Biltong Box Schematics / Scrawl :)
- Thread starter the munt
- Start date
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- Jan 11, 2017
- 19
- 13
Second batch went in this morning. Cut much finer, 3.8kg knuckle here cut into 75 smaller sticks of biltong.
Very happy with the new box.
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Warren
Warren
- Jan 11, 2017
- 19
- 13
Munt, any possibility of you sharing your process for the prep and seasoning of the biltong? We have a lot of folks on here interested, but not a lot have posted the process and spices.
- Jan 11, 2017
- 19
- 13
No problem mate,
But I cheated just so you know...
I took a 3.8kg chunk of Beef Knuckle (located just under the topside and silver-side if you are not familiar with the cut). I like using either topside or silverside (the butcher didn't have any this time so he offered the knuckle and it's turned out pretty darn good).
Sliced it into 3/4 inch strips (this can vary, but over an inch be ready to wait longer). This way I had 75 sticks!
Essentially if you like it meatier / jucier / less herby, try a little thicker, but this time I just wanted some sticks to throw in my lunch box for work. There are pros and cons to thickness. If you make it thinner, it will be a slightly drier mouth feel, stronger herb flavors and chew off easily, so no real need to slice. If you make it thicker, it takes alot longer, you may feel you need to slice it, also if you don't eat it all, the section you have cut is not necessarily "bacteria proof".
Place all the strips into a large pot (big enough to have some room for both your hands mixing and all the meat).
Pour apple cider vinegar over meat, I don't really measure it, but essentially you need a good amount to drizzle over all the meat, if you do it right there should be a little vinegar in the bottom of the pot, that will soak up when mixed with the spice mix (don't drown the meat in vinegar, if it's found its own level in the pot you've over done it).
At this point I mix the meat thoroughly with both hands repeatedly until I'm sure every bit has a vinegar coating, the vinegar stops your meat rotting so you must cover every part.
Now here is the cheat part:
I just used safari Biltong Spice mix, I will certainly be making my own mixes in future but at present my main goal was to test the new box with a product I'm familiar with, so this was a good test product. You can buy this stuff fairly easily around the traps and if it's your first batch of Biltong it probably wouldn't hurt to use the premixed stuff as it's one less variable.
Used about 60grams per kilo of meat and mixed thoroughly again, coating all the meat.
Your hands are filthy at this stage, but put a lid on the pot and put it in the fridge over night. Ideally slice a mix the ingredients in the afternoon, and hang the meat the following morning early. Some people only fridge for a couple of hours, but I like to do it overnight. I'm a sucker for dried coriander and the spice mix is something I enjoy on the heavy side.
My first round of Biltong seen in the first photo above was 4.5kg cut into about 15 sticks (so much bigger), there was alot of variation, some were ready after 4 days, others were up to 7 days for the really thick peices. Second batch was cut about 3/4 inch from 3.8kg into 75 sticks so they were all done after 3 days. This time I cryovac'd them into seperate bags about 15 sticks each and froze what I won't use in the next week.
Hope this helps and when I make some of my own spice mixes I'll be sure to share.
But I cheated just so you know...
I took a 3.8kg chunk of Beef Knuckle (located just under the topside and silver-side if you are not familiar with the cut). I like using either topside or silverside (the butcher didn't have any this time so he offered the knuckle and it's turned out pretty darn good).
Sliced it into 3/4 inch strips (this can vary, but over an inch be ready to wait longer). This way I had 75 sticks!
Essentially if you like it meatier / jucier / less herby, try a little thicker, but this time I just wanted some sticks to throw in my lunch box for work. There are pros and cons to thickness. If you make it thinner, it will be a slightly drier mouth feel, stronger herb flavors and chew off easily, so no real need to slice. If you make it thicker, it takes alot longer, you may feel you need to slice it, also if you don't eat it all, the section you have cut is not necessarily "bacteria proof".
Place all the strips into a large pot (big enough to have some room for both your hands mixing and all the meat).
Pour apple cider vinegar over meat, I don't really measure it, but essentially you need a good amount to drizzle over all the meat, if you do it right there should be a little vinegar in the bottom of the pot, that will soak up when mixed with the spice mix (don't drown the meat in vinegar, if it's found its own level in the pot you've over done it).
At this point I mix the meat thoroughly with both hands repeatedly until I'm sure every bit has a vinegar coating, the vinegar stops your meat rotting so you must cover every part.
Now here is the cheat part:
I just used safari Biltong Spice mix, I will certainly be making my own mixes in future but at present my main goal was to test the new box with a product I'm familiar with, so this was a good test product. You can buy this stuff fairly easily around the traps and if it's your first batch of Biltong it probably wouldn't hurt to use the premixed stuff as it's one less variable.
Used about 60grams per kilo of meat and mixed thoroughly again, coating all the meat.
Your hands are filthy at this stage, but put a lid on the pot and put it in the fridge over night. Ideally slice a mix the ingredients in the afternoon, and hang the meat the following morning early. Some people only fridge for a couple of hours, but I like to do it overnight. I'm a sucker for dried coriander and the spice mix is something I enjoy on the heavy side.
My first round of Biltong seen in the first photo above was 4.5kg cut into about 15 sticks (so much bigger), there was alot of variation, some were ready after 4 days, others were up to 7 days for the really thick peices. Second batch was cut about 3/4 inch from 3.8kg into 75 sticks so they were all done after 3 days. This time I cryovac'd them into seperate bags about 15 sticks each and froze what I won't use in the next week.
Hope this helps and when I make some of my own spice mixes I'll be sure to share.
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