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South African Biltong

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:16 am
by Kruger1801
Doubleuj wrote:G'day mate, welcome. If you've got any tips/ recipe for making biltong I'd love to hear it :handgestures-thumbupleft:


Hi!

I actually do have a great 'tried and proven' recipe. The biggest part of the recipe is the quality & type of meat available... We usually only make biltong if someone gives you some game/venison - Springbok, Kudu or something similar. I'm sure you guys have ostriches - which also works quite well. I also really enjoy beef biltong and the principles are the same, however have never made it myself with beef before...
Cut is also important. Use only fillet for game/venison, and silverside or topside for beef - in long slender cuts/pieces - Aim for about 30cm long by 10cm wide cuts or anything in about the same ratio smaller or bigger. Size does not matter that much, but the thickness should usually be between about 2 to 4cm - as the meat will reduce to 40%/50% of its original size after drying. Personal preference about amount of fat to keep on the cuts, I think about 15-20% is a happy medium.

Make a spice mixture: (for 10kg's meat)
200-250grams coarse salt (no fine table salt)
10 grams saltpeter (optional - if you're in the desert or anywhere really hot, use it) - most chemists and pharmacies in South Africa stock it.
10 grams baking soda
200-250grams whole coriander - roast in a pan until colour changes, then ground to 50% fine ground & 50% really coarse, almost only cracked.
1 table spoon or so coarse ground black pepper
50grams brown sugar

Make a coating mixture:
500ml brown vinegar (or 50/50 brown vinegar and Worcestershire Sauce)

Method: (for 10kg's meat)
1. Dip & rub each piece of meat in the vinegar, shake off excess and lay your meat out in a flattish glass or ceramic or stainless (not plastic) dish. Layer the meat by sprinkling some spice mixture, then meat, then more spice mixture and so on ending, in a final layer of spice/salt. cover it and let it sit overnight in a cool place. 12-24hours depending on the size & thickness of the cuts.
2. Mix 80% warm water and 20% warm brown vinegar and lightly rinse each of the cuts - Aim is to remove most of the coarse salt, then dry off with paper towel.
3.Hang cuts in your biltong maker or in a well ventilated room/shed/garage. If using a DIY biltong maker, 3 days is a good time to taste and see how 'moist' you want it. This is usually good for me, but I wont go longer than 5 days in one of the biltong makers. My grandad use to hang the meat for about 5 days from his shed ceiling with a fan pointed at it...

Biltong maker/dryer:
Here's a good DIY:
http://www.popularmechanics.co.za/how-t ... afternoon/

For the hangers you can use heavy duty paper clips or just bend some S-shapes from thick wire.

Cheers!


Wonder what kangaroo bitlong will taste like...

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:31 am
by bluc
No ostrichs only emu ..

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:39 am
by Kruger1801
bluc wrote:No ostrichs only emu ..


No idea about emu, but worth a try!

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:45 am
by Doubleuj
:handgestures-thumbupleft: cheers Kruger that's awesome. It seems I haven't been doing it wrong then. Do you only add salt to the top layer though or throughout each layer? And I think I've only ever let it sit in the salt for a few hours, would this be why mine tend to take longer than the 3-5 days to dry?

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:47 am
by Kruger1801
Doubleuj wrote::handgestures-thumbupleft: cheers Kruger that's awesome. It seems I haven't been doing it wrong then. Do you only add salt to the top layer though or throughout each layer? And I think I've only ever let it sit in the salt for a few hours, would this be why mine tend to take longer than the 3-5 days to dry?


Hi, Salt/spice on each layer but finish by sprinkling salt/spice mixture over the top of it all. What are you using to dry the meat?

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 10:13 am
by Sparrow
Kruger1801 wrote:
Doubleuj wrote:G'day mate, welcome. If you've got any tips/ recipe for making biltong I'd love to hear it :handgestures-thumbupleft:


Hi!

I actually do have a great 'tried and proven' recipe. The biggest part of the recipe is the quality & type of meat available... We usually only make biltong if someone gives you some game/venison - Springbok, Kudu or something similar. I'm sure you guys have ostriches - which also works quite well. I also really enjoy beef biltong and the principles are the same, however have never made it myself with beef before...
Cut is also important. Use only fillet for game/venison, and silverside or topside for beef - in long slender cuts/pieces - Aim for about 30cm long by 10cm wide cuts or anything in about the same ratio smaller or bigger. Size does not matter that much, but the thickness should usually be between about 2 to 4cm - as the meat will reduce to 40%/50% of its original size after drying. Personal preference about amount of fat to keep on the cuts, I think about 15-20% is a happy medium.

Make a spice mixture: (for 10kg's meat)
200-250grams coarse salt (no fine table salt)
10 grams saltpeter (optional - if you're in the desert or anywhere really hot, use it) - most chemists and pharmacies in South Africa stock it.
10 grams baking soda
200-250grams whole coriander - roast in a pan until colour changes, then ground to 50% fine ground & 50% really coarse, almost only cracked.
1 table spoon or so coarse ground black pepper
50grams brown sugar

Make a coating mixture:
500ml brown vinegar (or 50/50 brown vinegar and Worcestershire Sauce)

Method: (for 10kg's meat)
1. Dip & rub each piece of meat in the vinegar, shake off excess and lay your meat out in a flattish glass or ceramic or stainless (not plastic) dish. Layer the meat by sprinkling some spice mixture, then meat, then more spice mixture and so on ending, in a final layer of spice/salt. cover it and let it sit overnight in a cool place. 12-24hours depending on the size & thickness of the cuts.
2. Mix 80% warm water and 20% warm brown vinegar and lightly rinse each of the cuts - Aim is to remove most of the coarse salt, then dry off with paper towel.
3.Hang cuts in your biltong maker or in a well ventilated room/shed/garage. If using a DIY biltong maker, 3 days is a good time to taste and see how 'moist' you want it. This is usually good for me, but I wont go longer than 5 days in one of the biltong makers. My grandad use to hang the meat for about 5 days from his shed ceiling with a fan pointed at it...

Biltong maker/dryer:
Here's a good DIY:
http://www.popularmechanics.co.za/how-t ... afternoon/

For the hangers you can use heavy duty paper clips or just bend some S-shapes from thick wire.

Cheers!


Wonder what kangaroo bitlong will taste like...


I'll try this one on some venison, dueto get out and fill the freezer soon. Are you a hunter?

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 10:43 am
by Doubleuj
Kruger1801 wrote:
Doubleuj wrote::handgestures-thumbupleft: cheers Kruger that's awesome. It seems I haven't been doing it wrong then. Do you only add salt to the top layer though or throughout each layer? And I think I've only ever let it sit in the salt for a few hours, would this be why mine tend to take longer than the 3-5 days to dry?


Hi, Salt/spice on each layer but finish by sprinkling salt/spice mixture over the top of it all. What are you using to dry the meat?

Cheers, I made a box almost identical to the one you posted. Next step is to grab an old fridge and make a box out of it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 10:50 am
by hillzabilly
We lived in Mt Newman for a while and used ta make biltong from young skippy ,hanging it ta dry in a tin garden shed that was too hot for flies,saltpeter is what they make gun powder with has proved a little harder ta get without questions these days ,butchers used it ta make silverside brine as well with it ,bloody good stuff but I would not make it from an old tough smelly one like this .Go the wallabies.cheers hillzabilly

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:44 am
by bluc
Wouldnt like him to grab hold of me :laughing-rolling:

Re: Hi from Cape Town, South Africa!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:38 pm
by Fishws
Kruger1801 wrote:
bluc wrote:No ostrichs only emu ..


No idea about emu, but worth a try!


I've turned camel into biltong here in WA. Not bad.

Re: South African Biltong

PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:02 am
by warramungas
Roo is really good for biltong as long as you're making biltong flavored jerky (not the soft stuff). Emu i really wouldn't bother. Sort of like croc dundee and goannas. 'You can eat it but it tastes like sh**.'
Here's my recipe for it.I get rave reviews for it and makes even old thumper roo meat palatable.
If you're sensitive to salt maybe just be careful of the salt to start with.

Approx 1 to 1.5 kgs little to no fat beef or game
1⁄4 cup black pepper, coarsley ground
1⁄4 cup coriander, coarsley ground
1⁄4 cup normal table salt
1⁄4 cup brown sugar
1 bottle vinegar

Mix the Pepper, coriander, salt and brown sugar together thoroughly.
Slice the meat into 1 cm thick slices about an inch wide.
Place a layer of meat in a plastic container and sprinkle lightly with the vinegar.
Sprinkle the spices over the top of the meat without completely drowning it.
Place another layer of meat on top of the first and repeat the vinegar and spices steps until all the meat is used up.
Leave in the fridge for 3 hours
Remove and mix it all up thoroughly so that all the spices are evenly spread through the meat.
Drain any excess fluids from the container and return to the fridge for a further three hours. The longer it stays in the fridge the stronger the spice flavours become.
Remove and place in your dehydrator until dried to your satisfaction. (12 to 24 hours in my dehydrator).

Re: South African Biltong

PostPosted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 4:22 pm
by hillzabilly
Makeing it with quality vineager is a must for me ,gives it that zing and cuts down on the saltiness,wich ever meat ya use .cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Re: South African Biltong

PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:04 pm
by Doubleuj
Me, I love it extra salty. But the better vinegar sounds good. Do you have a brand hilza?

Re: South African Biltong

PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:55 pm
by Dogfish
I've used Apple cider vinegar from Woolies which was nice.
Springbok foods in Gold Coast has Biltong spice which is very good.
Its a sprinkle spice and vinegar and hang straight away recipe - no overnight soak or rinsing.