Biltong is a cured meat product revered in south africa as the food of the gods. You can make it in a desiccator or (as I do) in a converted cardboard box :-)
It's main difference to jerky is that you use much larger and thicker pieces of meat and use a vinegar mix to marinade the meat before liberally coating in the curing spice and hanging to dry.
You can dry it to different wetnesses. If you dry it totally it will keep almost indefinitely with no special storage requirements. Generally it's cured to a medium dryness so that it's still slightly moist in the centre.
I can guarentee that once you've made and tasted biltong you'll never bother making jerky again ;-)
Okay traditional biltong method.
South africans use mostly beef but any red meat will do.
I've used beef, pork (turns out a bit like cured gammon), turkey thigh meat and pigeon breasts. They all have their different flavours - but the pigeon turned out to have a very strong almost gamey flavour and smooth texture.
Cut long strips of meat approx 1/2 to 1 inch thick. You can cut to any length - just so long as it'll hang in your drying box. place meat in bowl and add a decent amount of cider vinegar. Make sure the meat is coated liberally and leave for about 20 minutes to soak.
Pour off the excess vinegar and add biltong spice (coriander seeds, brown sugar, black pepper and salt) Coat the meat well in the spice, lump it at the end of bowl (I use a long oblong plastic tray thing) and let any excess fluid drain into the empty part of the bowl. having bowl tilted slightly helps. Pour the liquid off every half hour or so. After 2 -3 hours hang meat to dry.
Either use a purpose made drying box or hang in cool dry insect free place for 3-5 days. I like my biltong very dry and very hard and chewy.
I also use balsamic vinegars, tabasco, some garlic powder and a little extra sugar in my vinegar mix.
Biltong is nothing like jerky. It's got a lot more flavour, is much thicker and subsequently a better eating experience. Should not taste overly salty and by dint of the vinegar sterilising, the meat tends to keep at least as long as jerky. You can also add a small amount of saltpetre to the spice mix for added preservation (I don't, but you can).
If you want to have a go my actual spice mix for about 3 lb of meat = 4 teaspoons seasalt, 2 heaped teaspoons ground black pepper, 4 teaspoons brown sugar, 7 teaspoons coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and half a teaspoon powdered garlic. I grind the sugar, pepper, salt etc seperately and then grind the coriander (both in mortar and pestle) and then mix them in a small bowl. My mortar is not big enough to do it all at once as coriander is high volume low weight. If you buy ready ground coriander seeds then add 4 teaspoons to the salt, sugar and pepper.
If you've got something like a magic bullet processor (it's on my to-buy list) use that.
If anyone's interested in the dimensions of my cardbaord box I'll go measure it. It uses a 20 watt lightbulb. And on average my biltong is ready after 3-4 days.
It's main difference to jerky is that you use much larger and thicker pieces of meat and use a vinegar mix to marinade the meat before liberally coating in the curing spice and hanging to dry.
You can dry it to different wetnesses. If you dry it totally it will keep almost indefinitely with no special storage requirements. Generally it's cured to a medium dryness so that it's still slightly moist in the centre.
I can guarentee that once you've made and tasted biltong you'll never bother making jerky again ;-)
Okay traditional biltong method.
South africans use mostly beef but any red meat will do.
I've used beef, pork (turns out a bit like cured gammon), turkey thigh meat and pigeon breasts. They all have their different flavours - but the pigeon turned out to have a very strong almost gamey flavour and smooth texture.
Cut long strips of meat approx 1/2 to 1 inch thick. You can cut to any length - just so long as it'll hang in your drying box. place meat in bowl and add a decent amount of cider vinegar. Make sure the meat is coated liberally and leave for about 20 minutes to soak.
Pour off the excess vinegar and add biltong spice (coriander seeds, brown sugar, black pepper and salt) Coat the meat well in the spice, lump it at the end of bowl (I use a long oblong plastic tray thing) and let any excess fluid drain into the empty part of the bowl. having bowl tilted slightly helps. Pour the liquid off every half hour or so. After 2 -3 hours hang meat to dry.
Either use a purpose made drying box or hang in cool dry insect free place for 3-5 days. I like my biltong very dry and very hard and chewy.
I also use balsamic vinegars, tabasco, some garlic powder and a little extra sugar in my vinegar mix.
Biltong is nothing like jerky. It's got a lot more flavour, is much thicker and subsequently a better eating experience. Should not taste overly salty and by dint of the vinegar sterilising, the meat tends to keep at least as long as jerky. You can also add a small amount of saltpetre to the spice mix for added preservation (I don't, but you can).
If you want to have a go my actual spice mix for about 3 lb of meat = 4 teaspoons seasalt, 2 heaped teaspoons ground black pepper, 4 teaspoons brown sugar, 7 teaspoons coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika and half a teaspoon powdered garlic. I grind the sugar, pepper, salt etc seperately and then grind the coriander (both in mortar and pestle) and then mix them in a small bowl. My mortar is not big enough to do it all at once as coriander is high volume low weight. If you buy ready ground coriander seeds then add 4 teaspoons to the salt, sugar and pepper.
If you've got something like a magic bullet processor (it's on my to-buy list) use that.
If anyone's interested in the dimensions of my cardbaord box I'll go measure it. It uses a 20 watt lightbulb. And on average my biltong is ready after 3-4 days.