View Full Version : Anyone tried Biltong
I recently have developed a taste for Biltong, has anyone else tried it or know where to get it?
Tantalus
24-09-2004, 17:39
the americans call it jerky
or at least their version of it
you can make it at home too
search google
or read here http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa100702a.htm
Tant
the americans call it jerky
or at least their version of it
you can make it at home too
search google
or read here http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa100702a.htm
Tant
Tant don't say the jerky thing in front of any south africans, they are very protective of biltong. I just wondered if anyone else had tried it as a trail food. So far I have only come across 4 flavours to buy (beef, peri-peri, peppered and Ostrich) and wondered if people had come across other flavours.
I must admit that I had a bit of a search on the net to find out more about it, thought it quite interesting that some of the recipes they dry it over a light bulb for 4 - 5 days :shock:
Tantalus
24-09-2004, 17:59
lol yeah i carefully added the line about
or at least their version of it
:wink: :wave:
Tant
bothyman
24-09-2004, 18:05
Never tried it.
Try this >> http://www.biltong2u.co.uk/gamebiltong.htm :wave:
Never tried it.
Try this >> http://www.biltong2u.co.uk/gamebiltong.htm :wave:
Cheers BM, it would be considerably cheaper getting it from here and they have a very large range of flavours :biggthump
tenbears10
24-09-2004, 18:37
How big is a 50g pack?
I know I know 50g! shame on you for even thinking that reply :nono:
Is it enough to taste or make a whole meal or what?
Bill
How big is a 50g pack?
I know I know 50g! shame on you for even thinking that reply :nono:
Is it enough to taste or make a whole meal or what?
Bill
Bill, the packs that I am currently using are 34gm. One pack with half a pack of noodles will make a good meal (the meat re-hydrates and expands to be a fair bit more than 34gm).
They weigh virtually nothing and six packs should see you through 3 days quite happily :o):
Size wise a 34gm pack is about 3" X 4" X 0.5", I would give you exact dimensions, but have recently finished my last pack and my bins were emptied this morning. I will be getting some more this weekend :wink:.
As far as flavour is concerned, you will taste it, especially the Peri-Peri and the peppered :-)
tenbears10
24-09-2004, 19:02
So Leon is that website a good price? I think there is a butchers I know who sells it so I will have a look at the weekend as well. It lasts for ages doesn't it? I assume that is the idea.
Bill
Cost wise the website is very good value for money, Biltong should last in the same way that Jerky does as in the end it is a dried salted meat, it just adds a bit more variety.
To be honest I wasn't overly smitten with the Ostrich, it kept on trying to kick me and its feathers get stuck in your teeth :o):.
Is the butchers near you a Loyd Maunders :?: If so they will have it, I asked recently and they said that they will be keeping it in stock as it is rather popular. :-)
tenbears10
24-09-2004, 19:17
The butchers is a one off and it is near where I'm going for the weekend but not near my home. I will look in and see what the price is like. If it is good stuff then I can eaisly order online from the place above.
Bill
As for "the American form of it jerky." It is as old as this country and before. I have tried beef, turkey, and buffalo or bison. I do like it made from the buff. Oh yeah I have had elk and venison. I believe Hoodo's sight has info. on making it. Some make it at home with ground beef and use their ovens to dry it. I prefer the use of fairly good cuts of meat to be used.
I recently have developed a taste for Biltong, has anyone else tried it or know where to get it?
http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showthread.php?t=1103&page=1&pp=15
Cheers Gerd, that's one I hadn't noticed :biggthump
ChrisKavanaugh
25-09-2004, 06:52
Biltong proper is South African and part of the process includes a bit of brine vinegar. I've tried it and enjoyed it. Jerky is merely dried meat and it can indeed go rancid or mold under the right conditions. It has just enough moisture content to get you in trouble. Proper jerky is so tasty it never has a chance anyway. Many meats and fish are salted, but not jerky. There is a third preparation called pemmican of North American fame. This is ( almost always) buffalo that is jerked to virtually no water content, pounded into a crumb and then mixed with rendered fat from the same animal. Sometimes wild berries were mashed in providing a near nutrient perfect ration of near indestructable shelf life. It has a decidedly different taste altogether. Finally, compliments of our parents and grandparents time we have-----SPAM :shock:
Have you ever thought of making it yourself. I do in the garage. I have a box 800x400x300 with a 100watt light bulb in the bottom and a small pannel fan on the top with some air holes drilled along the bottom sides. I use braising stake as it is pretty cheap and makes good biltong. cut your stake into strips50mm or so soak them in mix of corse salt and black pepper you can sprinkle with vinegar.(i think it makes it taste really good) Then hang it in the box on paper clips at the top of the box and in three days or so you have some really good biltong. Have a go, much cheaper than the shops.
You can always make your own (http://www.biltongbox.com/)! I'm still not clear how it differs from jerky.
I make it using brisket, I use salpetre in the curing mix plus salt and a little sugar plus any spices I fancy. I've got an old Hereford recipe for salt beef which is much the same aside from it's done as a single joint and is meant to be cooked but I tend to dry it completely and slice it as you would for an air dried ham.
I've made it with muntjack meat too and it comes out wonderful.
It's easy enough to dry out in an over if the slices are thin, for solid lumps of meat I stick it in front of the ventig fan for my workshop for a couple of weeks.
Realgar
What if you haven't got much water it seems very salty
Beer Monster
25-09-2004, 11:54
I used to make my own Biltong up in Aberdeen by hanging it in a box over a radiator that was on at a very low temperature. Seemed to work well ..... especially in the damp atmosphere we have here in the UK.
Here is a very basic recipe (http://www.knet.co.za/biltong/makeyour.htm) for biltong and instructions on how to make it. In SA/Namibia we just used to hang it up in a room (fly free!) to dry because the atmosphere was so dry and hot, however, here in the UK your best using an improvised Biltong maker as mentioned by Murf. If the atmosphere is too damp mould will start to appear, if its only a small amount you can wipe it off with a cloth soaked in cider vinegar and then hang it in a dryer place (maybe and airing cupboard?).
Hope that helps.
Beer Monster
Great Pebble
25-09-2004, 13:45
I like both, Mate's fiance is S. African and gets enough practice in smuggling (illegal to import) when she goes home to see her family that she could probably make a fortune if she turned her skills to other products. Have another pal in Canada who posts me the odd packet of jerky, including salmon...
didnt there used to be a Beef Jerky tutorial thing? on the main BCUK site?
where'd it go :?:
Here you go http://www.bushcraftuk.co.uk/200/oven_jerky.html :biggthump
i knew it was there somewhere!!
As an alternative to jerky and biltong you might like to try Thai sun-dried beef. This is easy to make and has a shorter drying time than jerky or biltong.
Use topside, flank or similar. Here is my wife's recipe for about 1 kilo of meat:
Cut the beef across the grain into strips about 5mm thick.
Mix of 100ml fish sauce and 100ml light soy sauce with about 2tbsp of sugar.
Marinate the beef in the mix for about 2 - 3 hours. If you leave the meat in the mix longer the end result will be saltier.
Lay the marinated meat on a surface with drainage, we use a flat bamboo basket, and leave in the sun - in England one day's drying will do if the day is sunny enough. While drying turn the meat every hour or so to dry both sides. Knowing when the meat is dry enough is a matter of trial and error but once finished the beef should have darkened until it is almost black. The recipe is fairly forgiving so it is not fatal if the meat is over or under dried. It is a good idea to cover the meat with a net or something similar to keep flys off.
At this point the meat should keep unrefrigerated for weeks and refrigerated or frozen for months.
Before eating the beef you need to fry it for a few minutes. Once fried the meat will need to be eaten within 7-10 days.
The recipe also works well with lamb.
Traditionally salty beef would be eaten with sticky rice which also keeps days without refrigeration. Both are 'travel foods' in Thailand.
It also works really well as a beer snack.
Huon
check out:
www.bare-earth.co.uk
finest North Yorkshire biltong
bushwacker bob
27-09-2004, 16:20
I made some jerky useing the hoodoo method.It was exellent if I say so myself.I found worcester sauce makes a near perfect marrinade. soak the meat in it then pound in a bit of cracked black pepper and dry in a cool oven with the door ajar,overnight.Also Budgens sell 35g packs of jerky for £2 IIRC
ASDA have got Jerky now aswell £1.99 for a 100g.
I made some my self in the summer but after having left it in the car in the sun things didn't smell to good! It still tasted OK but I let the dog finish it off!
Just about got rid of the smell
One of the things that got me into Jerky and billtong was that Neil1 did a batch which tasted pretty good, he then forgot about it and it lay in the bottom of a pack in a couple of plastic bags for a considerable time.
On a later date we were out on one of our trips and he came across it so we had it for breakfast :-) .
I can't tell you how long it had been in the bottom of the pack, but it must of been there for some time as it was in Neil1's winter pack (different size pack for differnt times of year).
Mal I don't find getting water in the U.K. too much of a problem :umbrella: and you have to look at it that it was originally made by people in a far hotter enviroment than ours. Also salt is an electolyte and we lose a fair amount of it during strenuous work and hot weather, this just alleviates the problem of adding salt to your food. :wink:
Neil 1 can you post your recipe for Biltong?
Neil 1 can you post your recipe for Biltong?
He hasn't got one for Billtong, but he has one for Jerky, if he doesn't get onto this thread I will get him to PM it to you :wave:
Burnt Ash
29-09-2004, 23:47
I recently have developed a taste for Biltong, has anyone else tried it or know where to get it?
I was born in South Africa, so have known biltong all my life. My father's mother's people had sheep farms in the Karroo. I remember visiting these relatives back in ca. 1968 and their parting gift to us when we left them. I remember staggering out to the car with a huge bundle of spingbok biltong sticks that I could barely get my arms around. We munched it for the rest of our trip: right up round the Garden Route to Durban, then (after a break for Christmas and New Year) out to the Drakensberg and the Kruger Park. I think I still had some left when I started school again the next term in England. Lekker!
Try Susmans (http://www.biltong.co.uk)
Burnt Ash
Neil 1 can you post your recipe for Biltong?
This is the recipe that we used to use when living in Africa http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showpost.php?p=13011&postcount=26
I was born in South Africa, so have known biltong all my life. My father's mother's people had sheep farms in the Karroo. I remember visiting these relatives back in ca. 1968 and their parting gift to us when we left them. I remember staggering out to the car with a huge bundle of spingbok biltong sticks that I could barely get my arms around. We munched it for the rest of our trip: right up round the Garden Route to Durban, then (after a break for Christmas and New Year) out to the Drakensberg and the Kruger Park. I think I still had some left when I started school again the next term in England. Lekker! Burnt Ash
Baie lekker :biggthump
I was born in South Africa, so have known biltong all my life. My father's mother's people had sheep farms in the Karroo. I remember visiting these relatives back in ca. 1968 and their parting gift to us when we left them. I remember staggering out to the car with a huge bundle of spingbok biltong sticks that I could barely get my arms around. We munched it for the rest of our trip: right up round the Garden Route to Durban, then (after a break for Christmas and New Year) out to the Drakensberg and the Kruger Park. I think I still had some left when I started school again the next term in England. Lekker!
Try Susmans (http://www.biltong.co.uk)
Burnt Ash
Cheers BA, on average this place works out between 50% and 66% of what I have been paying for Billtong so far, so this is a pretty good deal :biggthump .
My major problem is now from all the posts that people have put up is I am spoilt for choice and nearly all are cheaper than getting it from where I am getting it from currently :o):.
Thanks also to those who have put up recipes, when I get five minutes to do the prep I will make some up, in the mean time however I will continue to buy, however my supplier will change (probably quite a lot to start with) :biggthump
I love the stuff, just got 5 packets from South Africa! (IMO tastes better than jerky)
BTW i didn't know we had any Afrikaaners here! My father is fluent, but the only words he uses are expletives, usually at me while driving. So, although i haven't got a great vocab, i could hold my own in an slandering match!
beachlover
01-10-2004, 18:45
Made some biltong after looking at recipes.
Did beef, but with teryaki sauce and wasabi mustard as the marinade.
Naused the teenager cos it didn't come in a packet and blocked the fan oven for 12 hours, but it has turned out to be absolutely stunning!
In my experience, whether you call it jerky, biltong, pemmican, whatever they are all just regional variations on the same thing, dried meat and the main thing is whether it was made well or not. I’ve had naff biltong and I’ve had naff jerky but when they are made nicely it is fantastic.
If anyone is passing Borough market on a Friday or a Saturday then there is usually some pretty good venison jerky (as well as a whole raft of different cured meats) and it is not outrageously priced but it only comes in chilli or coriander flavours. If you find yourself in central London and a bit peckish then you could do worse than the South African/Oztralian/Canadian/Kiwi shop in Maiden Lane (Covent garden). They do Sussmans biltong.
I see that salmon jerky has been mentioned and I quite like it but I’m not sure everyone will (beats bombay Duck anyday). Fenalår (Norwegian salted air dried leg of lamb) is another dried cured meat that if you get the chance to try you should, excellent with sour cream, knekkebrod and lots of beer but it also makes a pretty good long lasting bush food. Also whilst not jerky, but I just have to mention it as it is without doubt one of the best things I have ever eaten, is smoked reindeer meat. I used to make my own in a lavvo with some juniper bush for an extra bit of flavour. It is incredibly good and whilst not as long lasting as jerky still makes a pretty good bush food and will liven up any camp stew or just eat it like jerky.
In my experience, whether you call it jerky, biltong, pemmican, whatever they are all just regional variations on the same thing, dried meat and the main thing is whether it was made well or not. I’ve had naff biltong and I’ve had naff jerky but when they are made nicely it is fantastic.
......
I see that salmon jerky has been mentioned and I quite like it but I’m not sure everyone will (beats bombay Duck anyday). Fenalår (Norwegian salted air dried leg of lamb) is another dried cured meat that if you get the chance to try you should, excellent with sour cream, knekkebrod and lots of beer but it also makes a pretty good long lasting bush food. Also whilst not jerky, but I just have to mention it as it is without doubt one of the best things I have ever eaten, is smoked reindeer meat. I used to make my own in a lavvo with some juniper bush for an extra bit of flavour. It is incredibly good and whilst not as long lasting as jerky still makes a pretty good bush food and will liven up any camp stew or just eat it like jerky.
:biggthump
Greenpete
10-10-2004, 22:52
Hi!
I used to eat a fair bit of biltong when I lived in South Africa and love it.
The biltong there as you would expect is wonderful and if you have a friend going that way maybe they could bring you some back?
You can get it in London though I couldn't tell you which shops, sorry.
I have seen it aroung in pubs but the prices over here are criminal and the meat contains preservitives! What bone head thought of putting preservitives in dried meat?!
You can of course make it your self and there are websites covering this.
I have just done a very quick search and there's loads, try this one; http://www.biltongmakers.com Hope this helps.
All the best, Pete
For the Cardiffians here, Wally's delicatessan in the Hayes sells biltong. In the arcade by spillers, near camera land.
For the Cardiffians here, Wally's delicatessan in the Hayes sells biltong. In the arcade by spillers, near camera land.
If its the place I'm thinking of, they sell a wide range of of smoked and dried meats and sausages..... they also stock alot of dehydrated veg (pease, beans, onions, .... loads). I love the place. :biggthump
Ed
Beer Monster
11-10-2004, 16:48
....... and if you're in or around Edinburgh you can get Biltong (and other S African food etc!) at Ndebele Cafe (http://www.ndebele.co.uk/) on Home Street or order online.
Yep i think thats the one Ed, it smells real nice in there :o):
Jake,
Have you tried any of Wally's stuff, it is pretty good. Use it all the time.
Frogo
I have once, it didn't strike me as the best, but it was pretty good. But maybe that was because i had just got some of the genuine article from a Biltong shop in Cape Town!
It's also pretty pricey.
A South African friend of mine introduced me to Biltong in the Springbok bar in London whilst forcing me to drink Hunters Gold, enjoyed both. I liked Biltong more than Jerky, but thats just me!
Jerky's dryer in my experience.
I liked Biltong more than Jerky, but thats just me!
I agree Brian, that is one of my reasons for raising the thread and as per usual the guys here have been a complete mine of information on suppliers, recipes / making it and experiences of Biltong :wave:
bombadil
12-11-2004, 13:50
Just a thought....
A friend from South Africa once told me that his mother makes biltong by hanging strips of beef down the back of the fridge. Definately worth a try.....
Buckshot
12-11-2004, 16:57
and you get an outer coating of fluff for extra taste :yikes:
Mark
Hi Leon
Yes, along time ago. Bit salty, and with a pretty meaty flavour. I had genuine ostritch stuff. The droevers (dried sausages) are also excellent. I have no idea where you would get these now, sorry :?:
Hi Leon
Yes, along time ago. Bit salty, and with a pretty meaty flavour. I had genuine ostritch stuff. The droevers (dried sausages) are also excellent. I have no idea where you would get these now, sorry :?:
Thanks, this thread is a complete mine of information, to be honest I wasn't massively struck with the Ostrich either, but the others have been really good and some of the links that the guys have put on here have been superb, have a look see (the prices in this thread are better than most that I have come across too) :biggthump
Biltong is the king of trail meats!!You can get commercially available biltong driers witha selection of spice kits from EBay or Gumtree. My particular favourite is Kudu, although there are only limited places over here that can supply it. I know of a small South African shop about 50m from Acton Town LUL station that has a selection and an excellent SA supermarket in Newham that does all sorts of scoobie snacks from SA. Of course, if you want to dry your own the best way would be using an old negative drier, the one with the bottom mounted fan, this allows the meat to hang above and works a treat. unfortunately the cost of red meat here makes it a pricey item. Hope this is of help