Umai dry is a bag that you use to mimic dry-aging meat in a home refrigerator. Why dry-age meat? Dry aging removes water from the meat, intensifying the flavor and allowing the natural enzymes in the meat to tenderize it. You can order them here.

I ordered a mixed set with the intention to test it out on a cheap piece of meat (I’m talking a 5.99 per pound strip roast) then if it worked well, move on to some charcuterie.

So here’s my strip roast (which is probably much smaller than they recommend but as I said this was an experiment and i didn’t want to use something really expensive). It still worked pretty well.
I tried multiple different vacuum methods, watched several YouTube videos, but still couldn’t get a good vacuum. I even tried my fancy pants chamber vacuum but that failed and popped three bags before I gave up. Finally, I just squeezed as much air out as I could, put a strap around the end of the bag, and prayed.

After 60 days. There is a little mold but the colonies are tiny and I’m not too worried. The website says the bag should adhere to the outside of the meat as much as possible, but mine didn’t, really. I did turn it once every other day for about the first week but then left it.
Then you trim away the black meat, so there is a fair amount of loss in this process (which I knew was going to be the case). I put the trimmings in a bag and put them in the freezer with the intention of using the scraps to make a beef broth in my Instant Pot.

After a turn on the grill. This was very flavorful, and I do feel like more tender than what we normally see from this cheap cut of meat. The white vein part that you can see is usually much tougher. I actually did 2 roasts like this, and my plan is to sous vide the second one after trimming the black part off to compare the texture.
If you like this post you will also like…
- Blackstone Grill Review
- Breville Sous Chef Food Processor Review
- Humboldt Fog Cheese Review
- Pizza-Que Review
- Instant Pot Review
- Pressure Cooking Primer
- Immersion Blender Review
- KitchenAid Multi-Cooker with Stir Tower Review
- Swissmar Mandoline Review
- Chicago Metallic Trio Lasagna Pan Review
- Philips Pasta Maker Review
- Anova Sous Vide Review
- Sushi Bazooka Review
Leave a Reply