Hi there. I wholeheartedly agree with you on the whole vinegar soaking/marinating thing! Whatever they are making, it's not proper biltong. Your approach is the traditional way I know, and have used for 30 years. Two points though (not criticisms!): I have never used Worcestershire sauce (purely personal) and secondly, a suggestion - I've always added a small amount of ground cloves to the coriander mix (about 10% as much as coriander). If the meat is game, double this. It adds a whole dimension of flavour, and you will soon learn what your ideal ratio is for your taste. Worth a try. I've never figured out while people use all these fancy, expensive salt variations? What gives? I use dirt cheap fine iodised table salt, and it works like a dream. But, if you prefer the larny stuff that's perfect. Basic ground rules: 1. low humidity - air flow is key (heat is not important here). Dry winter conditions are perfect. 2. Higher humidity - this is trickier. Now a fan becomes essential (big 18" oscillating fan), while warmth can be used to help the air flow, eg in a drying box (always both). Keep the fan on full blast for at least the first 24 hours, till a nice thick skin has formed, then you can turn it down to a steady air flow. After the second day down to a gentle breeze. By day 4 your biltong is already fine to be tested. Meat: Not sure what cut a round is? However, I used topside or silverside (or both). Fillet is just too expensive, as are the popular steak cuts (rump. sirloin). Over the years I cut up ALL the meat - no scraps. This was mainly for the kids! They loved to "help" Dad, so they cut the smaller bits into little biltongs and had great fun. Then I found that these little "thinnies" were damn tasty so I started making more of them, much to everyone's delight! So they became a regular feature. For hooks I bought packets of plastic-coated paperclips and bent them open. Perfect. Yeah, I like your approach, and it is the Traditional I know and grew up with. Making biltong is very forgiving as long as you stick to the basics. Enjoy, and thanks for the video.
Hey Dennis. I think I agree with everything in your post and I appreciate you taking the time !. The eye round is a very cheap hard working muscle from the rear hind/ top of the rear leg but I do very much prefer to use topside or silverside because of the fat. The Worcestershire sauce is 100% a personal thing, I started to use it when I first started because I was curing the beef for something like 6 hours and found that there was a slight vinegar flavour left in the biltong and the Worcestershire got rid of that, I do however only cure for an hour these days so the Worcestershire is really just something I have got used to using. Ground cloves hey, I will try that on my next batch this week and get back to you with my review ;-). I have tried most cuts of beef, including fillet and dont get me wrong it was some what more tender, if you can call biltong tender, however there was almost zero flavour of beef. As far as game is concerned, lamb is as far as I have gone but can get my hand on venison so might give it a go. Once again I appreciate your insight and your wisdom Sir.
@@thebeefguy.3961 My pleasure, and please don't think I'm an "expert" ! I've just taken very old recipes and continued with them, using the most convenient and cheap ingredients. BTW, I agree with you on the fillet - pretty much tasteless. One way is to beef up ;-) the spices. A mate of mine makes a mixture of Bovril and boiling water , lets it cool and pours it over the resting meat before hanging. He says that helps a lot.
That’s exactly how I make mine, and a great tutorial👌🏻 I’m currently experimenting with different chillies and adding some to the vinegar stage and the dry mix too. Once you make Biltong you may get hooked🤣
A 1 hour cure! That would save time. I usually leave mine 6-8 hours overnight. My next purchase is a Biltong box, at the moment I'm using a food dehydrator which is great as it's ready in 8-12 hours but wondering if a slow dry preserves more flavour.
Hello Sir. I am glad you have mentioned the dehydrator as I have not used 1 for biltong but have had many discussions about this subject. I will say that mostly I am told they use it for making Jerky because of the temperature of the dehydrator reaches something like 60 centigrade. I would love to hear more about your experiences and thoughts on the matter. Clearly it is something that I need to invest some time looking at and trying for myself.
For each kg of meat: 20 grams Salt 2 gram black pepper 1 gram trickle Brown sugar (no sweetness, only enhances the colour, and can be skipped) 4 gram coriander seeds. Then also, I never use worcestershire. The oldest recipes just calls for brown vinegar. whether that was malt vinegar or brown vinegar we get at spar I do not know. I use brown spirit vinegar. Been doing it like that for 30 years, and my dad did it like that since since the 1st time he made biltong, as did his dad. Some folk will say 18 grams of salt. That is for when you like your biltong dry. The salt concentrates the dryer it gets. For a medium dryness, 20gram is good, and for some folk that like carpacio style biltong (very wet, 2 days max of hanging), 22 - 24 grams is good. Also the light is not very traditional. Just hang it in an area that has good airflow. in the 80's we hung our biltong from the roof of the garage. I use a 1m x 2m bilting cage with 3 layers supporting 30cm long pieces of biltong or droewors.
I pat dry my beef when I take it out of the vinegar then coat in the spices and vacuum lag each bit and let it take on the flavours for a day or two. Then I put it in the bolting box.
Just made myself a biltong box ! Now in the uk I'm really struggti get hold of 40w incandescent bulbs , is there another that would work but not over heat the meat ??
Hello Sir. Sorry for the slow reply, it has been a busy couple of months. I had the same issue as yourself finding an incandescent bulb as the new LED ones don't produce near enough heat. I ended up ordering some vintage style Edison incandescent bulbs from Amazon, here is the link, I hope it helps. www.amazon.co.uk/Filament-Vintage-Incandescent-Industrial-Decorative/dp/B0952HKKFT/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?crid=21QCVBBKKNMS9&keywords=vintage+edison+bulb&qid=1668084192&sprefix=vintage+edison+bulb%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-8
@@thebeefguy.3961 no problem thanks for the reply ! I managed to get some , dryer works a treat but in day 3 I did get a few mould spots ! Quite moist in the uk at the min so weather I need a warmer room or a few more holes to improve circulation I don't know . My first time so it's all learning !
@@trev815 I also had an issue with mould but like you suggest, I made some more holes in the top of my box to allow for better airflow and never had the issue again. Good luck, I hope you work all the kinks out !
@@thebeefguy.3961 awesome sounds like I'm heading I the right direction then 😁 hope to have it sorted before I purchase beef to use , currently trying roe deer as I stalk so costs me nothing ! Again thanks for you reply 👍
Dommage que les quantités de sel par kg ne soient pas précisées. J'ai raté le dernier avec 22 g de sel par kg, et si j'en refais ce sera à 40 g. J'utilise du coriandre en graines et du poivre.
Hello Sir. I am the Beef Guy buy my account seems to have bee hacked so once I get back into my account I will specify all quantities in the description.
I cure my biltong overnight, then hang the meat inside my oven: no heat, just ventilation and door propped open with a wooden spoon. Biltong ready in around 3 days / when the meat lost just over half its original weight. No need for a box and flies keep at bay.
Had my hopes up until you mentioned the Worcestershire sauce. Do you think the Voortrekkers would have used that English sauce? They would not have taken it with them when they left the Cape, surely?
I cant say what they had back then as I was not around to see it first hand !! Where you ? or are you just taking info from 1 or 2 places and taking it as gospil. I would suggest doing some research before commenting on a subject that you cleary need some info on !! Dont be a hater bro !!
@@glennhooker I might not have been around to see it, but my grandparents learned how to make it from their grandparents, who were actual voortrekkers. I helped my grandparents make biltong when I was a little boy and I'm telling you they didn't use all kinds of fancy shit. Salt and coriander. Period.
