Advice on ageing and seasoning an Eye Fillet.

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eracode

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#261628 7-Dec-2019 11:42

We have bought a whole eye fillet which will be cooked on a BBQ on Christmas Day. It’s vacuum packed and I put it in the freezer yesterday.

I’m thinking I’d like to age it - pretty certain it’s not already aged - and I’d be grateful for advice on this. I understand that if I took it out of the freezer, it could sit quite happily in the fridge from now until the 25th. I should have thought about this before I put it in freezer yesterday.

Also keen to hear advice and recipes for any type of rub I could put on it a day or so before we cook it.

Cheers.

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#2370033 7-Dec-2019 13:06

Now that it's frozen you can't do anything substantial or traditional to age it. There are various fake ageing tricks you can try after it has been defrosted.

I can think of the following (Google for info):

Age with fish sauce

Age with some special Japanese rice

Age with special umami/ageing powder

Whatever you do: Don't defrost now and leave for more than a couple of days. Once defrosted you've only got a short period before you need to cook the meat. You can use that time to try to artificially/fake age the meat.

Geektastic

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#2370065 7-Dec-2019 16:04

Depends who the processor is. Silver Fern, for example, do age the meat they sell before packing. If it is vac packed, it will happily last until the date on the packing if unopened in the fridge. Remove the plastic 24 hours before eating if you want the best colour and taste (leave in fridge on a plate).

Dry age is the best IMV, although the meat will discolour a bit and you need a chilled cabinet that will ensure it is not accessible by flies etc (obviously). Restaurants that do this usually have a cabinet that is effectively a glass walled fridge. I do not know if you can do it in normal fridge as I do not know offhand what the correct temp is - Google should assist.

I bought a whole fillet the other day as I found them in a local supermarket and paid about $65 on special. Kicking myself for not buying several!! The one I did get provided one good roast and half a dozen steaks.

BlinkyBill

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#2370076 7-Dec-2019 16:08

One of the keys is to cook it from room temp, not refrigerated. Season with flakey salt and freshly ground pepper. Per TheMantis you are limited now having frozen it.

ilovemusic

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#2370447 8-Dec-2019 12:02

as above and oil the meat not the pan !

sbiddle

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#2370452 8-Dec-2019 12:06

Now that you've frozen it you can only remove it from the freezer to cook it. If you remove it before it will deteriorate.

Freezing it was the worst thing you could do, but there isn't much you can do about that now.

eracode

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#2370467 8-Dec-2019 13:02

sbiddle:

Now that you've frozen it you can only remove it from the freezer to cook it. If you remove it before it will deteriorate.

Freezing it was the worst thing you could do, but there isn't much you can do about that now.

Yes, I’m now aware of that because it was pointed out in an earlier post.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

eracode

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#2370469 8-Dec-2019 13:03

Thanks to all those who gave meaningful replies - much appreciated.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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tehgerbil

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#2370522 8-Dec-2019 14:03

I season my steak in high quality soy sauce, and steak seasoning.

Dry with papertowel and bring to room temperature before cooking over a very high temperature.

I'm a HEATHEN and turn multiple times after achieving a good sear on each side, and a quick run around the edges.

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#2370649 8-Dec-2019 20:57

Sear it in a very hot pan that can go into the oven and finish the cooking in the oven.
It's very hard to cook an entire fillet on a stove top without ruining it by overcooking the outside and under cooking the middle.

networkn

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#2370740 8-Dec-2019 22:32

Alton Brown has 2 Fantastic Episodes called Tender is the Loin 1 and 2.

I can't highly recommend them enough.

It was the basis of what I consider to be a pretty good set of meat cooking skills I possess :)

Reverse Sear is all the rage right now, as is Sous Vide.

None of that addresses aging, but if you want some great videos on aging meats at home, you can't go past Guga Foods and Sous Vide Everything on Youtube.

trig42

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#2370862 9-Dec-2019 08:55

Our go-to for Eye Fillet (which is low fat, and can dry out if overcooked) is to bring it to room temperature, tie it up to get even size for the length of the fillet.

Then, generously season with salt and pepper and give it a sear in a hot pan.

From there, transfer to an oven set to as low as it will go (63 degrees ideally) and leave it in there for three hours. Take it out after that, rest for half an hour and slice.

Delicious, medium rare and can be cut with the side of your fork. Never fails. It's just a mindf*ck in the oven as you can put you hand in there and it feels like it is doing nothing.

On the barby, my only advice is to season it well (salt pepper should be all you need) and make sure it is at room temp before cooking it. Use a meat thermometer and remove it for resting when the internal temp is about 57.

MurrayM

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#2370868 9-Dec-2019 09:07

tehgerbil:

I season my steak in high quality soy sauce, and steak seasoning.

Dry with papertowel and bring to room temperature before cooking over a very high temperature.

I'm a HEATHEN and turn multiple times after achieving a good sear on each side, and a quick run around the edges.

This is actually a topic I was going to bring up here; seasoning steaks for a BBQ.

I used to use a seasoning that I'd get at my local Pack 'n Save (unfortumatly I can't remember the brand or name, but I think it was a Masterfoods one). They seem to have stopped selling that and so I bought the one that you linked to above but haven't been very impressed at all with it compared to the old seasoning I used to use. I'm sure that the old seasoning I used was a lot more coarse (eg flakes of ingrediants) whereas the Masterfoods one is a very find powder. My preparation involved putting some oil on the steak and then liberally coating it with the seasoning (both sides) and then leaving it for an hour or two (out of fridge) before BBQing.

I hadn't thought of using soy sauce as well, what are your preparation steps?

Also, in the past I've received various gift sets of rubs, some cheap sets from The Warehouse and others more gourmet, and I've usually found those to be quite good. I'm always on the lookout for recommendations, so if anyone wants to share their favourite meat rub that would be useful.

networkn

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#2370870 9-Dec-2019 09:10

trig42:

Our go-to for Eye Fillet (which is low fat, and can dry out if overcooked) is to bring it to room temperature, tie it up to get even size for the length of the fillet.

Then, generously season with salt and pepper and give it a sear in a hot pan.

From there, transfer to an oven set to as low as it will go (63 degrees ideally) and leave it in there for three hours. Take it out after that, rest for half an hour and slice.

Delicious, medium rare and can be cut with the side of your fork. Never fails. It's just a mindf*ck in the oven as you can put you hand in there and it feels like it is doing nothing.

On the barby, my only advice is to season it well (salt pepper should be all you need) and make sure it is at room temp before cooking it. Use a meat thermometer and remove it for resting when the internal temp is about 57.