Christopher Gordon wrote:common knowledge is dry-aging requires at least 35-days(please correct me..
Chris,
Couple of points, Dave Z is pretty good at his job and the subject line, from 2007, says 21-days but its likely Zier's has varying days of dry-age meat on hand, 21-days and up.
Also, an aspect that almost never enters the discussion of dry-aging, subtle differences in the process vary the amount of age/funk/flavor. For example, depending on what you read/research, the temp range is 34° to 38° with an average humidity of 80% +- and air flow of 15 to 20 linear feet per minute at the surface of the product.
This is a wide range and will affect outcome. Take a similar cut from two different sources at 40-days and they very well may taste noticeably different.
I've never discussed this with Dave Z, though I am sure he has put thought into his specific technique, plus this post is not really about Zier's, just the somewhat disjointed rambling of the beginning of my own thinking/journey into dry-aging.
To put it in cheese terms, think affineur but with beef.
Regards,
Gary "always the student" Wiviott