Traditional Biltong

[nex]

Yep, that's the one
I don't put Vinegar or Worcester Sauce on the meat, it hides the taste the spice creates.
After spicing and packing the meat I let it stand for 24 hours rotate it and leave it for a further 24 hours
before hanging it.

[PZ]

Now all I need do is wait for a good meat sale 

[Art Blade]

 

[fragger]

I wonder if I can find that pre-packaged biltong here. Will keep an eye out. Don't like my chances in this neck of the woods, but then again I've often been surprised by some of what does turn up here.

I like jerky, but the only "game" meats I've ever tried are kangaroo and buffalo. Kangaroo can be quite nice with the right kind of complimentary gravy, but it has to be boiled/cooked to within an inch of its life or it's like chewing on a barber's strop. It's very dense and very lean, and has a pretty strong gamey taste which is not unlike the aforementioned buffalo - sort of.

They make kangaroo jerky for dogs, which my Maggie loves but it gives her nasty farts, so she only gets that as a treat if she's going to be outside for the day. If she drops one in the house it'd make your eyes water and the whole place gets stunk out - it is a bad gas (I don't have to imagine what Jupiter's atmosphere smells like). People could eat kangaroo jerky too if they had jaws like dogs'. Human canines wouldn't make a dent in it, it's like little bits of shoe sole. You can also get raw kangaroo mince, which makes excellent dog food as there is almost no fat in it whatsoever and is rich in all the proteins and minerals dogs need.

Lord knows we've got enough roos here, at least two for very human. And even though they are slaughtered for meat, their numbers are still on the rise. It's not like we're hunting them to extinction or anything, so nobody should feel bad about feeding kangaroo meat to their dogs. I say this because certain people with a penchant for embracing tree trunks bitch about it and say it's inhumane, but they're clueless and stupid and nobody with a scrap of sense takes them seriously. Culling roos does the farmers a big favour too. Roos are the apex bane of an Aussie farmer's existence and is far and away the prime reason why anyone owns a rifle in this country.

[Art Blade]

it's like chewing on a barber's strop

[nex]

I'm not sure about kangaroo fragger, but Ausie buffalo shouldn't be much different to our buffalo which makes lovely biltong.
The meat is also very nice cooked.
We eat a fair amount of game meat, about 5-7 days a month. most people cook venison like beef, big mistake!!
All the game meat I have is mostly cut up like stewing meat, I usually cook around 3 kilos at a time.
I put about 100ml of cooking oil in the pressure cooker, when the oil is hot I dump all the meat in, stir it around so most of
the meat gets some oil on it, cover the meat with hot water and pressure cook for at least 40min,
turn the stove off and leave the pot until the pressure is down.
Then I remove the meat with one of these big ladle type spoons with holes in it to drain all the water off, the meat goes into
my cast iron pot with a little cooking oil then it goes in the oven on low heat with lid on, stir it every 15 min until
completely broken up (shredded), when I think it's ready then season only with salt, BBQ spice and a little black pepper,
we like garlic, so I add very little, we get a type of garlic powder here which I use. I also add cubed potato to it as well.

I'm sure kangaroo can be cooked the same way

[nex]

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Just been cut

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


The first layer done

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Starting with the second layer

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


All done, now the spice must do it's thing. Will turn them over after 24 hours, after another 24 hours they go
into the smoker with the fan on for about two hours, then into the drying box.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


This is the second batch I did this winter so far, been hanging for about 10 days, will take them out when the
new batch goes in.

[BinnZ]

Wow, that's some thick layers of meat Nex! I always thought that biltong was thin, like maximum 2 or 3 milimeters thick

[nex]

Yes BinnZ, traditional biltong is about 3/4 inch thick, butchers have lots of small offcuts so they
started doing batches of what is called "biltong sticks". Over the years many people have followed
suit mainly because beef has become expensive.
It's also handy having a packet of biltong sticks when you and your buddies are at a ball game
or on the road, easier than cutting up big pieces into bite-size chunks or having a butcher doing it
for you in a biltong slicer.


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

[PZ]

I made a batch of biltong yesterday because the price of lean beef was $2.68/lb. My wife was delighted 

[Art Blade]

hmmmm...... well.. does that mean that she ate it all without sharing any of it? Or is it more like that she was delighted while you were secretly looking for a barf bag? Or was she simply delighted by low prices, no matter what they were for? So many questions..

[fragger]

$2.68 per pound? We pay about three times that here. But that's largely because of the massive drought we've experienced during the last couple of years, which still hasn't yet fully lifted.

[PZ]

hmmmm...... well.. does that mean that she ate it all without sharing any of it? Or is it more like that she was delighted while you were secretly looking for a barf bag? Or was she simply delighted by low prices, no matter what they were for? So many questions..

Mostly delighted that I finally made it!

$2.68 per pound? We pay about three times that here. But that's largely because of the massive drought we've experienced during the last couple of years, which still hasn't yet fully lifted.

Mostly it is nearly twice that price lately!

[Art Blade]

 

[nex]

I feel honored to know you and your wife enjoy biltong PZ     
I did about thirty pieces and packed them away in the freezer before the summer started.
Sometimes during weekends I'd cut up one or two for us to chew on.