Biltong has been around for centuries; for instance, a more primitive form, the Dutch tassal, was also prepared in certain areas of France during the late middle Ages. Tassal was also made in Batavia, and made its way to South Africa with the Dutch settlers where it was adapted to the less pungent biltong. Biltong can also be made in colder climates by using an electric lamp to dry the meat, but care must be taken to ventilate, as mold can begin to form on the meat. It is typically dried out in the cold night air in rural settings, biltong maker dry boxes for urban use or refrigerated chill rooms, mainly commercial. You can try biltong UK for further information.
Biltong is, according to Wikipedia, a kind of dried meat that originated in South Africa. The word biltong is from the Dutch bil for rump and tong, which means strip or tongue. Biltong, like jerky, has nearly no fat and other than the meat selected is pretty much chipped jerky. Biltong will most likely be a product that is marketed “south african biltong”. Biltong doesn't like humidity so when you make biltong UK conditions are normally too cold and therefore under climate controlled air flow boxes know as a biltong box.
This is the basics on how to make biltong bearing in mind it takes a bit of time, patients and a keen understanding of biltong spice recipe. Cut nice slices of beef or game not too big then the meat is dipped very quickly in a brown vinegar and Worchester souse mix. Then the meat strips are rolled in a mixture of pepper and coriander only. Excess salt is then knocked off and the strips dipped for a few seconds in apple cider vinegar.
The meat sprinkling liberally with a mixture of coarsely cracked black pepper, cracked coriander seed and dark brown sugar. Then put some apple-cider vinegar in a bowl and dip the strips of meat in the vinegar for a second or so - just so that the meat is covered in the vinegar. Each piece MUST hang freely, not touching each other.
Meat not hanging freely will not dry properly and, worse still, can become moldy, especially in humid areas and your end result is beef biltong. Now a days, home sick South Africans are lucky enough to be able to buy biltong online.
