Tenderstretch & Wet Ageing

Tenderstretching involves hanging the carcass from overhead hooks from the Achilles tendon with the weight of the animal stretching the various muscle groups to enhance and expedite muscle fibre breakdown and stimulate the enzymes contained within the carcass. Like a good wine or cheese, beef improves with age depending upon the enzymes present within the food being aged.

The Dry Ageing process is described under separate heading. Wet Ageing is the process of vacuum sealing product in cryvac bags to contain enzymes that create the conditions suitable to enable the muscle fibres in meat to be slowly broken down and flavours to be gradually released. These naturally occurring enzymes, continue to act in the meat resulting in a slow breakdown of the proteins that make up the muscle fibres, thus promoting tenderness in the sealed cut of meat.

As a result of this “Wet Ageing” process, aged beef tends to be more tender resulting in superior eating quality.

The rate of ageing also decreases over time with the most noticeable improvements occurring in the first 21 days.

Beef can be aged in carcase form, on the bone in primals (usually Dry Ageing or by Tenderstretching) or in vacuum packaging. Product from our boning room is packaged in vacuum sealed bags that are oxygen free and can be safely stored this way, under refrigeration for up to 16 weeks. In practice, our beef is generally graded at the highest MSA levels of 4 or 5 star within 7-21 days of ageing. This delivers a product that is consistently tender and of extremely high eating quality. All MSA graded products have a minimum 5-day ageing period.

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