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We have heard that most fancy restaurants dry-age steak for long periods of time.  This is not really something we are equipped to do at home.  I read about methods for a quick dry-aged steak marinade that can be done in less than a day.  This is my experience with creating a recipe for Quick Dry-Aged Steak Marinade.

Go To Recipe

As you may know, my preferred method for cooking a steak is sous vide.  So naturally, when I looked for a quick dry-aged steak marinade I went to a sous vide focused web site.  At Sansaire, a manufacturer of Sous Vide machines I found my basic recipe.

Cole Cooks: Sous Vide Steak Meal with Sides for $3 Serving

Note I do not own a Sansaire machine, I own an Anova Sous Vide.  I will make a quick note about their recommendation to blowtorch a sous vide steak to sear it.  Don’t try it.  It sounds cool, but in practice does not work very well (I used a fairly heavy-duty plumbers blowtorch but it may not have been enough).

Other than the blowtorch, their method is right on.  I usually go or 131 degrees medium rare.  If people like them medium or well-done you simply cook them longer on the grill.

The focus of a Quick Dry-Aged Steak Marinade is ingredients with umami flavors.  In other words, stuff that has an intense taste like fish sauce and anchovy paste.

In terms of the marinade, the Sansaire recipe says feel free to remove or adjust the ingredients as you see fit.  In my case, I eliminated the blue cheese and MSG.  Mainly this was because I did not happen to have them on hand and was too lazy to run to the store.  However, I also felt that maybe that would have added too much umami.

This recipe will work not only for sous vide steaks, but steaks cooked via a traditional method.  With sous vide you will vacuum seal the steaks with the marinade in a bag, 24-hours before cooking.  I use a 2-gallon bag that fits four steaks.  If you are doing steaks the traditional method, you can simply marinade the steaks in any plastic bag or covered container.

If you don’t want to make this marinade yourself, Sansaire sales its own Steak Aging Sauce.  I have not tried this sauce, but it looks like it adds molasses.  It is processed in a nut facility and I am allergic to nuts.  So I will stick with making my own.

Anchovy paste and fish sauce are pretty strong flavors.  I wanted to see how much people actually liked the Quick Dry-Aged Steak Marinade.  So, for a dinner party, I did a taste test where I compared the Quick Dry-Aged Steak Marinade versus traditional steaks without a marinade.  I also tested if people preferred the more expensive prime steak over choice steak.  You can see the results here.

Cole Cooks: Prime vs Choice Steak Taste Test

Most fancy restaurants advertise dry-aged prime steaks.  Dry aging is an intensive process.  In addition, prime steaks are hard to find and expensive.  Fun Diego Family did a test to see whether prime steaks were really better than choice. In addition, we tested a quick dry-aged method.  This is the result of our Prime vs […]

Quick Dry-Aged Steak Marinade

Dave Cole

This is an overnight method for simulating the taste of steak that has been dry-aged for months

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 Tablespoon fish sauce
• 3 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon anchovy paste

Instructions

 

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Place 4 steaks in a plastic bag or container. Cover with marinade. Let steak marinate covered in a refrigerator for 24 hours.

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