Its my one year anniversary since returning from my first PG safari to Namibia. I am commemorating the adventure by writing a 'Memoir'.

The writing is going really well and the memories so alive!

So alive that I need to eat some 'biltong' really bad to get my fix...

Can anyone share a favorite biltong recipe from the bush?
I want to prepare it with beef..

I'd love to give it a try...


Gosh I love this stuff sooo bad...Help please...

Aloha!

Ro

BNagel- Thanks for sharing that informative link I appreciate it...


Anyone else with something to share?


I was planning on soaking 5 lbs. 8 lbs. of beef cut into 1/2" thick strips in a brine of water, vinegar, sugar, and salt for a few hours.

Next drain and towel-dry well...

Then apply a dry-rub of spices i.e., crushed coriander seed, cracked black-pepper, salt and sugar, dried hot peppers and let sit in the refrig overnight.

The next morning I would raise my oven rack to the top and use my SS hooks to hang the strips individually and the bottom rack with a couple pans to catch the drippings.

Bake at 170 degrees [lowest setting for my oven] for one hour...

Turn OFF oven and leave meat hanging for another hour or so...[do not open door as to retain full heat even though oven is "off"]

Turn the oven ON again for another hour or so at 170 degrees again,

Then do as before and turn OFF the oven and let the meat remain in the oven for 3 hours... [ do not open the door as to retain the heat]

[repeat as necessary]...should be GOOD within 8 hours or so...


Any ideas on what OTHER types of spices to consider in my dry-rub?


I plan to do this next week and the beers are chilling...

The only thing I have to add is to make as much as your oven will allow. It goes fast.

Happy anniversary!

Hey Grafton... Thanks...

Nice to hear from you buddy...sheesh, I can't believe its been a year already...

This is only the test run...and hope to refine it on the second...then I'll load up the oven...I got a huge one with lots of hooks...

I'll update this post next week and see how it goes...

Aloha!

Ro

FYI...

I'm going to salt, vinegar, and season according to the recommendations found here instead...

http://www.3men.com/biltong.htm#Meat%20Selection

Then I'll dry it in my oven according to the method I described as I live in humid Hawaii...

Late-Bloomer,

Your Oven drying method is sure to ruin the meat by overheating! Hawaii is hot and humid - something like our Durban in summer? Please you guys from Durbs give this guy some advice! I have always lived in dry areas and simply do not have first hand experience of making biltong in a humid climate. I’ve heard some disaster stories though!

You have air conditioning? Yes! Can you set the temperature in one small room at a really cold setting? You know air conditioners dries out the air? I suggest that you try hanging the meat in such a cold room with a big fan blowing right onto the meat! Cut your meat strips much thinner than the biltong you've seen in Namibia. If I lived in a humid climate I would think that about 1/4 thick and no wider than about 1" - if it is too wide it may curl up on starting to dry and so form a wet spot for mildew to grow. Hang the meat strips with lots of space between them, say at 6" from any other piece.

Remember that you are NOT preserving the meat by salting and spicing it! You are preserving the meat by drying it! There is, in our dry climate absolutely no need for any "saltpeter" or bicarbonate of soda at all. My own recipe for spicing the biltong is simple: Place the meat strip of 1/4" thick by 1" wide, and say, 12" long on a meat or vegetable cutting board just as is was cut: No dipping in vinegar or anything else done to it. Now spice it, on both sides with salt and coarsely ground black pepper to the degree that you would if it was a medium grilled steak that you are going to eat. Use just as much salt as you would like to eat on a grilled steak, no more! The same applies to the pepper - just as much as you would use on a grilled steak that you are about to eat. Remember to spread the salt and pepper on both sides of the meat strip, and the sides too. But use only so much as you would on a grilled steak of that size. Now add about an amount of coarsely ground freshly roasted coriander equal to the amount of black pepper you used. Rub the salt, pepper and coriander a bit to help it stick to the meat. Then hang up immediately without any soaking in a heap at all. There should hardly be any dripping at all! For your humid climate dry in a air-conditioned room set as cold as your aircon can make it, and and, start the fan! Make sure that the fan blows strongly over the strips. When the meat has lost about 50% of it's moisture it will be twice as salty as your grilled steak, and the pepper and coriander will have lost some flavor by being exposed to the fan - it's no longer freshly ground!

IMHO the real beauty of this simple method is: You can do one single strip of meat at a time. Surely you do not weigh your steak and then weigh off a certain amount of salt every time you are going to eat a steak! From experience you 'know' just how much to shake the salt shaker to get your steak just the right amount of salt to your own taste? Do that with the strip of meat you want to dry, and it will be to your taste when dried! People who like a lot of salt on their steaks, also like a lot of salt on their biltong! Remember that biltong is a salty snack, and the saltiness of the strip of meat increases as it dries out.

Why not try it my way? I’m not asking you to risk a lot of meat on testing this method: Just cut one single small strip from a quality meat roast before it is prepared for roasting. Just be careful to not over apply salt.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

I just hang the biltong strips on an indoor shaded clothes line and use about 3 fans. the fans are on 24/7. this takes about 3-5 days to dry the biltong in Durban.

quote:

I am commemorating the adventure by writing a 'Memoir'.

That's a great idea. I did as soon as I returned and everything was fresh in my mind. I will take a journal with me next time and do a day to day. You do tend to forget minor details over time, but as soon as you reread it everything comes back to you and it's like you're on safari again!

Brett

PS. Anyone planning their first safari reading this: Write it ALL down!

I agree with Andrew on the oven. I just cant see it...
My suggestion is to build a biltong drying box.
Very simple, all you need is some Masonite a computer fan or similar low cost extractor fan and a light bulb.
Make a box out of the Masonite, place the extractor in the top, make some vents in the bottom and place a small 20 watt bulb in the box to take care of humidity.
If you go bigger then use a bigger bulb, make sure that the box is not getting hotter than room temp though.

When adding spices use salt petre and increase the vinagre content. Dont add sugar to biltong, its not Jerky.

I used to do this in Dubai and it does not get much hotter or more humid than that. If you want to splash out a bit use one of those industrial size bins with the flip up lids, makes it quick and easy to check and repack. Drill some holes around the top rim and place a row of dowels across as hanging rods. With this setup you can hang and dry up to 6kg's of meat at a time. I am a bit of a savage but I would eat the first bits the next day, just as soon as they stop dripping.

Hey Andrew...Thanks for the heads-up...I will take any advice I can get...But being in this humidity I don't know what else to do...It may not be authentic but at least I would be close enough with not much ill-effects!

Man I would appreciate any help I can get,,,Hawaii is humid and that's my problem and hence for the cause of the oven...

We dry a lot of meats here in Hawaii as well, and oven-drying is resorted to oft times in these times of wantoness...

If anything I think the spice is everything and feel through some practice I can nail down the drying time sooner or later!

I'll try your way too!

And I'd love to share my findings with those that find this post of interest...

As a professional cook for many years I feel comfortable playing with different techniques of drying...If anything I'll have a lot of fun eating the results!!!

Thanks Buddy I appreciate your passionate help!

Hey gang I appreciate these responses!

It makes me think this situation out more clearly in terms of my drying method,,,

I'm listening and I will consider..

I appreciate this help gang!

http://www.biltongbox.com/biltong/

It works !!!!!

Here are the directions from the TV show "Good Eats" to make jerky by drying it without using any heat. You could use the same approach with your biltong recipe.

Fantastic info folks!

Its seems I'll go with the biltong box and light bulb fixture method that Kamaatu and Vlam recommended...

It sounds like that will work great in my climate!

Thanks a bunch!