We installed this dry ageing cold room on behalf of a good friend of mine, Paul Martin of Modo Commercial Kitchen Design, for the celebrity chef James Martin whom has partnered with the Manchester 235 Casino to open his first restaurant in the city of Manchester.
We are providing more and more cooling designs now such as this one which include feature glazing.
A notable historical project of this nature was one where I designed a large installation including glass cold rooms for Jamie Oliver and Adam Perry Lang back in 2010.
We installed 4 metre high x 6 meter long 70mm thick argon filled triple glazing glass to provide a complete visual exposure for one of their London projects.
Argon glazing in the context of these applications is used for two reasons, reduced and very low noise levels and the fact that the glazing has a very high insulation value. This means that the ‘u’ value of the panels are a lot lower than could be achieved with standard glazing and hence provide condensation free and low energy glass cold storage systems.
When we consider the high specification meat market fridge on this James Martin project, it makes us consider why we don’t see more of this type of project in the UK, this could be due to price but probably more importantly the space required to dry age the beef.
It’s rare to see this type of meat storage hit the restaurants of the UK, however it is becoming more and more common. But in reality once you taste the beef you can really taste the difference; it really melts in your mouth, thanks to several factors.
Firstly the beef is delivered and hung in the cold room. With humidity above 80% the beef is literally sweating in the cold room. Professionals have explained that the moisture is literally dried off with clean cloths so a ‘scab’ is formed on the beef. Consequently the ageing process allows enzymes to break down the high PH value within the tissues of the beef. The moisture then evaporates, concentrating the flavour of the beef and resulting in a taste to remember.
The beef needs to be kept at close control temperature in the cold rooms, too cold and the beef will freeze, stopping the ageing process; too warm and the beef will spoil. The high humidity is to ensure as little water loss as possible.
After a couple of weeks the ageing process starts, and the longer it goes on for, then the lower the PH of the beef and the better the taste!
The most important area is to achieve a good level of airflow around the carcass, it needs to be constant and extreme even around the beef. This coupled with the watchful eye of the butcher – who will trim, cut and take close care of the beef – produces a truly memorable, mouth-watering beef steak.
So the next time you have dry aged beef, you will remember my first blog and think of the work that goes into producing this mouth-watering dish.
I’m sure for those that already know me you will be aware of what we can do and why our approach will usually provide added value to a project.
I still believe that a specialist refrigeration approach is required on most projects and even more so in a period where reducing energy costs and increasing efficiency can be the key to winning a project.
So why don’t you call Green Cooling today for a quote on anything that involves refrigeration or indeed even for a pointer on where to find some really good dry aged beef….
Yours in refrigeration
Blinky.
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