Food - Drink
Why You Should Reconsider Buying Wet-Aged Prime Rib
By WILLIAM DELONG
Beef connoisseurs have probably heard the term "dry-aged beef," considered one of the best ways to prepare beef before cooking, but wet-aged beef has been around since the 1960s, and is much more common in modern meatpacking plants. Wet-aged beef is much cheaper than dry-aged, but ultimately, it's not your wisest choice.
Wet-aged beef is slightly more tender compared to beef that isn't aged at all, but wet-aging does nothing for flavor and can make beef taste "off." Q Open notes that in studies done with wet- and dry-aged beef, the dry-aged cuts develop flavor notes including "brown-roasted, beefy/brothy, buttery, nutty, roasted nut, and sweet."
Meanwhile, Q Open found that wet-aged beef tasted "bloody, serumy, livery, fishy, metallic, and sour." When you're cooking a prime rib roast, you're already investing in one of the best cuts of beef you can buy, so you might as well go with dry-aged prime rib, and if you can, try to buy beef that's been aged for as long as possible.