After the recent comments about Biltong, I started to investigate other peoples processes for making Biltong. I found out no one seems to use any curing product other than salt and vinegar. while doing this I have seen nothing but comments about how good Biltong is such as once you eat Biltong you will never eat jerky again. Well I doubt it but I'm going to try it, so here we go
Fresh whole round.
all trimmed up ready to slice
sliced and weighed 3.955 pounds
placed in apple cider vinegar
spices all mixed up according to recipie out of book no additions or subtractions this is where it becomes a little tricky. The recipe calls for 2.2 lbs of meat so as you saw I need just less than a double batch. So I make a double batch, then figure out how many oz of the mix are required per oz of meat. I multiply that by how many oz of meat I have , weigh it out and throw the remaining mix away. easiest way to get down to the right numbers if you have an accurate scale.
meat removed from vinegar after 2 hour soak, I then sprinkled the proper amount of seasoning onto the meat and rubbed it in.
I placed the meat on racks which were covered with wax paper because my racks are torn up and rusty from salt. I put the pan in the fridge and on a tilt so the juices which come out of the meat will collect in the bottom of the pan. Both trays are elevated off the bottom so as to not sit in the extracted moisture removed by the curing process. If I put them in a ziploc bag it would be like soaking in a brine, I don't want that. I am trying to remove moisture from the meat. soaking in a brine would add moisture. This is an air dried product any additional moisture absorbed will only have to be removed in the drying process. This must cure for 12 hours see you tomorrow.
Fresh whole round.
all trimmed up ready to slice
sliced and weighed 3.955 pounds
placed in apple cider vinegar
spices all mixed up according to recipie out of book no additions or subtractions this is where it becomes a little tricky. The recipe calls for 2.2 lbs of meat so as you saw I need just less than a double batch. So I make a double batch, then figure out how many oz of the mix are required per oz of meat. I multiply that by how many oz of meat I have , weigh it out and throw the remaining mix away. easiest way to get down to the right numbers if you have an accurate scale.
meat removed from vinegar after 2 hour soak, I then sprinkled the proper amount of seasoning onto the meat and rubbed it in.
I placed the meat on racks which were covered with wax paper because my racks are torn up and rusty from salt. I put the pan in the fridge and on a tilt so the juices which come out of the meat will collect in the bottom of the pan. Both trays are elevated off the bottom so as to not sit in the extracted moisture removed by the curing process. If I put them in a ziploc bag it would be like soaking in a brine, I don't want that. I am trying to remove moisture from the meat. soaking in a brine would add moisture. This is an air dried product any additional moisture absorbed will only have to be removed in the drying process. This must cure for 12 hours see you tomorrow.