Biltong

Bokenpop aka Madeleine's Note:

Biltong is one of those things that everyone has their own opinion of... how to salt, how to spice, how wet/dry it should be, etc. This is my personal favourite recipe which is simple and straight-forward. It is excellent as is, but feel free make changes to the spice mixture to suit your tastes.

• Total Time: 96 hrs
• Prep Time: 24 hrs
• Cook Time: 72 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 48 biltongs

• 5 -10 kg beef
• 625 ml vinegar
• 75 g sugar
• 10 ml baking soda
• 10 ml black pepper
• 45 ml whole coriander seeds
• 275 g coarse salt

Directions:

1. Trim excess fat off the meat.
2. Slice meat along the grain no thicker than 1.5cm.
3. Cut those slices into strips of 3-5cm wide.
4. Combine sugar, baking soda and black pepper.
5. Roast coriander in a pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes and then crush it fine.
6. Mix into the sugar mixture.
7. Pour vinegar into a flat dish and drag meat strips through the vinegar coating them well.
8. I use my cooler box for this next step in the process: sprinkle a handful of salt over the bottom of the cooler box and cover with a layer of meat strips.
9. Sprinkle the meat with a layer of salt and then the spice mixture.
10. Keep layering the meat, salt and spices finishing with a layer of salt and spices.
11. Close cooler box and leave to stand for 24 hours.
12. Discard any left over vinegar.
13. When you open the cooler box, there will be a lot of water drawn from the meat and the salt should be dissolved.
14. Take the meat out of the cooler and place on a tray.
15. Remove any large pieces of salt that may still be on the meat.
16. It is your choice if you still want to pat the meat dry, I never do.
17. Discard the water in the cooler.
18. Using a paperclip opened to resemble an "S", hook each meat strip and hang to dry.
19. I use a biltong box because the biltong is dry within 3 days of hanging - conventional methods take much longer.

Reviews

[Chefboytjie]

THis was a easy snack to make but I got impatient waiting for the biltong to dry because I wanted to eat it right away! I used some biltong spices I bought on the internet but used your method.

[Iluv2cook59]

I convinced DH that I would make biltong this year, as that is normally his speciality over summer... somewhat reluctantly he "gave in" but kept a careful eye on the "new spices" "roasting of coriander" and placing in "cooler box" !!!! After 24 hrs hubby hung up the meat in the pantry and is keeping a watchful eye.... I will update when the meat is dry! (we don't have a biltong box) - Can't wait! Thank you Boekenpop for the ease of making biltong and your method of culminating all the spices - 5 stars - update, biltong came out really good, next time I need to get kosher salt... but, really good, thanks very much for sharing.. a firm keeper for next year's winter must do's