I want to dry age beef in my garage this winter.

Next time I see my beef farmer, I'm going to ask him if I can work out an unusual request, something I've been thinking about for awhile now.

I want to purchase a whole short loin. The whole primal. No cuts, and not frozen. I'll drive to his butcher when he's there with his cows, find fatty one and take it home, still warm, on ice in my cooler.

I think the trouble will be with the USDA inspector. Maybe Roger is only allowed to sell frozen beef? I don't see why it would make a bit of difference.

Anyway, I'll have to do this in winter, because I want to try to hang it up my garage. Put some fans on it, keep it right around 40 degrees, watch the humidity, keep it there 2 weeks and then cut off the fat, rot, mold and dry patches and cut it into steaks...difficult without a band saw...hmmm...maybe a butcher could take it from there.

Omaha Steaks sells irradiated ground beef

I just read a U.S.News & World Report article about irradiated food. There wasn't much in the article that was news to me, except for one tidbit - Omaha Steaks uses it, but only on their ground beef, not their steaks.

Let me just say something about Omaha Steaks. I buy my beef from a farmer; his name is Roger. Roger raises cows on a pasture for most of their lives, and then a few months before slaughter they're finished on a bit of grain, but mainly hay that's been doused with black strap molasses. I like Roger, but I pay him a lot of money for beef. I'm willing to do it, because I think Roger is on to something. I like that he plays music for his cows. I like that he doesn't use antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. I like that he doesn't inject his cows with any hormones, and that he supervises their slaughter.

It's worth a few bucks more to me. Quite a bit more, actually compared to supermarket prices. But Roger's beef is a steal compared to Omaha Steak prices.

I can't figure this out at all. Is it all USDA Prime? Doesn't appear to be. The 7 Points of Distinction only say that it is USDA inspected. Big deal - all beef sold to the public is.

Is it all dry aged? No, it's "Naturally Aged". I don't know what that means. How long? Wet or dry aged? That could rally mean just about anything.

So I haven't exactly been in a big hurry to buy myself some Omaha Beef, but this was still quite a shock to me; they're ridiculous, but they've been around awhile and are certainly what I'd consider to be a 'mainstream' supplier. What's odd though is that the on-line catalog doesn't mention it. There's a DPF catalog that does. I think it's slightly shady.