Bone-in vs. boneless ribeye for dry aging. Bone-in wins every time.

I put two ribeyes in the dry age cooler back in February. One bone-in and one boneless cut from the same steer. After 45 days the bone-in had way more flavor and the fat cap didn't shrink up as much. The boneless one got a little tough around the edges and lost more moisture. Anyone else notice a big difference with bone-in for longer aging?

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amymason2mo ago

You're putting a lot of weight on the bone being the flavor source, but that's mostly a myth. The meat next to the bone doesn't get more circulation or anything special. Your boneless loss probably came from surface drying, not the bone. Next time trim the pellicle better and you'll get the same result from boneless without paying for extra weight.

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logantaylor2mo ago

Man, you're totally right. I used to be one of those people who swore by bone-in for flavor, thought it was some kind of magic. But I did a side by side last month with two pork shoulders, same rub, same smoker time, and the boneless one came out just as good. I think I was just repeating what I'd heard from other folks online without really testing it myself. The surface drying thing makes a ton of sense now that you mention it, I bet that's where I was losing moisture before. Not sure why I never thought to just pay more attention to the pellicle instead of blaming the bone. You honestly changed my mind on this one.

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