Reply With Quotethat looks great! I do like a beer and a chilli Biltong. great combo!
Occasionally I shoot in a studio in Oldham that is right next to a place called Biltong Bobs, today was one of those days. Bob makes bloody good biltong!
that looks great! I do like a beer and a chilli Biltong. great combo!
Quite a few fans on the forum.
https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...hlight=Biltong
Cheers..
Jase
Wors looks good as well
I have some raw Wors in the freezer, now it’s warming up a bit I will put some in my biltong box.
Need to make some billing as well.
My father in law makes it on an almost industrial scale. It’s the best there is.
Edit: Wors defrosting, it will Droewors in a few days time
Last edited by Sinnlover; 20th February 2021 at 23:46.
Yep, I shop there as well, great biltong. A little "wet" at times, worth ringing ahead.
Based in Heywood or was, has he moved or opened another place?
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Last edited by Arcam; 20th February 2021 at 19:30.
The droewors looks okay too :)Originally Posted by junglebert
I've tried biltong from numerous reputable sources (of SA origin) and most have been okay, but have never found any that matched what I had in SA.
That looks ace
I make my own, using thin steaks from ASDA.
tenderise each steak, and have also tried 'needle-tenderising', before cutting into strips and marinating for 12-24hrs in a liquid which varies each time, but includes Liquid smoke, worcestershire sauce, soy, sugar, chilli, paprika etc.
Then I lay it out in my dryer and (probably) 5hrs later - it is done.
BUT - I started eating it as a prelude to dinner (with a couple of beers) and discovered that I was scarfing down the equivalent of a whole steak!
I also stopped making it while dental appointments were severely restricted due to the current pandemic.
It is all too easy to over indulge
i love good beef jerky, my favourite is kilishi, very spicy but so delicious
That’s the one I’ve been to in Haywood lovely guy and great biltong and boerewors for the bbq
Any biltong for sale on here?
I make my own as well - decent but not top-price lean roasting beef, sliced thin and fairly small whilst not-quite-defrosted, marinated overnight with malt vinegar and Crown National Biltong spice, then a few hours in my dehydrator. Keeps well enough in a clip-top sandwich box. Trouble is when I make a batch I can't stop eating it!
Absolutely love the stuff. Friend of mine used to work with a South African who made his own and would have packs for sale each time he made a batch. Would always order about 5 and devour them all in about a week. The supply seems to have run dry recently
Has anyone tried any of these online biltong order places?
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If you are going to order from on line (and I see you are in London) try St Marcus Foods in Roehampton
Before I made my own that’s where I bought mine from.
Snoggies in Wimbledon Station is also rather good.
That said a biltong box is not a lot of money and if you enjoy eating it it’s well worth the minimal effort it takes to make your own. You will save ££££ in the long run. Billies & Tong are pretty easy to deal with and make spice mixes to help start you off.
Last edited by Sinnlover; 21st February 2021 at 12:25.
been making my own in a dehydrator that cost about £25 for over 10 yrs , its easy enough - i always use brisket as i like it chewy.
Interesting that in the old thread - someone points out that using a marinade makes it more akin to North American Jerky, than Biltong - which is a dry rub.
Crushed coriander seeds seem to figure quite prominently in the rub - which is a flavour I am not to keen on (tried it before in biltong decades ago)
Might try a batch of dry-rubbed together with marinated in the same lot, and also try some cut other than the ASDA thin steaks. I guess as long as you can cut it across the 'grain' - it could turn out good?
The ASDA steaks were in packs of 4, Irish sourced - and probably stocked up during the BBQ season.
My recipe for the marinade comes from a book on dehydration recipes on kindle.
I made biltong a couple of times years ago and messed it up, so never bother3d again. It might be time to have another go.
It is very very easy to demolish a steaks worth of meat though, I just had one of the wors while I was deciding what to have for breakfast :)
Bob’s is in Heywood, not Oldham, I’m a Yorkshireman, it all looks the same to me over that side of the M62.
For anyone needing a biltong care parcel, Bob does mail order, and from what I’ve sampled, it’s pretty good
https://www.bobsbiltong.co.uk/
Last edited by junglebert; 21st February 2021 at 12:18.
Interesting
If I was to go down the route of making my own, what are the basic bits of kits I need to get started?
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Check out the billies and tong website, (no connection to the site just a happy customer)
The Mrs bought me a box a few years ago for Xmas
Then I bought my old man one a year or so later.
But all you need is a box and somewhere to put it
Some meat, top or silver side works as does rump or sirloin and spices. You can buy spices but it’s coriander seed, pepper salt and then add extras like chilli etc.
I have just put some Wors in mine
Should be ready tomorrow or Tuesday morning
Edit forgive the cr@p pictures, it’s dark in the garage and I didn’t turn the lights on (obviously on purpose for the TZ dark and arty photo)
Last edited by Sinnlover; 21st February 2021 at 14:36.
looks good, but £5.99 delivery!
If you go to the link i posted near the top of the thread, there are some set ups and advice in there too.
Cheers..
Jase
Yeah, that's hard to avoid I suppose, the biltong isn't expensive though.
Always bought mine from https://www.biltong.co.uk, prefer peri peri personally, and always happy with their product
I make quite a lot of it, it became the most popular thing for me to turn up at mates' houses with (other than large amounts of beer).
This is my home-made box, loaded up with a batch.
And the end results, dried how I like it.
Dave
Very niceI make quite a lot of it, it became the most popular thing for me to turn up at mates' houses with (other than large amounts of beer).
This is my home-made box, loaded up with a batch.
And the end results, dried how I like it.
Dave
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That looks great - lots of info in the photos!
What is the internal temp you maintain?
What cut of meat is it, and do you carry out any special prep?
Might have a bash at that, myself
Inspired again, my box is now back from the storage, couple of kilos of meat marinading in the fridge now
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I go for 23-5 Deg C
I use a 60W bar heater under a wooden shelf, with filtered holes behind and a 240V computer fan (hardest thing to find, most are low DC volts not 240 AC) pushing air out of the top.
It is wired for the fan to operate all the time, the heater thermostatically.
It takes 3 days.
Lower tempt and longer would give a slightly more through-dry, I like mine a little case-dried (softer in the middle)
I use silverside and the butcher I go to often has a deal on top rump, so I use that too.
The overnight soak (before drying) I use is my own recipe, and I think it adds a lot. for 2kg of meat, cut lengthways into strips about 2cm thick, I use
100g Balasamic vinegar
20g Worcester sauce
50g red wine vinegar
50g cider vinegar
50g soft brown sugar
10g salt
When you get the meat out of the fridge 24 hrs later, I grind up
33g coriander seeds
22g peppercorns (black)
Both these seeds roasted beforehand, plus
20g Malden salt
2g chilli (dried, I grow my own)
2g szechuan pepper
These last 2 make a quite spicey batch
Dry the meat and roll it in the spice mix.
Hang it in the drying box until a squeeze tells you it is dry enough, probably 3 days, maybe more.
Brush off all the spice mix and slice finely across the grain, and enjoy
Dave
Do you take orders?
I can see the need for a group buy...
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Brilliant, thanks !
I have a dehydrator, but not sure it goes that low in temp. Will look out an old wine crate, and see what can be done.
My box was made from some recycled timber I traded for a cast iron fireplace at a reclamation yard. I think the electrics totalled less than £20.
The timber from my box was oriignally an MoD office desk, and somewhere on it it still has the remains of the government property GR crown mark that was branded into the back of the desk.
I really do recommend giving it a go, it is almost undoubtedly the highest quality-of-output to effort-put-in ratio of almost anything I prepare in the kitchen. Even the forst batch, with made using a recipe that was half-guessed and half googled, was delicious.
The only mistake I have made so far is adding too much chilli on one batch, but even then it was lovely, you just needed more beer when eating it.
I have always wanted to make my own charcuterie, but the massively long temperature and humidity control requirements of whole cut dried pork make it very hard to make at home. This is an excellent (and easy) alternative.
Sorry, I do not take orders, but will happily send you a sample S-J.
D
Trying to work out why I ever stopped making it. Delicious and so much cheaper than buying it.
Still never quite get over the ‘eating 2 day old ambient meat that has sat by a lightbulb’
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That looks ace
Trying to work out why I ever stopped making it. Delicious and so much cheaper than buying it.
Still never quite get over the ‘eating 2 day old ambient meat that has sat by a lightbulb’
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How long is it good to keep?
Cheers. Never really lasts long enough to measure. I keep it in large hanging chunks and cut as needed.That looks ace
How long is it good to keep?
Made 4 large pieces, we have already polished off half of it.
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Uncut, as a large piece it will keep several weeks.
Uncut it also freezes perfectly well (in a bag). Then, indefinitely.
Cut, it will still keep in a container in the fridge for a fortnight or so.
D
Dave, what do you use to cut it?
I’ve got a guillotine type cutter you can see in my photo, but hard work. I’ve been looking at the hand rotor traditional ones available, or one that has a multi pivot type of action for leverage.
Cheers
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I just use a knife, using the heel end of the blade. The problem with guillotines is that there is no to and fro movement in the blade, they just chop downwards. Which is hard work on dry stuff, and often crushes wetter stuff like a chorizo.
I do have (totally unnecessarily) a 12" meat slicer in my kitchen (look to the right of my biltong box) but I wouldn't fire that up for biltong. I use that for bigger stuff like jamon.
I quite like using my guillotine for Biltong and Wors
My favourite method of cutting is a nice sharp pen knife, I keep trying to nick my father in laws mechanical chopper, its mains powered and is a simple pair of sharp blades that whirl around in a housing, it would never pass safety standards here as you would easily loose a finger, but it chops the biltong in to really fine shavings.
Thanks for the info, never liked how the global chefs knife felt going through the biltong Vance buying my chopper.
https://claasensdesigns.co.za/collec...biltong-slicer
This looks interesting, as do their electrical ones but too expensive for me, so manual it will be. Doesn’t look as nice as my olive wood version, but the video suggests it’s pretty easy to use / lose a finger tip.
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Possibly another Dave question...
Trying to work out why I ever stopped making it. Delicious and so much cheaper than buying it.
Still never quite get over the ‘eating 2 day old ambient meat that has sat by a lightbulb’
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Similar weight & shape, but now 24hrs further on, biltong still hanging but heat and fan have been switched off.
Now very little red moist meat inside & a miserable wife as she hates it too dry. Do I need to vac seal once done to maintain & prevent further natural drying?
Original was c1cm thick and dried for 2 days.
Cheers
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Once it starts to dry it will continue to dry.
Vac pac will keep it longer but it continues to dry
I actually find vac pac or wrapping it in plastic spoils it a bit, the meat sweats and goes clammy.
I dry bits at different stages and put them in a grease proof paper.
Last edited by Sinnlover; 25th February 2021 at 21:25.
Great, thank you - will work a different process to keep her happy.
I love the bites / chunks my local shop does, but it’s far too much effort hanging lots of small pieces on paper clips.
About the only thing I miss about not commuting is walking past the billing vendor at Paddington.
Another 1/4 gone tonight, so in 2 evenings we have polished off 75% of what was 1.2kg of wet beef.
High protein, but need to stop devouring it as quickly.
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Sussmans down on the south coast (Lewes maybe?) Does mail order and is decent quality. The garlic flavour and the chilli one are my favourites.
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took the latest batch out the dryer yesterday. I have already made a dent in it.
That looks lekker!
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Bumping an old thread as about to kick a batch off soon, not done one since the last post I had here.
I'm assuming this tastes better than it looks; i.e. old shoe leather? [Never heard of it until just now.]
Love it. Just never took the time to get what is needed to make it at home. Lack of a decent butcher near by is part of the issue.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
My drying box is just collecting dust and has done for a year or so.
I really need to sort another batch out. The mrs bought some at the weekend as a hint.
It’s the best snack ever devised, I love it.
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