[Sca-cooks] aging meat

[Terry Decker]

A lot depends on the hanging conditions and the quality of the carcass. 
Proper aging requires near freezing temperature, proper humidity and 
constant air flow.  Depending on the size of the carcass and the quality of 
the meat (and its fat layer) a commercial processor can age meat up to about 
six weeks.  The less mass the shorter the time.

Outside of a commercial environment meat can be hung below 50 degrees F 
without special equipment for around 2 to 10 days.  This tenderizes the 
meat, but often makes the taste gamier.  Given England and wartime, I would 
place my money on farm butchered and hung meat without quality commercial 
processing (commercial aging is expensive).

Bear

> My American mother married an Englishman in 1939 and lived over there for 
> 5 years, mostly with her inlaws, because it was wartime.  She never cared 
> for hung meat, but perhaps it was hung longer in those days.
>
>  Cordelia Toser