How To Make Biltong

A detailed description on how to make biltong with plenty of photos.

In this article we are going to show you how to make biltong. This method requires a biltong box. A biltong box is the most convenient way to make your own biltong, and an essential when making biltong in the UK.

What you'll need (the biltong recipe):

1. 4kg of good meat (thick flank or silverside)
2. Coriander seeds
3. Vinegar (brown or red wine vinegar works the best)
4. Sea salt
5. Worcestershire sauce
6. Beef stock cubes

Method (how to make biltong):

1. Cut your meat with the grain into 1 inch strips

2. Add your vinegar to a shallow tub and dip your biltong strips into the vinegar, making sure you cover all the meat with vinegar.

3. Lift the meat out of the vinegar, and allow the vinegar to drip off.

4. Rest your meat in a tray.

5 put the whole coriander seeds in a pan, and dry roast them over a medium heat to release the flavours.

6. Crush the roasted coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar or blend in a blender. In this case I am using a flavour shaker.

7. In a clean, dry tray, sprinkle some salt, coriander and beef stock onto the bottom of the tray and lay the meat in the tray in one layer.

8. Now sprincle the spice on top of the meat, making sure you push the spices into the meat.

9. Repeat the spice method with each layer.

9. Cover the meat and refrigerate for about an hour, allowing the meat to marinade in the spices, this gives the biltong a better flavour.

10. Hang the meat in a biltong box  with some plastic biltong hooks or bent paperclips.

11. Check the meat after 72 hours, the small pieces of biltong should be almost dry by this stage.

12. Remove the dry pieces if necessary, and put them in a paper bag. (Who am I kidding, just go ahead and eat the biltong- you know you want to!). After a further 24 hours, the thicker pieces of biltong should be ready.  If there are some pieces that still need drying, leave them in the biltong box for a little longer.

13. And that's it! you now have a batch of delicious biltong.

We hope you found this article useful. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us.

For more biltong photos like the ones in this tutorial, have a look at the Biltong Gallery

A final note:

Making biltong is not just for butchers, and I believe every South African should know how to make biltong. Making biltong is fairly easy. The only difficult part is getting the biltong recipe right.

I suggest keeping a log of the amount of spice and meat you use for every batch of biltong. This way you'll know what biltong recipe works for you. Everyone likes their biltong spiced differently, so experiment a bit. Its fun and you get an excuse to make biltong as often as you want.