Just gone into the fridge to sit. Looking forward to this batch!

I’ve been making biltong for a little bit now and have just made my 3rd batch. My first was great, everything came out fine and I couldn’t have asked for my first time to have gone better. Now though my last 2 batches have had case hardening. I haven’t changed anything but it’s still not coming out right. Is the fan in my set up proving too much air flow?

Hi guys and girls

We have access to a lot of free pheasant and game in general. Going to try making pheasant Biltong for our first try. Does anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks

Long story short: I'm in recovery from having half of my intestines surgically removed and have a very limited diet right now. I can get down a few tablespoons of solid food at a time, my sense of taste is reduced right now, and I need biltong (for a variety of reasons, mostly psychological).

The thing is, everywhere my family has tried to buy is either a franchise or a large store that, either way, sells dry, fatless or candlewax-fat, underspiced, beef-jerky nonsense. What I need is something soft, moist, fresh, with geelvet (and I mean like 30-60% fat). Glazes (honey, fruit chutney) and shakers (chutney spice again) on some would be ideal.

The only thing I can think of is finding a small, corner-of-the-mall type shop where I can phone the person actually running it, ask if they slice their biltong fresh themselves, ask about the options, and maybe ask for a special cut. I'll pay the premium for it if I have to. I've been craving this from hospital for three months now and it's finally an option now that surgery is fine and I'm in recovery, so I am officially bordering on "desperate" at this point. Any ideas or suggestions?

Had a great time building my own biltong box and trying my hand at curing meat. Really enjoyed the whole process, from putting the box together to preparing and drying the meat. The final result came out delicious! Definitely a fun project, and I'm looking forward to making another batch and experimenting with different flavors.

What am I doing wrong here?

These 2 pieces were from the same batch. I took a piece out of my biltong box after about 4 days and tasted it. I liked it, but my wife said the middle tasted too raw. Personally I didn't mind it, so I started cutting off a pieces slices to eat there and then, and put the remainder of the piece in the fridge. The rest of the batch stayed in the biltong box for another few days.

I'm not sure happy with either of these pieces, but I don't know enough to know what went wrong with them.

The first picture is of the piece that got left for longer in the box. I think this is case hardening because it still tastes somewhat raw in the centre, but very hard on the outside.

The 2nd pic is the piece that dried less, but got put into the fridge. As tou can see the redder part in the centre is smaller, and there's a ring of greyish, almost shimmery colour around it. Whats gone wrong here?

Inside round, outside round, eye of round?

Looking to hear from others in Canada what cuts and where you are buying from?

Using petit tender, I hung them for 3.5 days for the small pieces, 4 days for the larger pieces. You can see in the last picture - they came out not too chewy, and still pretty moist. Overall, great success!

I'm already excited, the house smells awesome. I am worried the fan is too strong but this is a small test batch. Is there a way to tell if I am getting case hardening early and is there a remedy?

New to this. Really need some advise
Hey everyone, I follow a carnivore diet and I eat LOTS of meat. I found some biltong and droewors at the supermarket the other day and I LOVED IT. I buy it all the time now and take it to work everyday! It is the perfect snack.

Sadly, it is costly buying it from the store.

However, I do own a large dehydrator and the temperature ranges from (70 f - 190 f)

I really want to make it at home to start saving some money.

My questions would be.

1. Can my dehydrator replace the biltong box if i set it at a low temperature. I will post the link to the dehydrator I own.

2. Can I make droewors in this dehydrator?

3. I know you guys get this question all the time, but when it comes to droewors, i really do not want to use curing salts. I want to follow the simple authentic recipe. Beef, vinegar, salt, coriander (maybe) ... is that ok?

Can I hear from the experts, please?
Thanks

I currently use rump cap (picanha) I love the taste and texture, but I am struggling with its size, as it is hard to get a nice wide slab (as seen in pic above it's not verywide) , and the fat cap is a bit too big.

I have tried silverside, but it is too hard to find it without being pre-corned.

So, what do you use or recommend? Also, how thick do you cut your slabs?

My first two batches were perfect, recipe basically the same as before. The only difference I can think of is the meat was a little brown after the 24 hour vinegar bath and it’s been raining non stop in QLD Australia for the last few days. I have a fan running 247 and my biltong box is in my garage which is ‘inside’ but probably a little more exposed to the elements? I didn’t have my hydrometer in there while it was raining, usually it’s around 66%.

Can I wipe off with vinegar? The meat isn’t completely hardened yet.

24 hours in, it’s drying really nicely !

Just made a batch for the first time in ages, little white spots ? And only on a couple of pieces, Am I being super paranoid ?

First time making it, have no idea if its safe

Appreciate the help in advance. I am looking at making my own biltong, just has a hobby for when I go hiking. So now we get to the questions.

I dont have a dehydrator so will be using the dehydrate setting on my ninja air fryer, whats the best amount of time thats worked for you?

Flavours? There is the standard flavour, what others are there?

Prepping the meat, I've seen people say 2-3 hours and 24 hours. In your opinion what has worked for you?

When do you know its done?

Does cutting against the grain negatively effect it?

How to store it afterwards?

How long will it last?

Again I appreciate the help. Will be looking at starting the process tomorrow

I was not sure whether this is is mould. I wrapped it in a paper towel soaked in vinegar. If it is mould, should I scrape it off? I sort of don't give a shit, and will eat it either way.

I was looking for a electric Biltong slicer which was able to produce the thinnest slices? Any suggestions?

Hey everyone, would love to hear your opinions/advice on making biltong with venison or with other leaner meats. I've been making venison biltong and am having a few challenges with the texture. At the moment it either comes out quite hard, almost crunchy on the outside and overly dry all the way throughout, or perfect on the outside yet completely raw still in the middle. Have tried increasing the humidity but not sure I'm doing it to the right level. Also, sometimes when I do this, I notice that's when mould starts growing. Any tips?

Thanks!

Hi Biltong Lovers,

My husband is South African and he makes excellent biltong which he sells at work, friend and family. We are looking to expand and I am wanting to help him with this new business venture. We would appreciate any advice from people that are doing something similar in the UK. We are looking to make the biltong at home to help not pay for premises and keep the costs low.

We will be grateful for any input.

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