My family and I LOVE biltong. Biltong reminds me of my family vacations in South Africa. It almost seemed that a road trip would be remiss without biltong, chips and soda! My parents used to buy store bought biltong until one day, they decided to buy a biltong maker. We never bought store bought biltong again! When making your own biltong, you can make it less dry than store bought biltong. I like the softer center rather than a completely dry texture.
When I moved to the States, I remember trying to fabricate my own biltong box. I found a small personal electric fan, placed it at the bottom of large plastic crate that I enclosed with newspaper, marinated my meat and let it do its thing. It was delicious. I did find that making biltong may have its challenges depending on the climate. It may be more challenging to dry your biltong in humid climates before the mold sets in!
Unlike American beef jerky, South African biltong is meaty. Slabs of meat, the thickness of a piece of steak, are cured and then sliced. My daughters and all their friends have learned about South Africa through biltong! This recipe and instructions is for one of my daughter's friends. I hope you enjoy this Jojo!
Tips:
"Eye of Round" cut of beef used for biltong
Spices: Biltong dry rub is usually made up of coarse salt, black pepper, brown sugar, vinegar and coriander. Do not use table salt. It is too fine and is quickly absorbed into the meat, making it very salty. Vinegar is used not only as a preservative, but the acid is also a natural tenderizer. I usually use apple cider vinegar or a wine vinegar. The amount of coriander and black pepper used to really up to your personal taste. I love the taste of coriander and black pepper so I tend to add more than most recipes. I usually roast whole black pepper corns and coriander seeds in a dry skillet. Once it starts to smell, remove it and grind it to a coarse grind in a hand blender or use a pestle and mortar to grind it. I have a cusinart emersion hand blender that I love. It has a chopping and whisk attachment that I've used for so many other things. One of the more useful tools in the kitchen!
Equipment: Biltong hooks. Hooks are needed to suspend the meat. I made some hooks using metal paper clips and twisting them into a "S" shape.
Since I live in California with no humidity, I've discovered that my gas, convection oven is the best biltong maker ever! I remove the base of the oven to allow more air circulation. I line that base with newspaper to avoid the drips from getting onto the gas line. I then adjust the rack so it sits on the highest level. Biltong takes 2 days to dry with both the oven light and fan on.
INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut meat to ¾" thickness along the grain of the meat
Cut into 3/4" thick strips along the grain of the meat
- Roast the black peppercorns and coriander seeds together
Roasted coriander seeds and pepper corns
- Coarse grind the peppercorns and coriander seeds
Coarse grind roasted pepper and coriander with a blender
- Combine the salt, sugar, coriander seed and peppercorn together
- Quickly dip each side of the meat in the vinegar bath
- Sprinkle the dry mixture onto each side of the meat
- Let the meat cure and marinate for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours. Make sure you turn the meat over at least twice to ensure that all the meat marinates in the seasoning liquid so that the flavor is evenly distributed. After 12 hours, the vinegar should cause the meat to feel firmer.
- Using metal paperclips, hook the thinner part of the meat
- Hang to dry in a convection oven with light and fan on for 48-72 hours depending on your preference of dryness. I usually take a pair of scissors and snip the end of one piece to taste doneness. This usually ends up with many snippings! See Biltong tips & tricks.
Biltong drying with fan and light on in a convection oven.
Biltong after 24 hours of drying.
If this all seems too difficult to make and you are just yearning for some authentic South African biltong, send me a comment below and I'll sell you a batch!
SOUTH AFRICAN BILTONG
Equipment
- Convection oven
- Biltong box
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg Beef eye round Costco sells a cryovac ~2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) beef eye round that works well
- ¼ cup cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp coarse salt. Do not use table salt.
- 1½ Tbsp packed dark brown sugar
- 3 tsp black peppercorns
- 3 tsp coriander seeds
Instructions
- Cut meat to ¾" thickness along the grain of the meat
- Roast the black peppercorns and coriander seeds together
- Coarse grind the peppercorns and coriander seeds
- Combine the salt, sugar, coriander seed and peppercorn together
- Quickly dip each side of the meat in the vinegar
- Sprinkle the dry mixture onto each side of the meat
- Let the meat cure and marinate for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours. Make sure you turn the meat over at least twice to ensure that all the meat marinates in the seasoning liquid so that the flavor is evenly distributed. After 12 hours, the vinegar should cause the meat to feel firmer.
- Using metal paperclips, hook the thinner part of the meat and let hang to dry in a convection oven with sufficient air circulation and light and fan on. See Biltong tips & tricks.