Gamekeepers Dry Ageing Program
Dry aged meat is considered a gastronomical treat, and in our wholesale business, we supply some of Melbourne & Victoria's finest restaurants and gastro pubs. We have a catalogue of beef, pork, lamb and duck speciality cuts, now also readily available for the home cooks to enjoy. All of our beef is aged for 42 days, pork is dry aged for 28 days, duck is aged for 7 days, with lamb available on request.
We recommend consuming dry aged products within 3 days. Not suitable to be frozen.
Dry ageing literally means storage of the meat is intended to change the constitution of the meat through a controlled degradation process. Ageing is when microbes and enzymes act upon the meat to help break down the connective tissue to tenderise the meat.
The ideal length of time for dry-ageing meat really comes down to individual taste; however, after rounds of testing, we have found the ultimate sweet spot with each of our proteins.
The ageing process provides particular characteristics to the texture, flavour, and colour of the protein. It undoubtedly creates a more full-bodied mouthfeel with each bite and deeper, more intense flavours of each protein profile. The colour is spectacular too, deep, richer, meatier presence; it really amps up the dining experience.
For those more scientifically minded, Dry ageing storage conditions: Temperature: between - 0.5°C to 1°C; Relative Humidity: between 75% to 85%; and the air velocity: between 0.2 to 0.5 m/s.