t have any diseases, he eats off the fork that he also using to cut pieces!

My favorite way to hammer down pheasant.

@mtnjim I’ve made two 10lb batches of venison/pork snack sticks. I used 2:1 ratio of lean venison and port butt. I smoked using a Cook Shack model 55 smoker and started low (120F) without smoke and door ajar. I added smoke the 2nd hour and ramped up the heat every hour x 3 until the batch reached approx 160F in 4 hours. They taste and look great.

WaltonsTV: Invest in Equipment Meat Hacks: Invest in New & High Quality Meat Processing Equipment Watch the full video below, read the highlights here, and then post your comments or questions below. Invest in New & High Quality Meat Processing Equipment First of all, don’t take this as just a sale pitch. While Walton’s would love you to buy all new equipment from us each year, this is really meant to help you make better meat snacks and produce a higher quality product. Newer equipment and higher quality equipment does make a HUGE difference in meat processing. We hear from people all the time that are using a 30-40 year old meat grinder, and they seem proud of the fact that they’ve made it last that long, and while it might be impressive that it is still running that long, we can almost guarantee it is no longer producing a high quality product. The head and auger on an old grinder like that will no longer fit correctly after extended years of use. Grinder parts, plus all other meat processing equipment parts do wear out over time. Worn out parts will cause a lower quality meat grind and a sub-par final product. Other people may be using a meat grinder at home that is simply an attachment for a kitchen stand mixer and while it does work in grinding meat, it is very poor at producing a high quality grind and is very inefficient at grinding as well. Another key point in meat grinding is to keep a sharp plate and knife, plus always use the same grinder plate and knife together can really be helpful. Another related point relates to whether you should use a meat grinder to stuff sausage. Meat grinders can be used as a sausage stuffer, but buying a true and dedicated sausage stuffer can really help make a more consistently stuffed sausage. Grinders will typically “smear” meat as you try to stuff sausage into casings and overwork the meat which leads to a loss of color and particle definition. So actually using a sausage stuffer is preferred over just stuffing from a meat grinder. Lastly, looking at meat mixing, you can hand mix many meat products but when you are trying to make a cured sausage that needs a lot of protein extraction is is hard to get an adequate mix by only hand mixing. Investing in a quality meat mixer can really help in your protein extraction (and thus your binding and consistency in your final product) plus reduce the amount of time you spend in your mixing cycle. So make sure you are taking care of your equipment, following maintenance schedules, and investing in new equipment and parts, to make the highest quality meat products! Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for Grinder Plates & Knives Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Mixers Shop waltonsinc.com for Sausage Stuffers

Kentucky Bourbon Spirited Sauce Excalibur’s new Spirit Based line of seasonings and sauces all sound like they are going to be great additions to an already strong line of seasonings. The Kentucky Bourbon Sauce could be an interesting one as Bourbon flavoring goes well with many different types of meats and I have been fascinated by cooking with alcohol ever since my uncle taught me about the chemistry behind it when I was a teenager. Alcohol allows the water and fat molecules to bind together which allows you to experience scents more strongly as a taste. Most of what you are “tasting” when you are chewing on a delicious piece of prime rib or anything else really has more to do with scent than taste. I vacuum packed my chicken with 1.5 ounces of the sauce and am letting it sit for about 30 minutes before putting it on the grill. Vacuum packing meat with a marinade in the vac bag will help the marinade penetrate quicker as the vacuum is pulling the fibers of the muscle apart. I cooked the chicken at 325° until it reached an internal temperature of 165° which took about 25 minutes. Cooking it at a slightly lower temperature prevents the chicken from drying out and lets it retain more of its juice. The first thing I noticed when I pulled it off of the grill was that it had a beautiful color to it, dark caramel and brown all over that looks like it formed a slight crust around portions of the breast. The taste is complex, there is a hint of bourbon at the back of the mouth and that sweetness from the brown sugar is unmistakable. All around this is a delicious piece of chicken, if you are fan of Excalibur’s other Kentucky Bourbon sauces or a fan of Bourbon at all then I think you will be very happy with this sauce. If I was doing this again I would baste more of the sauce on as it was grilling, I did not have a Sop Mop handy and with how delicious of a coating this made I wish I had more of it! That is two of the Spirited Sauces I have made for my lunch in the last few days and I will be trying the Mango Moonshine next and then finish the sauces up with the Maple Whiskey. I can tell you right now I am not looking forward to the Maple Whiskey as I am not a Whiskey man, in fact some would argue I’m not much of a man at all! Shop waltonsinc.com for Kentucky Bourbon Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Jamaican Jerk Rum Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Red-Eye Moonshine Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Spicy Red Vodka Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Mango Moonshine Spirited Sauce Mango Moonshine Spirited Sauce Kentucky Bourbon Spirited Sauce

@bob-stehlik said in New Walton's Economy Vac Sealer: @Jonathon I just received my Walton’s Economy Vac Sealer and I thought it was to have a removable drain tray per the description in the Equipment area of the website. The unit I received does not have a removable tray for ease of cleaning. Has anyone else had this issue with Walton’s Economy Vac Sealer? Mine doesn’t have a removable drip tray either.

Spicy Red Vodka Sauce Excalibur’s new Spirit Based line of seasonings and sauces all sound like they are going to be great additions to an already strong line of seasonings. The Spicy Red Vodka Sauce caught my eye right away because I love homemade vodka sauces but rarely make one and I generally despise store bought sauces. I am making some Rotini Pasta and I am going to drown it in the Spicy Red Vodka sauce and hopefully I will have found a Vodka Sauce in a jar that is worth eating! The bottles design mimics a small bottle of liquor which is cool but it’s not going to make it taste any better! As soon as I took the cap off I picked up a nice smell, some vodka but not much as vodka is not a strong scented liquor anyway. When I went to pour it on the pasta it was a lot thicker than I would have thought and than it looked in the bottle, I am taking that as a good sign. I used half of a bottle on a full box (16 oz) of pasta and wow is this stuff good! Very good taste and it would have been even better had I had some parmesan cheese to sprinkle over the top. The most notable thing with this seasoning though is that they were not joking about the Spicy in the name, this stuff packs a punch and I would say is one of the spicier sauces I have had from Excalibur. Not quite on the level of Smoky Habanero Chipotle but certainly every bit as hot as Sizlin Green Chili and the heat stays around. I finished my sample about 10 minutes ago and I can still feel the heat in my mouth, it’s not a scorching heat just a pleasant heat that lingers. There is no question about it, I have found my new vodka sauce, next time I make it I am going to cook some chicken and cut it into strips and add it to the past. If the rest of this line is anywhere near as good as this one then this line is going to be a success! Shop waltonsinc.com for Kentucky Bourbon Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Jamaican Jerk Rum Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Red-Eye Moonshine Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Spicy Red Vodka Spirited Sauce Shop waltonsinc.com for Mango Moonshine Spirited Sauce Mango Moonshine Spirited Sauce Kentucky Bourbon Spirited Sauce

@calldoctoday About the only thing I like peanut butter in is cookies, other than that no thanks.

@PapaSop We had been back at the barn for a few there and a few rounds had been enjoyed!