How to make Biltong

Biltong is a cured, seasoned meat which is most popular in South Africa – where it originated from. It could be compared to beef jerky, but in my opinion, biltong is a lot more dried out than its American equivalent.

So after a recent trip to South Africa, I returned with a Biltong maker which is essentially something you hang meat up in and then put the lid on (which consists of a fan and light bulb). Leave for a couple of days with the warm air circulating around the meat – then you have biltong!

So if you’ve ever wondered how to make biltong at home, here’s how:

1. When you have your meat, slice it up into thin streaks of beef - you’ll need a sharp knife for this. The thicker the meat, the harder it’ll be to chew when the Biltong is ready to eat – so try to cut the joint as thin as possible.
2. Pour some vinegar into a bowl and briefly dip each beef strip into it, draining off any excess vinegar afterwards. Then lay all the beef out flat onto a tray/large plate.
3. You now need to season the meat. I usually use a generic BBQ seasoning, but feel free to experiment with different seasons to try out new flavours. When you’ve found your seasoning of choice, lightly sprinkle it over all the strips of meat. Turn the meat then sprinkle on the other side as well.
4. Cover the beef strips and leave to rest for a minimum of 2 hours (I usually leave for 4 hours). This will give the meat chance to absorb the flavours from the seasoning.
5. Once the meat has finished resting, put a meat hook into each strip of beef then hang in the biltong maker. It’s important not to overload it so check the instructions for your biltong maker to see how much meat you can cure at one time.
6. Put the lid on and power it up. You’ll need to leave the meat to cure for about 2-3 days. I find the Biltong tastes great after about 2 ½ days – but it’ll take a bit of trial and error to get it just how you like it.
7. Then after a few days, your Biltong is ready to eat and enjoy.

If you’re on the lookout for a biltong maker, I use a Biltong King which is a essentially a food dehydrator. You should be able to find them available in the UK by doing a quick search on Google/Ebay!