Biltong

Biltong must be one of South Africa’s favourite food snacks.

According to some, it has been around for at least 600 years. Bushmen used the technique to preserve meat during times when there was no meat available. And, more recently, during the Anglo-Boer War, biltong was a major part of the meat rations of the soldiers. This war consisted of a major conflict between the British colonizers and the Boers from the Transvaal Republic or Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR). Lord Carnarvon wanted to form a confederation of all the British colonies, independent Boer republics and independent African groups in South Africa under British control. By 1876 he realised that he would not be able to achieve his goal peacefully. Some of the soldiers had only biltong to save them from starvation.

Biltong comes in various shapes and forms, it can be shredded, or in long thin strips, it can be bone dry or half-dried .

The traditional size should be about 25 cm long strips and 4-5 cm wide, it all depends on the meat you are using.

The drying process can take anything from 24 hours to 5 days.

I found various recipes and the Anglo-Boer recipe sounds like the authentic one;

Ingredients:
- 2 kg of meat
- 200gr sugar
- 15gr pepper
- 20gr baking soda
- 80gr of coriander seeds, crushed
- 200 ml of malt vinegar (or red wine vinegar), enough to cover the strips in the container.

The quantities can be halved if necessary.

Cut the meat in strips of about 25cm long by 2cm wide (it depends on your choice of meat). Try and cut out as much of the fat as possible.

Mix together the ingredients. Soak the strips overnight in a glass or non-metallic dish. The level of the vinegar needs to be high enough to cover all the strips, but not more.

Take out the strips and hang them to dry. Humidity is a major source of failure! So make sure there is constant ventilation and very low humidity.

I also came across a ‘test’ version of the recipe, so if you are a beginner, maybe try this one out before you start with bigger quantities:
- 500gr of meat
- malt vinegar (enough to cover your strips in the container)
- 1 tbsp of salt
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 1 tbsp of crushed coriander seeds

The method is the same as above.