Making Biltong

@Marty Henry

I'm sure there are many ways to skin a cat but this is what i do.

50/50 mix of malt vinegar and Worcester sauce. Soak the meat in that for 3-5 hrs.

Remove the meat and pat it dry with a paper towel. Coat the meat in a generous helping of 'crown national safari biltong spice'

Put it in the fridge for the night. This draws out a lot more moisture from the meat so next morning its all wet again.

Dry each piece again with paper towels.
Give it a bit more spice and hang it in the box

No vinegar smell, bloody delicious [emoji106]



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My current batch from the Oryx I shot end of May.

Usong an old network cabinet as drier. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...cd890ac5d4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...24b21d720e.jpg

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Originally Posted by mimms2

Would be interested to see your setup for this?
Proper humidity control and all, or just a shady eave on the north side?

I got half enthusiastic about prosciuto and pancetta once but having to manage it closely bumped it down the list.

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Not really that hard and I've never photographed the process but here's how I go about it..
Take a whole muscle, back legs are good here but you could do a backsteak.
Trim and if using backsteak remove silvers kind and cut in half. Weigh the meat.
For every kg weigh out 30 grams of salt, 20 grams of brown sugar, mix this with a teaspoon of garlic flakes, 4 bay leaves and some dried rosemary and put in a large zip lock bag.
Add a bottle of red wine and when the salt and sugar have dissolved put the meat in and mass the bag so its all coated, get as much air as possible out and seal the bag.
Put the bag in the fridge and massage it every day for a week.
Remove the strange purple coloured slightly rubbery meat and pat dry.
Make a rub from some cracked pepper, dried rosemary and salt, I use 2:2:1 and roll the meat in this to coat it, tie each pice in mutton cloth to keep its shape and hang in a cool place for one or 2 weeks (I use the beer fridge)
When done I keep it in a zip lock bag to prevent it drying out further or you can freeze the extra.
I will get a chunk out today and photograph it later.

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Originally Posted by kukuwai

Thanks for the link to the spice mix, that looks good [emoji106]


What would you say the ideal cut thickness is? I did notice in the few videos i watched that the cut thickness seemed to vary a lot !



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What i do is, cut different sizes and thicknesses, that way you can start eating small pieces next day and eat the bigger pieces as they dry over the next few days haha. but im the kind of guy who have eaten half of the biltong in the garage while reloading before i actually take the last off to share.

i just chuck all the spices, vinegar etc in with the meat, then i take it out after a couple days and hang it. then i eat it.

If making droëwors (Dry sausage) just make a boerewors recipe and hang it up in thin sheep casings, i use 22mm.

Dont use pork or venison fat for drying this way as it goes rancid, trim off all silverskin, trim off all fat on deer, if making wors use beef or lamb fat

my 2c anyway

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Originally Posted by southpaw

I also use the Crown National spice most of the time.
But for own recipe nothing more than salt, pepper and vinegar.

You could also add a little bit of cream of tartar to prevent mold forming.

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never heard of that one, how much cream of tartar? ill try it as i get a bit of mould sometimes here in kiwiland

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Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

never heard of that one, how much cream of tartar? ill try it as i get a bit of mould sometimes here in kiwiland

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about a 1/4 teaspoon with spices for 3kg meat

Coriander seed is essential, as is brown sugar in the vinegar mixture. And just a touch of ground cloves is also great, but beware - you don't want to overpower the mixture! Some people add chilli or cayenne pepper, but I've never been too fussed.

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Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

What i do is, cut different sizes and thicknesses, that way you can start eating small pieces next day

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Yes, i can totally see how that makes sense [emoji106] I got home today and sliced up a couple of the smaller bits. They got devoured with the first green bottle [emoji41]

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Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

but im the kind of guy who have eaten half of the biltong in the garage while reloading before i actually take the last off to share.

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Problem there is that I have two lads hovering about when i cut it up and they just don't stop racing each other for the ends.

As a result most of mine IS shared in the garage [emoji23][emoji106]


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I find it helps to keep the air dry for the first couple of days* so that a skin forms which helps prevent mould.

* ie run a dehumidifier in the room / garage.

Results of the latest batch. Turns out chamois makes dam good biltong !!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...74cad59305.jpg

Even managed to shrink wrap a few sticks for a trip into the hills [emoji41]
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...15bd1813a5.jpg
Still keen to make a cutter [emoji106]

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That looks great!
I think this or maybe salami could be the best use of cham meat.

Plenty of time on my hands at the moment so finally got around to making a biltong cutter [emoji106]

Started by ripping down off cuts of decking timber...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...96d5bb39ae.jpg

A bit of glue...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d90b3d87cd.jpg

Then a sand up, a knife and some cooking oil....

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...78b052b428.jpg

Now to make another batch of biltong and test it out [emoji41]

Hope you are all keeping yourself entertained in this lockup [emoji2937]

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@kukuwai, I meant to put up photos last time but forgot.
Here is the current batch of goat backstraps started yesterday and hung tonight.
And following it up with some silverside that will go in the box tomorrow.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ef8eea45e9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b9dd51cb0b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...65ca1585b9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3bf3b509c7.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8b377cde0a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b63a2c902e.jpg

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Primo !!

Looking great @ROKTOY [emoji106]

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Pulled the goat back strap out after 2 1/2 days, It's a bit drier than I like, but that was to be expected with no fat in the meat.
A bit salty but still blimin tasty.
An ADV knife from @terryf made short work of slicing it up.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d55649ebd2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d53a13e19c.jpg

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Another batch drying, this is much easier than jerky and the sight residual vinegar twang more enjoyable to someone who prefers savoury.

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Originally Posted by ROKTOY

Pulled the goat back strap out after 2 1/2 days, It's a bit drier than I like, but that was to be expected with no fat in the meat.
A bit salty but still blimin tasty.
An ADV knife from @terryf made short work of slicing it up.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d55649ebd2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d53a13e19c.jpg

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Sure does look like an awesome knife :thumbsup:

Dropped a couple of kilos of venison off to my SA workmate last week and got this back Monday :thumbsup:

Attachment 182622

Two different flavours one with a touch of chilli.

Primo VC your gunna love that !!

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Nice!
I just use a plastic storage box from the warehouse. By spice mix for biltong, droëwors and boerewors from SA shop. Has al the right spices and preservatives needed.