Comrade Lee's Steak Association

Before humans discovered fire, they made hatchets and consumed raw meat by pounding or chopping it. Originally, they consumed energy mainly from plants for millions of years, so their body structure was not able to chew and swallow tough prey. Therefore, they had to take a somewhat primitive form of 'processing'.

Then, about 800,000 years ago, when fire was discovered, humans began to change their diet. It was a major variable. Humans who cooked meat over fire were able to achieve higher energy efficiency. They also absorbed nutrients more easily.

The absolute amount of food needed for survival decreased, and the digestive system shortened accordingly. In the remaining time, humans thought more complexly and acted more boldly than before. The brain volume naturally increased.

Yes. The question of 'how' to eat meat was a key to survival that was embedded in our instincts before our taste. In the days before health supplements, meat was almost the only way to consume a large amount of vitamins and minerals that help the body's metabolism, along with amino acids.

They knew it instinctively. Humans learned that how they 'keep' their prey determines their lives. Humans, who were busy with each day, wanted to prepare for the future.

Beyond the stage of slaughtering and storing game, they settled down in one place and raised livestock. The attempt at ownership soon became the opportunity to treat energy sources as a higher-level concept called food, and ultimately became the background for the birth of 'cooking'.

So what is the oldest and most traditional method of preservation? There is a method of aging that humans have used for thousands of years, before the advent of industrial society and the invention of vacuum packaging in the 1960s.

©Shutterstock

It's dry aging . Although records are scant, it is a clear fact that dry aging was the most common method for butchers to 'preserve' meat for centuries, which is relatively easy to track. It wasn't until much later that we started eating fresh meat from the slaughterhouse, or that cutting-edge systems like wet aging became widespread in the market.

Before the concept of cold chain emerged, the method of preserving meat naturally depended on the drying method using natural terrain and temperature and humidity. As distribution and refrigeration technology developed, humans began to accept dry aging, which they had been familiar with for a long time, as an unfamiliar concept. They forgot the past.

However, interest in dry-aging is growing again in major raw meat producing countries such as the United States and Australia. There is also a steady demand for dry-aged meat in Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Back to the Basics. The perspective on meat is returning to the past.

Wet aging is a method of maturing raw meat in a moist state to prevent moisture loss. The essence is to place the meat in a sealed vacuum packaging and block the air. On the other hand, dry aging exposes the raw meat to the air. During this process, the moisture in the meat evaporates and browning occurs.

©Journal of Animal Science and Technology

Therefore, how to control the temperature, humidity, wind speed and amount, or the degree of ventilation, is a factor that completely affects the quality of maturation. This is because the percentage of moisture loss and browning changes. In other words, it is a part that affects how much of the meat is cut.

Due to the nature of dry aging, which usually takes about 40 days, the taste varies greatly depending on how the aging person manages it. This is because it requires meticulous human touch.

We met Comrade Lee (nickname), a financial industry worker who has been deeply engrossed in dry aging for nearly ten years from New York, USA in 2013 to Korea now, and had a conversation about dry aging.

I've been focusing on dry aging for nearly ten years now.

I haven't been since 2013. That was when I first started working in New York, and I didn't even know what dry aging was. The steakhouses in New York weren't really emphasizing dry aging.

However, among them, some steakhouses were using the dry-aging method to serve steaks, so I went there on business and tried one or two pieces, and they tasted really good.

Quality Meats Tomahawk Steak ©Atsushi Tomioka

What was the dry-aged steak you tasted back then?

There is a steakhouse called Quality Meats. I remember the Tomahawk there. Wolfgang's Steakhouse and Peter Luger, which we are familiar with, actually mainly serve porterhouses. Quality Meats served a large piece of meat attached to a huge bone without much thought, and it was so impressive. It was an overwhelming visual.

Whole Foods Market ©Thread Collaborative

Because the impression was so strong, it probably wasn't easy to get the courage to try making it myself.

At first, I just ended up giving it a review saying that it was delicious. But even though I'm a financial worker working in New York, it's impossible to spend 200,000 won per meal.

So I went to Whole Foods Market. There's a Whole Foods Market near Columbus Circle, and when I went inside, there was a dry-aging refrigerator right in the middle. And inside it, there was a curation of dry-aged meats.

I was curious, so I bought it. Before I learned about dry-aging, I only bought regular meat from Walmart, but when I started eating dry-aged meat, there was definitely a difference. It was amazing. Since then, I bought it whenever I had time, and I also researched it in my spare time, broadening my experience.

How did a mere enthusiast become an expert in a field? He didn't even make it his profession.

When I returned to Korea, I joined the army as an officer. As my income level dropped to 1/10, it became more difficult to consume dry-aged meat. In Korea, there were relatively few places that carried out dry-aging like in the US. The price was naturally expensive, and it was not easy to sell dry-aged meat to consumers.

That's when I started looking for things I could do at home. At the time, YouTube wasn't as active as it is now, so I mostly looked at community sites like Reddit in the US and overseas blogs.

Then I looked at some data, and coincidentally, it was a paper written by Chungnam National University in our country. From then on, I started to search for papers on dry aging and study in more depth.

You've built a solid theoretical foundation and reduced trial and error. What methods did you use to try dry aging in the beginning?

While studying, I learned about a machine called a meat ager or a steak ager. It is a device that is placed inside a refrigerator and meat is placed inside the machine. It helps with temperature and humidity control and ventilation. I bought a $60 product and tried it, and I was like, oh, this really works.

From then on, I started dry aging in earnest. As the machines continued to evolve, I started by buying a small beverage refrigerator and putting a hand fan and a dehumidifier inside to age the products.

In what areas did you feel a sense of accomplishment?

When you first buy meat, cut it a little and then eat the raw meat first. You have to cut it while shaping it. The taste at that time and the taste after maturing are completely different, and the sense of accomplishment you get is really different. You feel like you’ve made a completely different meat.

And there's another thing. In our country, too, and in cultures where people enjoy meat, they usually eat in groups. Meat consumption creates community value . It's actually natural.

Originally, meat consumption was done at the community level since prehistoric times. If you don’t hunt and store it properly, it will eventually rot and you will lose the precious food you worked so hard to obtain.

Dry aging is in the same vein. You have to do it in large batches. Otherwise, you end up with too much loss and have to cut it all out. So even if you do it at home, you end up with a quantity that is too much to eat by yourself.

That's when you invite people. Dry aging becomes a means of storytelling. It's about sharing value beyond the act of cooking. Can we say that indulgence creates value?

What is the typical loss rate after dry aging? By weight.

There is a loss caused by moisture evaporation and a loss caused by cutting the meat. The moisture loss will be around 10~20%. The amount of cutting depends on the size of the meat and how it was aged. Usually, 20~30% of the weight is cut. So, up to half of the raw meat can be lost. If it is aged well, the loss will be limited to around 20~30%.

I think you have some know-how from doing dry aging yourself for a long time. What parts should I pay attention to when aging?

First, you need to find the right raw meat for dry aging. Meat is largely made up of protein and fat. Since water and fat repel each other, there is no moisture loss in the fat part. However, there is moisture loss in protein. That’s why the proper distribution of protein and fat is important. The two factors play a big role in the taste.

What role does it play?

Even though there is no moisture loss, the fat also changes in taste. The matured fat has a slightly stale cheese flavor. It would be correct to say that it tastes like unsalted cheese. It is subtle when you taste it, but it tastes like that. That is why sometimes when I cut off the fat, I don't throw it away, but freeze it.

To be used in other dishes.

Yes. For example, if you put that in a hamburger, it will taste good to some extent.

That's the original, but what part is technically important?

During the maturing process, temperature and humidity are controlled. That's why we put in a desiccant. However, if you fail to control humidity, overdrying will occur and the loss will be large. If the humidity drops too much, you may need to spray water. Therefore, there are machines that have a humidifying function. You should carefully consider all these factors.

Is there a set temperature and humidity level?

According to major papers, it is good to maintain the temperature between 1 and 8 degrees, with 4 degrees being optimal. The average humidity is 70 to 80%.

The humidity is quite high.

Considering that the humidity level of a typical refrigerator is below 40%, it is high. However, it should be around 70-80% to reduce future losses.

How many days do you usually prefer for maturation?

About 45 days is just my preference. If it's longer than that, it becomes too soggy, and if it's less than 20 days, it loses its flavor at all. After about 30 days, the flavor becomes a bit immature.

I'm curious to know how long it takes when you do it to the max. What other people think.

I heard there's a restaurant in France that's been around for 10 years.

Can I eat it?

Eat that. It costs 4 million won per point. Treat it like alcohol. Alcohol eventually ages. It's strange, but I always enjoy and have fun whenever I hear stories like this. Because new worlds keep opening up.

Are there any aging methods that are controversial? I wonder if there are also branches in dry aging.

Of course. It varies depending on the situation. It varies depending on the machine, the size of the refrigerator, and whether you build a large factory instead of a refrigerator and mature it there. Since humans like to define absolute values, there are approximate values, but even if you get the values ​​right, the taste may be different from what you expected.

From this stage, it goes beyond the realm of science and enters the realm of art. It is the point where you need your own know-how. No matter how many experts come, you know your own house better. It is your home ground. So the optimal humidity is 70~80%, but in our house, it is better to set it at 60%. It is very important to accumulate this kind of know-how.

Is there any room for debate about the fact that fixed values ​​can vary depending on the environment?

Dry-aged meat cured with MSG

Anyway, that's his philosophy. But there's this. These days, proxy dry aging, a variation of the traditional dry aging method, is popular. It's especially spreading through YouTube.

Among overseas YouTubers, there is an account called Guga Foods, and if you look, they do a lot of different types of aging. They try a lot of things like wrapping meat in butter, covering meat with MSG, and wrapping it in kelp. I tried kelp aging and it was good.

One domestic restaurant even cultures fungi and covers the meat with mold to age it. Some people try to shorten the period by using the yeast used in makgeolli. There is controversy over this.

Doesn't it fit the original purpose?

Yes. Is this dry aging? Or is it just aging? People are wondering about these things. There is also criticism that the taste is different from the taste that dry aging produces.

There are two goals at the heart of these attempts. First, of course, how to maximize the taste. Second, how to shorten the aging period. I think it’s a matter of taste. But there is this. People who enjoy dry-aged meat often say, “This is dry-aged.”

I guess that's the best way.

That's right. There's a saying that the most delicious way to age beef is to simply cut it in half and hang it somewhere. The traditional way is actually the best for people's tastes. I haven't tried dry aging on such a large scale yet. I definitely want to try it someday.

What kind of alcohol would go well with dry-aged meat?

I think wine is the best. Among them, New World wines from Chile and the United States are good.

Is it because New World wines have higher sugar content and stronger aromas compared to European wines?

Dry-aged meat itself has a strong flavor. It is concentrated, so it has a strong flavor. That is why New World wines tend to have strong flavors and tastes, so they are the most suitable to pair with it. They have a heavy body, so they can fill your mouth with flavor.

French wines and natural wines have a very delicate and complex taste. They also tend to pursue acidity, so there is a risk that the flavors will mix when eaten with dry-aged meat.

I've heard that people with strong personalities need to meet to have good compatibility.

Yes. If you remove the musty smell from dry-aged meat with wine and eat it again, the meat tastes better. However, if some ambiguous flavor is mixed in, you will think that neither the wine nor the meat is good. That is why a wine with some tannin and a strong aroma and a sweet taste is suitable.

While talking to Comrade Lee about dry aging, I heard about the project he is working on. He is creating a token-based community that leads the meat culture called Comrade Lee's Steak Association (CLSA) . He said that he is about to mint an NFT, so I asked him about it.

What kind of raw meat products will be issued as NFTs this time?

This is USDA Prime ribeye. It is sirloin, and it is the raw material that is distributed in a packaged state by the slaughterer. It is the form that is handled by the butcher shop. When dry aging, you always have to use a large piece like this.

When distributed to consumers, this is cut into several pieces, packaged, and sold. It is not easy for ordinary consumers, not business owners, to obtain this raw material, but Costco happened to have it, so I applied.

What kind of machine do you use for maturing these days? The quality of maturing varies depending on the machine.

There is a Meat Azer from Benix, it costs 5.5 million won. I am supposed to receive it next week. I ordered it because I am not doing the CLSA project to eat alone.

I created the NFT logo based on Comrade Lee's childhood photo. I got help from my wife, who is a fashion designer.

But why was his nickname Comrade Lee?

The word Comrade means comrade, comrade. Since it emphasizes community, I thought it would be fun to incorporate this into the naming. The word Communism also means communism.

However, I am at the forefront of capitalism, and dry aging itself can be seen as a product of capitalism in that it requires economies of scale. I wanted to try to unravel the concepts of opposing polarities by mixing them into one element.

Also, Comrade Lee's Steak Association is abbreviated as CLSA, which is the same abbreviation as the securities firm. I thought it was funny because it's in the financial sector.

I can guess why you are trying to link the two concepts by issuing dry-aged steak as an NFT. Could you explain in more detail why you are trying to connect the meat-eating culture that constitutes the community with the NFT, which is the core of the community ecosystem?

First of all, because I believe that there will be a transition in the future. It has been a little over half a year since I started studying NFT-related fields, and even in that short period of time, the world has changed rapidly. So I felt pressured that if I did not prepare in advance, I might be left behind later.

Next, I like the community ecosystem. I said that meat is a community culture. I wish there were more people like me. It's fun to gather people. I've been like that since high school. I felt this kind of fun while actively participating in a cafe called Base Korea.

In short, this is it. The world is changing with NFTs, and the question is how to accept it. I want to accept it through the topic of meat, which I like. Moreover, there is no NFT project that gives value to meat-related things yet. The intention was to connect the two.

We believe that a community can grow only when there is a focal point called a token.

Yes. The dry aging market in Korea is currently shrinking significantly. You could say that supply and demand are not symmetrical. Since dry aging is a process that takes time, suppliers need to predict demand to some extent before investing, but since they can’t predict that, they don’t produce.

But what if we create a structure where consumers can produce directly? I thought it could create a virtuous cycle. My hope is to give consumers the tools to fulfill their needs.

How far would you like to grow your community with a token economy?

It would be self-sustaining. The goal is to produce, distribute, and consume the meat they want to eat, and to repeat this process so that dry-aged meat can circulate within a virtuous cycle.

Eventually, you will end up owning your own ranch or aging facility. And you will be faced with many decision-making tasks, including cattle breed, type of feed, slaughtering time, aging period, and distribution process.

It seems like it might create new demand.

Of course, but more than that, I want to raise awareness about the overall meat-eating culture . In our country, there aren't many people who properly grill meat. I didn't like that a little bit.

Whatever it is, it is something that is eaten by sacrificing a life, but there are many times when it is eaten carelessly. Should I say it is a food culture without respect? I want to eliminate that kind of culture. If it is greed, then it is greed.