Scientists explore the potential for dry-aged beef crust to enhance ground beef flavor
Sept. 28, 2026
By Mary Hightower
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Fast facts
- Dry-aged beef crust studied as ingredient to enhance ground beef flavor
- Stress to animal can affect meat quality
(897 words)
Download portrait of Derico Setyabrata
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Diners may think “delicious” comes from the kitchen spice rack, but when it comes to beef, flavor starts at the molecular level.
Dry-aged beef has found favor with foodies who find it to have more depth of flavor than fresh beef.
“In terms of flavor, the dry-aged beef flavor is often described as nutty, beefy, buttery and savory,” said Derico Setyabrata, assistant professor of meat science and muscle biology with the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
“Sometimes it is difficult to fully describe the flavor, and some describe it as a
dry-aged ‘funk’ flavor,” he said.
Setyabrata said that “dry-aging is a natural value-adding process. While its popularity
is increasing, it is an older, traditional process compared to the more common wet-aged
meat, which is placed in vacuum packaging.
“The main benefit of dry aging is improved palatability, including tenderness, juiciness particularly in flavor,” he said. Despite inconsistencies that can come from dry aging, it’s still done “as it greatly improves flavor.”
How dry aging works
Meat is dry aged by being exposed to open air in a refrigerated space. During the
aging period, water evaporates and enzymes within the meat break down tissues, making
the meat more tender. The surface exposed to air develops a dried crust, which is
trimmed away before cooking and serving.
“At the cellular level, from available studies, we believe the general protease degradation
mechanism is the same between dry-aged and wet-aged meat,” Setyabrata said.
“However, with dry aging, the improvement in flavor is thought to result from dehydration, which increases the concentration of flavor precursors and the final flavor,” he said. “Our studies also indicate that the activity of microorganisms will also influence the flavor and tenderness improvement in the beef.”
Examining the process
Setyabrata is involved in several studies examining aspects of dry-aging, including a deep dive into the composition of the crust and its potential uses and the role metabolism plays in developing flavors in the meat.
In one study dating back to Setyabrata’s time as a graduate student at Purdue University, he and his collaborators trimmed and freeze-dried the crusts from dry-aged beef before turning them into powder to be mixed into ground beef patties.
The study concluded that adding the beef crust had “no negative impacts on both lipid and protein oxidation during display. Although harder texture was observed on patties with added beef crust, the sensory panel did not find any differences in texture such as hardness, cohesiveness and moisture.”
“More importantly, adding dry-aged beef crusts enhanced the unique dry-age flavor — the brown/roasted and umami flavor — of patties, possibly due to the formation of decane as revealed by the analysis of volatile compounds,” the study said.
The findings of the study suggest that dry-aged beef crust could potentially be used as a value-adding ingredient.
“What we found is that the crust pretty much still has a good processing ability and can be included in processed meat without detrimental impact to add nutrition and the beefy and savory aspects of flavor,” Setyabrata said.
Among its advantages over wet-aged beef, dry-aged beef crust was found to have higher antioxidant and emulsifying capacities and that a trained sensory panel found that a beef patty with crust mixed in had the highest brown-roasted/grilled and umami flavors.
This study was published in the journal Meat Science and was titled, “Evaluation of functional and chemical properties of crust from dry-aged beef loins as a novel food ingredient.”
Metabolism and meat
In a more recent review article titled “Metabolomics in Meat Science from Farm to Fork: A Comprehensive Review of Quality, Safety, and Authenticity Applications,” published in Meat and Muscle Biology, Setyabrata and his co-authors evaluated the factors that contribute to meat quality.
Many biochemical processes occur in a meat animal before and after slaughter that are important to the flavor characteristics the meat will have.
To find and track the chemical processes that create flavor in beef, scientists turn to metabolomics — the study of the “fingerprints” left by cellular processes. The wide-ranging review article looked at beef, pork, lamb, goat, poultry and other meats. It found that many factors influence meat quality, including stress in the animals and the temperatures in which the meat is stored after slaughter.
The metabolomics article included a study comparing grass-fed and grain-fed beef and how the metabolic processes in cattle may affect beef quality. Mammals convert carbohydrates to glucose to provide energy. Any glucose that’s not needed immediately is stored as glycogen.
“The main difference found was that the grain-fed has greater glycogen/sugar metabolites,” Setyabrata said. “The abundance of these metabolites drives the pH decline that really leads to the generation of meat with good color and palatability.”
pH, or the measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, “is very critical in meat quality development, particularly color and tenderness,” he said. “It influences the enzyme activity and protein degradation.”
However, “too fast a pH drop will cause protein to denature, resulting in pale-colored meat,” he said.
Beef proteins are usually tightly coiled. When denatured, they unwind, and the meat can lose moisture.
“This will also affect the protease enzyme by reducing its activity and resulting in tougher meat. Higher pH also leads to darker meat color and potential microbial issues because microorganisms are better able to survive in the higher-pH meat,” Setyabrata said.
Marbling, the amount of fat distributed between beef fibers, has long been considered an indicator of a tender and juicy steak. However, when viewed from a metabolic standpoint, “direct associations between marbling-specific metabolites and tenderization mechanisms remained unresolved, highlighting the need” for further studies.
Post-harvest temperatures matter too.
The study found that beef chilled to minus 3 degrees Celsius within five hours of slaughter — called super chilling — accelerates both collagen solubility and other biochemical processes that promote early tenderization.
The metabolomics review article was supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, project award no. 2020-67017-31270, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit aaes.uada.edu. Follow the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station on LinkedIn and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three system campuses.
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Media Contact:
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nkordsme@uada.edu