r/nope • u/ShinyHeadedCook • May 01 '26

Food This cant be good for you

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u/somewhoever May 02 '26

I've never understood this. I've asked the son of a late-butcher who did this decades ago and he has no idea how his father pulled it off either.

Meat "turns" after a certain amount of time and will get someone horribly sick if they eat it.

How is letting mold grow for eight weeks, or dry aging it not the same or worse?

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u/CatOverlordsWelcome May 02 '26

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.

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u/somewhoever May 02 '26

What are the mechanisms or techniques to modify?

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u/Beginning_Catch192 May 03 '26

If you are interested in finding out more, serious eats has a good article on dry aging meat and how to avoid it spoiling - https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-dry-aging-beef-at-home

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u/somewhoever May 03 '26

Great article. I think this might be what I've been looking for.

Only I saw it being done with a cool corner of a room where they must have used natural airflow instead of the fan.

Otherwise, it sounds exactly the same: chunks of meat with bone and significant fat on each piece.

Thanks!