All you need to know about cured meat

Amaso: Guaranteed quality meat

Amaso works alongside Czech breeders of Přeštice Black-Pied pigs and Czech Fleckvieh cattle. At their plant in Jenč, just outside Prague, butchers process the meat, curing it using both wet and dry methods. They also craft sausage products following recipes from the first republic. You'll find all of this at the Naše maso butchers' shop, or at Kantýna.

Don't look for any complexity in the term ageing. It's all about dry curing of meat from heifers and steers on the bone, loosening the muscles contracted during slaughter. It is a chemical reaction in which lactic acid is released, and enzymes cause the muscle fibres to become brittle and soft. The matured meat therefore has a more intense flavour.

'We have to trim the selected cut so that there are no unnecessary folds. This is because they will retain moisture and the meat could spoil. For ageing, the meat needs to be on the bone, in whole muscle units, damaged as little as possible, and covered as much as possible with membranes and fat. This will insulate it and keep it almost sterile. We age whole quarters, loins and high ribs with bone," explains Vlasta Lacina Jiroš, founder of Amaso.

Temperature, humidity and air flow

The meat is is left uncovered to hang on hooks or placed in racks at sufficient intervals. It rests in sheds with a special climate; three things must be kept in mind – temperature, humidity and air flow.

"In the beginning, we let a lot of air flow on the meat so that it becomes stale. This will both ensure less weight loss and significantly reduce the risk of unwanted bacteria entering. We keep the room at a temperature of 0-2 °C and at optimum humidity, i.e. up to 80 %. The key is to ensure constant air circulation and to rotate and move the meat regularly so that it matures evenly," Vlasta describes the process.

After 50 days, the meat loses weight, the surface becomes very dry and the beef looks old – hence the term ageing, coined by Amaso in 2011. The result of constant care and control is tender, softer meat with a strong and intense flavour.

An old country practice

Although it might seem that dry ageing of meat is new to our Czech region, the opposite is true. "It is generally known that in the countryside it used to be a frequent practice. People in the villages still remember how their great-grandfathers used to leave a slaughtered ox hanging and maturing for a certain period of time to loosen the muscles stiffened by the slaughter of the animal. Today, we are only sophisticatedly returning to the practices of our ancestors – they used to hang the meat not for steaks, but to tenderise the whole piece," recalls Vlasta Lacina Jiroš, adding that Amaso is inspired by countries such as France, Spain and the United States. In these countries, they have been ageing for a long time, and they are not afraid to experiment.

The ideal lot

For dry ageing in Amaso, they select whole hindquarters, peeled shoulders, high ribs and loins, which means low a tall spare ribs. All parts are left to mature on the bone, which, together with the fat, prevents drying out. The exposed parts, on the other hand, harden during ageing. A dark crust forms on the surface, which must eventually be cut off.

Amaso tries to maximise the value of the whole animal and therefore cuts off the dried layers of aged meat are added to sausages with a proportion of dried meat to kick-start fermentation.

Perfect for the grill

What is the best way to use aged meat in the kitchen? The answer is clear - for steaks! For example, reach for bone-in sirloin steak (rib eye steak, entrecôte), which is considered by most meat lovers to be the tastiest steak. While you can experiment with all degrees of rareness, the butchers at Naše maso recommend that you prepare a bone-in sirloin steak to medium rare. Then, in the cold season of the year, simply swap the grill for a skillet.

The "leaner" sister of this is the strip loin steak with bone , which is on either side of the backbone, in the loin. This part is less marbled, and has a milder flavour.

You can also try long-rib sirloin steak (tomahawk steak). You'll find it between the 6th to 12th rib, the under shoulder and the low sirloin, on the higher part of the back behind the shoulder blades, hence the name. The Tomahawk is a superior rib eye not only because of the extended rib, which becomes a handy "handle" for the cook, but also because it is always cut to the width of the rib. The Tomahawk is a tall steak, and you can't miss it on the grill.