Ingredients
Our biltong is made using the following ingredients:
- Meat cuts including beef rump, beef topside and beef sirloin
- Various vinegars, including white and red wine vinegars and baslamic vinegars
- Salt - we use Maldon's Sea Salt for the basis of our brine, but also use standard table salts
- Sugar - we use light muscovado sugars
- Honey - a small quantity of Wainwright's Zambian honey is used in some flavours
- Herbs and Spices - these include coriander, black pepper, chilli, cayene pepper, mace, tumeric, rosemary, basil, parseley, spearmint, cardamon.
- Nuts - walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachio nuts, brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, pine nuts, groundnuts
- Preservatives include sulphur dioxide
Process
The meat strips are soaked in the brine for several hours - the time taken depends on the flavour and style.
We hang the strips in specilly constructed boxes that have temperature and air-flow controls. These boxes are totally screened to prevent both insects and ambient dust from entering the curing zone.
When ready, the biltong is packed in chemically inert food-grade packs and mylar foils, with accompanying oxygen-absorbers and is vaccum sealed.
What is biltong, exactly?
Dried and cured meats have a history dating back tens of thousands of years. In the modern era where refrigeration is relatively ubiquitous, the need to cure and dry meat, poultry and fish has become redundant. But even with easy refrigeration today, societies all over the world still produce a huge range of cured meat products which (technically) are made in the same way that biltong is made - slow brine soaking (or salting / spicing), followed by varying lengths of carefully controlled air drying. Different meats, ingredients and processes result in different textures and flavours. Environmental factors play a role. The best biltong is made where the air is clean, relatively dry, and where ambient temperatures are steady (though these temperature and humidity conditions can now be artificially controlled).
Biltong is Southern Africa's contribution to the cured meats industry. While there is evidence that indiginous inhabitants of Southern Africa dried meats for many thousands of years, biltong as we now know it was introduced to the region by the Dutch settlers in the early 17th century. The product gained traction when the Dutch settlers moved into the interior to establish farming communities in the richly-grassed veld-lands of the interior. Cattle grazing these rich grasses produce a fine quality meat that is both tender and flavoursome. Local indigenous African communities soon gained access to some of the important ingredients (such as vinegar and most spices), and in the centuries that have followed, biltong has become a South African staple and is sold in practically every butchery and grocery outlet in the country.
Prior to the turn of the century (2000) biltong was not easily available in the UK. As the South African diaspora increased in number - particularly the UK, expatriate Southern Africans started to home-make biltong - and a handful of British butchers followed suit (particularly in regions where there were larger numbers of South African expatriates). In some cases, these butchers "ran the gauntlet" of local food-standards authorities, and we are aware of a few cases where a butcher was instructed to terminate the production and sale of "un-cooked meats", or risk prosecution!
Fortunately, sanity seems to have prevailed in recent years, with the authorities developing a greater understanding of what biltong is, and why it is perfectly safe. Of course - as it is with any food product - manufacturing must take place with strict hygiene and processing systems in place.
When to eat biltong
Biltong is not only a "snack food", though this is its most popular classification. In Southern Africa, it is an essential accompaniment to sports and entertainment events, public gatherings and hospitality venues (from the beach, through to cinemas and theatres). It is a rich food, so is typically consumed in small quantities. A 50-gram pack is typically enough to satisfy one's impulsive taste for a quick snack, but the taste is compelling and very more-ish!
Biltong is also used as an ingredient in cooking and food preparation. Grated biltong is delicious on a pesto pasta dish (in the same way Parmesan cheese is applied) and is often used as a flavour enhancer in caseroles, stews and soups. A fine and interesting salad can be created with biltong (grated or finely-sliced) as a garnish. Some people love it grated over icecream!
Different styles of biltong
As the product is air-cured, the moisture content diminishes the longer it is exposed to air. When packed, the lack of air helps retain its moisture, but there is a very wide range of "dryness". The product is most-tasty when the moisture content is relatively high: eg: a kilogram of beef dried to around 400/500 grams of biltong, thereby losing between 50% and 60% of its moisture content. However, there are more "moist" and more "dry" varieties. Really dry biltong has a rich flavour, but can be tougher.
In most cases, an amount of fat is left on the strips, and this can influence flavour and texture. Good biltong is made from "marbled" beef cuts, but this style (erroneously called Wagyu biltong) can be expensive. Most producers leave between 5% and 10% of the fatty strip, and the consumer then has the discretion to either eat or remove the fatty portions.
When made from a good quality meat, biltong's flavour is enhanced by the nature of the brine and the added spices and herbs. Garlic and chilli flavours are most popular, but there are many interesting and delicious flavours involving everything from raw molasses, wild honey, juniper berries, nuts and legumes.
Biltong is usually sold either as larger strips (100 grams or more), or as cut slices, which can vary in thickness from fractions of a millimetre to up to 5 millimeters. The larger strips can be chewed on as a single piece, but people who buy these strips usually end up slicing it themselves, in portions suitable to the need at the time. A good, sturdy and very sharp knife is advised. There are "biltong slicers" commercially available. The mechanical slicers resemble desktop guillotines, with heavy-duty blades. Electric slicers are also available. Slicers for hams and vegetables are usually not strong enough and we don't recommend their use for cutting biltong.
Storing biltong
Biltong is a perishable food, and has a limited shelf-life. However, it is possible to store it for between 2 and 3 weeks in an airtight container, with its oxygen-aborber sachet included. Moist biltong can dry further if exposed to air, but if it is to be made more dry, care should be taken to prevent dust and insects from settling on it. Cut biltong will dry quickly (within hours) where as large strips may take a day or two to dry further.
Biltong should NOT be stored in aluminium foil or plastic cling-wraps! Mylar food pockets or packets are fine (similar to the packets potato crisps are stored in), or it should be wrapped in baking paper then placed in a plastic container with an air-tight lid. Aluminium and plastic are NOT "biltong-friendly".
It should not be refrigerated, but kept in a cool, relatively dark cupboard or drawer.
Some people freeze biltong, and claim that this has little or no effect when thawed. Freezing does however reduce moisture content, and additionally, when thawed, the biltong may develop a coating of watery residue which some people may find unpleasant.