The Ultimate in Long Life Protein! BIltong!

[Binnie]

Hi guys,

Biltong is an awesome way of getting some essential nutrients.

Its a traditional south african delight,

apparently discovered when the dutch were claiming south africa, their horses were getting terrible saddle sores, to combat this they used strips of meat as padding.

the horses sweated so much that the beef became cured!



I've made biltong once or twice, and it's very easy to do!

Biltong can be kept up to 2 years if fully dried and kept dry.


To make it, i basically follwed the instructions here >> http://www.biltongbox.com/biltong.html , but instead of a 60W light bulb i used one of those £10 fan heaters you get from tesco to keep the box at approx 30c.

Biltong can be an acquired taste, but you can buy it from many places online, i reccomend susmans, at http://www.biltong.co.uk


if anyone tries it let me know what you thought!


(oh PS, silverside is by far the best to use for biltong, though they say any red meat works well)

[Luci_ferson]

it seems very similar to that stuff americans eat.
beef jerky.

[Binnie]

nah its nothing like beef jerky!

Beef jerky is hot smoked beef, Biltong is cured and dried.

I personally don't like jerky that much, biltong is much more flavoursome!

you can actually dry biltong on a summers day if you cover it with a bit of cloth or something.

[Luci_ferson]

the beef jerky I got brought back from america was in a wrapper, and was just dried cured beef strips.
it was very tough and not very nice, like trying to chew on leather.

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looked like a long wham bar but with a meat strip inside instead of fizzy chew

[Binnie]

yeah i'm not especially keen on Jerky of any variety (though bacon jerky is quite tasty)

Biltong is very different from jerky, for one its a LOT softer and easier to eat, and there is a lot more flavour to biltong.

[Luci_ferson]

bacon jerky actually sounds quite nice, but I can eat cold day old bacon (have done often)

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mmmm bacon

[Scythe13]

Biltong is the SouthAfrican form of beef jerky, but made from zebra (traditionally).

Not my flavour, but very healthy.

[Jonas]

Before drying, jerky is marinaded in various concoctions, some good, some not-so-good, some horrifically bad. I've never tried biltong (zebra or otherwise), but both biltong and jerky are a condensed form of protein.

We have a product, mostly found in Kentucky and Virginia called "country ham". It's a whole ham, pepper and smoke cured, requires no refrigeration, and you can hang it up in your closet or basement where it will last darn near forever. Cooking one is a two-day project of boiling and baking and the meat is chewy and salty. It's an acquired taste and a traditional meal on the first Saturday in May in Kentucky coinciding with the running of the Kentucky Derby. A country ham is expensive here so I have no idea what it would cost in the UK.

Another option is to buy a whole Italian salami or summer sausage, remove the plastic wrapping (but not the casing) and put it in the refrigerator. In a couple of months it will be completely dried and then can be stored in a closet. Wipe the sausages with vinegar to prevent mold, although the mold will form on the casing, not the meat, and will be peeled off before slicing and eating.

[Lightspeed]

Good call re the salami Jonas.

Thank you for sharing that one with us.

LS

[preservefreak]

those country hams sound amazing, wish we could get them here. Nice idea about the salamis, do you wipe with vinegar during the curing in the fridge or when dry?