Post by Gus65 on Aug 27, 2014 22:20:31 GMT 10
Not my personal recipe but one I've sourced from the net and tried with very satisfactory results. My mother reckons it's on the money and she just went back for a family reunion. Tried to bring some locally made product back for me but that was never going to work.
I don't hang it or use a Biltong box, mine goes in the dehydrator but not at full blast, gently for longer is my preference.
Ingredients
2kg fillet of beef
150ml red wine vinegar. ( I use a bit more when doing the rinse stage)
50 ml Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons Coriander seeds, coarsely ground
1 Tablespoon Black Pepper, coarsely ground
500g fine sea salt
150g Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda.
Directions
1. Cut the beef into strips about 4cm thick and pack the meat into a smallish bowl so that it fits tightly.
2. Add vinegar and Worcestershire sauce then leave for 30 minutes
3. Mix Coriander seeds and Black pepper together in another bowl.
4. In a third bowl mix the salt, sugar and bicarb.
5. remove the meat from the marinade and reserve for later.
6. Add the beef to the bowl of spices and mix around until evenly coated, save any spices that don't stick.
7. Bury the meat in the salt and sugar mix and leave for 3 hours.
8. Remove the meat from the brine and dip back into the reserved vinegar
9. Remove the beef from the marinade and using the vinegar (this is where I add a bit more vinegar to the bowl), wash all the salt off. Don't skip this bit or the Biltong will be unbearably salty.
10. Squeeze the beef to remove as much liquid as possible and roll in the spices once more. The meat is now ready for hanging or dehydrating.
It's ready when it's as tough as old boots. One of the common ways of serving is to slice it off the big dried strip using a vege peeler to get a thin strip. Don't go mad scoffing it. Small pieces at a time are my suggestion, too much at once can result in a lot of time in the loo.
If you are going to hang it for between 3 and 20 days use bits of string to tie one end of each strip and hang in whatever drying contraption you are using making sure the strips don't touch anything including the box sides or bottom.
