At Hippo Creek  we strive to offer only the highest quality beef. We use only MSA Grade grain and grass fed Certified Australian Angus Beef. Carefully monitored from paddock to plate by the MSA program and personally selected by the owner and his chefs.  We then "wet age” and “dry age” the beef for a minimum of 28 Days in our custom designed dry age cool room before we serve it to you. These are just some of the techniques we use to provide you with the best beef steaks available.

What is MSA Grade Beef?

MSA (Meat Standards Australia) is a tenderness guaranteed grading program. All MSA graded beef is labelled with a guaranteed grade and recommended cooking method to identify beef eating quality according to consumers.  The program is designed to give consumers a quality assurance. Hippo Creek is licensed to sell “Certified MSA Product”. License Number F335.

What is Wet-aged Beef?

Wet-aged beef is beef that has  been aged in a vacuum sealed bag to retain its moisture. This process enhances the beef  when the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef.
This is the dominant mode of aging beef in Australia today. Wet-aging is popular because it takes less time and none of the beef is lost in the process. In contrast, dry-aging will see up to a third or more of a steak being lost from moisture loss.
 
Steak aficionados disagree as to which method produces the best steak. Why not judge it for yourself.

What is dry-aged beef?

Dry-aged beef is beef that has been hung to dry for several weeks. This process involves considerable expense as the beef must be stored at near freezing temperatures. Also only the higher grades of meat can be dry aged, as the process requires meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. For these reasons one seldom sees dry aged beef outside of top steak houses.
The process enhances beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavour and taste. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef.

Dry aging of beef is rare in the Australia today due to the significant loss of weight in the aging process.
You can see the meat hanging in our custom designed dry-age cool room; just ask your waitperson to point you in the right direction.
 
Our Guarantee and Quality Assurance; If you are not 100% happy with your beef steak let your waitperson  know and we will happily replace it with another one of your original order. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee steaks that are cooked past medium.