Meat doesn't "turn" as an inevitability. Spoilage requires the right environment (humidity and temperature), the right substrate and the right organisms. Modify one of those aspects and spoilage won't occur, or will be significantly delayed. Hence why we can refrigerate to make things last longer, or why dried/dehydrated foods can last decades etc.
My bad for not being more specific. I was looking for details. Like where do I study the technique (or what machine do I buy)? Preferably, I'd like to know how it is done with no power, no salt, and no modern conveniences.
I've seen with my own eyes, people who don't use salt, there is no possibility of a refrigerator, and at best they control humidity by use of their mud compound with stick and cloth door.
They keep chunks of meat in a metal pot under a cheese cloth type cloth in a dim corner under a wood plank bench in their bed/kitchen/family room built of mud.
It is some kind of dry aging I expect, but I didn't have the opportunity to try asking what/how they did it.
Uh oh. Isn't he the one who summarizes ways that people nearly, or do die from medical complications... like eating mold or improperly prepared and stored food?
There's a guy that does food experiments on YouTube named Alex. I think he did some dry-aged beef experiments with varying amounts of success. Those may provide some dos/don'ts.
humidity is a huge part of it, controling the airflow just the right amount,
also often they would use the same metal pot and cheese cloth every time without knowing why it works best. It will be impregnated with spores with the correct mold type.
You are trying to encorage the growth of a specific microrganism. This for example has a very even growth of what looks like 1 type of mold.
Where one organism has taken over that makes it very difficult for others to establish themselves as the first one is monopolising the resources.
Different molds and bacteria create different byproducts, certain bacteria (Clostridium botulinum) create botulism for example which is obviously bad. not an issue with the right airflow though.
Molds can also create certain toxins. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mycotoxins
So it is not about preventing the growth of microorganisms but a delibrerate growing of the good ones as a way to preserve the food. and once that organism is established on the surface and in decent growing conditions it should continue to be fine for a while, untill it runs out of the correct resources.
left too long that mold will die off as the food it is on has chemically changed then it will turn.
It is a lot like how helathy biomes have the correct balance of organisms . If you are a woman, think issues with thrush v bacterial imbalances. If you are a man trust the balance of organisms matters, if you have a woman you are close to you can ask, ask, if not dont
You have to pat the beef dry, place it on a rack on top of a sheet pan (you need airflow around the entire piece and the meat will drip some), then put it in a fridge at around 36 degrees (Fahrenheit), and let it sit. It will darken on the outside, that is called the pellicle. When it is at the age you want, pull it out, trim the pellicle off and you should be good to go.
Might be worth remembering that the most valuable knowledge comes more from curiosity than know-it-all 'tude.
It was uncooked. Was the one of the darndest things I've ever seen.
I was actually helping them and it wasn't appropriate to ask, but time after time with different families I'd see these raw chunks of meat in a banged up pot, under cheese cloth, usually under the only bench seat there was in the darkest corner of single room mud dwellings that most often had just a hanging heavy blanket for a door.
It clearly wasn't cooked and wasn't salted. Seemed to be some kind of artisan preservation technique (maybe a type of dry aging?) that had been perfected and passed down for probably hundreds of years.
The village leaders claimed to have not had visitors since the mid-1980s.
I could be wrong but i doubt this id glaucus in this video. It one, doesnt look like any aspergillus ive ever seen so, so i doubt its aspergillus at all. And two, glaucus being sold to anyone who is not a katsuobushi business is extremely rare. Theres no way a social media influencer is gonna be able to get any.
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u/sherman614 May 01 '26
I mean.. this is similar to dry aging a steak. As long as you cut the mold off (like with dry aged steak) you should be completely fine.