For centuries, butchers used dry aging as a way to preserve meat before refrigeration. During a prolonged period in a cool, arid space, the juices are absorbed into the meat, and the chemical breakdown of the beef's natural enzymes break up the proteins and fat. Time and acute attention to detail is what tenderizes the meat and adds that aged, intense, nutty character to it that’s unlike anything else.
It takes years to learn to dry-age. At Fontainebleau Miami Beach we take aging to the next level and we cure some of the best beef in the entire country. We select Amish raised beef, sourcing strictly from Moyer Farms—a collection of family cattle farms that dates back to 1877—and dry-age the beef to the perfect taste and tenderness. Our Vice President of Culinary Operations, Thomas Connell, has had a very special relationship with Moyer for over 25 years and credits the region, the lack of pesticides and hormones, the soil’s nitrogen cycle, and Amish traditions for producing a natural product unlike any other on the planet. “I’ve never seen this kind of quality anywhere,” he admits, “out of that region of the country you’ve got the highest percentage of prime rated beef per head, almost 7-9%.”
We bring the meat into Locker 28, the hotel’s butcher shop and market, for dry aging. A stainless-steel walk-in cooler precisely maintains conditions of 36 degrees Fahrenheit and 85 percent humidity. We weigh it, tag each one with the original start weight, and meticulously monitor its progress to ensure all are drying evenly. Steel frames are stacked with individually tagged and dated beef shoulders as well as dozens of racks of New York strip steaks and rib eyes. Each steak waits its time to be sliced, trimmed, and served to our guests at StripSteak and Pizza & Burger by Michael Mina, Hakkasan, Scarpetta by Scott Conant, and the rest of the hotel’s dining venues. A rack is ready when it's firm to the touch and doesn't leave any moisture on the fingers. Prime cuts are aged for at least 28 days; shoulders ground for burgers are aged for about 60 days. Larger rib-eye racks go for about 35 days, and smaller ones spend around 28 days drying. A New York strip's prime drying time is between 28 and 32 days, and our butchers at Locker 28 are constantly working to ensure we have enough dry-aged meat at the right point of maturity to meet our customers demand and our talented chefs specific needs.
The quality of our product here is borderline Kobe Beef—valued for its flavor, tenderness, and fatty, well-marbled texture, consistent across the board. From the New York strips to the shoulders we use for our dry-aged burgers, to even the bacon (we smoke and cure our own bacon) and the chorizo we make in house for our red wine chorizo at Vida, its just endless what the possibilities are when you have a facility like Fontainebleau’s. You don't need to put anything on it other than maybe a bit of salt.
