I don’t make biltong very often, and tend to change up the recipe each time trying to figure out what works better. So far this batch was pretty close to perfect and I’m happy to share this recipe.

marinade Ingredients:

• About 2kg nicely cut silverside beef with fat around the edges
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander seeds
• 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp mango chutney
• A couple grinds of Cape Herb & Spice – Sizzling Steak House spices (this one has quite a bit of ground salt in it)
• Seasoning ingredients: A blob of olive oil, Cape Herb & Spice – Braai shaker; Cape Herb & Spice – Steak & chops
• 1 Tbsp fine salt

meat prep Method:

• To prep your meat for overnight soaking, in a glass jug add all of the ingredients together and stir.
• Put your meat in large freezer Ziplock bags (I used two).
• Add your marinade into each of your meat bags and ensure it covers all the meat.
• Close the Ziplock bags and put them into a casserole dish to prevent the bags leaking.
• Put it into the fridge for 24 hours for the marinade to soak into the meat, turning the bags occasionally to make sure the meat is equally coated in marinade.
• Once you have soaked the meat sufficiently, grab each piece of meat and pop a hook through the top of the piece of meat and hang it in the biltong box, making sure that all of the meat hangs in the air and doesn’t sit on the bottom of the biltong box (if it does, cut it up and hang it up on a separate hook).
• Ensure your biltong box’s fan and light are on, and leave the meat for about 4 days.
• From about the 4th day, you can grab each piece of meat, one at a time checking if the ends are ready by slicing some off.
• Slice some meat off each piece as it is ready and put it in a Tupperware.
• The next step (before furiously munching on the long-awaited biltong) is to season it nicely for taste.

seasoning METHOD:

• With anything from a handful to a full Tupperware of meat you’ve cut, add a blob of olive oil and a couple grinds of spice. I used both the Steak & chops and the Braai shaker. Along with that add some of the fine salt.
• The reason I do most of the seasoning afterwards is that it’s a lot easier to taste as you go rather than add all the salt and seasoning as part of the meat prep. Once I ended up with meat so salty I thought I might have pickled my insides. So this way, if you are a beginner biltong maker, you are more in control of the taste.

Other notes:

• Don’t leave your biltong for too long in the box, it will dry out. Rather cut off the pieces that are ready, season them as above, and then pop them in the fridge for storage.
• Best way to ensure you don’t have dried out biltong is checking on your meat daily from the 4 day mark.
• When it’s ready really depends on you, but I prefer a hint of pink in the center and the rest of it dark coloured.

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