Biltong with Q view

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

jerky nut

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Dec 1, 2013
127
20
Spring Grove, PA
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.
 
checked the meat this morning it has been curing for 15 hours because I had to move snow when I woke up.


the drip pan wasn't holding as much blood and juice as I thought it would be.


the videos I watched they use a special box to dry biltong. It's just an enclosed box with a light bulb and a computer cooling fan. In South Africa they would hang these from a tree in a shaded area out of sunlight .  I figure my dehydrator will do fine set on 90 degrees.


If biltong is as  good as they say and it's not a smoked product.  well I just can't help but cold smoke some for a couple hours.

Here is the break down of jerky V.S. Biltong

                        Jerky             Biltong

heat applied       yes                 no

vinegar               no                 yes

smoked         optional               no

air dried             yes                yes

I'll be back .
 
UPDATE :


12 hours in the dehydrator


12 hours of cold smoking

still a long way to go till there done.  I pulled the ones from the smoker and put them in the dehydrator now. The smell is driving me crazy I can't wait.

   Later


I almost forgot this one  3.955 to start now down to 2.850.  The meat lost 1.105lbs drying today .

My target weight should be around 1.978 lbs that would be 50% weight loss.  Like I said long way to go yet.
 
Last edited:
ITS DONE!


Well not all of it, the ticker pieces still need a little drying.  But this stuff is awesome!

If you like vinegar  on your fries you will like this Biltong. The smoked pieces are even better yet of course.

The coriander really doesn't have much flavor, the stuff I bought was already ground and I think quite old and flavorless I should have bought whole seed and crushed it my self but.

Any ways as you chew this the flavor keeps coming out of the meat not like jerky, once you chew jerky for so long most of the flavor goes away but not this. I really like it.

Next time I will use fresh rough ground coriander an I don't believe I will cut the pieces so thick.  If your not a big fan of vinegar I would only dip the pieces in vinegar not soak them and use the sweetest or mildest  vinegar as you can find. The dehydrator seemed to dry some pieces too hard so maybe the old fashion way of hanging in the open to dry might be the way to go.

Any ways for a new spin on dried meat and it is worth a try.
 
This is something I am going to have to try at some point! First up is the jerky for the fiancee and I then she asked for some more ABT's
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky