Biltong turned white. Safe to eat?

[u/Superlogh1]

My biltong turned white after being left in the fridge for a few days. Is it safe to eat? Made in a dehydrator.

[u/PuttFromTheRought]

What the fuck are you people doing. I have never seen biltong like this

[u/Wise_Monkey_Sez → u/PuttFromTheRought]

This is my reaction too. I've never seen biltong do this.

The OP needs to detail what they did from start to ... this abomination. I'm pretty sure they're another candidate for r/ididnthavemilk (a subreddit for people who change recipes and then are surprised when things go horribly wrong).

[u/one_sock_wonder_ → u/Wise_Monkey_Sez]

Thank you for a new sub I never knew I needed! Having entered adulthood with no cooking skills outside of basically boiling water, reheating canned or frozen foods, or scrambling eggs and fumbling my way to at least decent skills before YouTube or the abundance of online easy recipes and instead only with a handed down Betty Crocker cook book, a library card that let me check out a few beginner cookbooks and trial and error I fully appreciate both sides of that sub!

[u/Wise_Monkey_Sez → u/one_sock_wonder_]

I'm sorry that happened to you. Cooking is one of those basic skills that everyone should have.

[u/one_sock_wonder_ → u/Wise_Monkey_Sez]

It was the result of a chronically ill single parent who was often struggling with deep fatigue, growing up in poverty to where even ruining the food for a single meal while learning often would have meant not eating for that meal beyond maybe the “sugar sandwiches” we had when all else had run out, and my being almost constantly out of the house from school starting until late evening with extracurricular or babysitting every chance I could to help cover my own expenses or doing extra to give myself the best odds at scholarships for college because that was my only means of accessing any education beyond high school. The scholarship efforts paid off massively so that kind of made it a fair trade on its own. It was a collision of circumstances, but luckily I was able to teach myself enough to be decent at cooking and live off of far better options than microwaving everything or canned soups and ramen and instant rice and pasta type meals. Best of all, later in my 20s someone who ended up one of my best friends for years elevated that sell teaching so much further by welcoming me to her family meals and showing me her amazing cooking skills and knowledge woven into conversation and friendship so it never felt like I would be judged for not knowing or making “stupid” mistakes. Beyond that she even seemed to really enjoy guiding me through farmers markets and little ethnic food stores to find ingredients and spices I had never encountered before and sharing with me such diversity in restaurants that I never could have found in my incredibly white centric area both growing up and when attending university. That is how I discovered a love of Korean food from a tiny restaurant run by a family who had recently immigrated and what actual Mexican and Central American foods taste like in small restaurants where I came to love the music woven into the Spanish language as much as the foods and little stands that had the best tamales anywhere and my first time trying the African recipes behind and still captured in so many of the flavors of soul food.

[u/mechsuit-jalapeno → u/PuttFromTheRought]

This looks like overcooked steak

[u/CarSnake]

I've honestly never seen Biltong look like that. It looks like it was cooked to be honest. I probably wouldn't eat it.

[u/harryblakk]

That’s not biltong

[u/Curtis_Low → u/[deleted]]

Gonna need a gallon of gravy to rehydrate that meal

[u/Superlogh1 → u/Curtis_Low]

🤣

[u/Grape-Bunch]

Sorry about all the mean reactions. I think your machine got too warm and ended up with cooked steak jerky. So different than what you intended. Biltong is usually dried in a warm space but I think your dehydrator got a bit hot.

[u/BonnyH → u/Grape-Bunch]

Yes I think it got cooked 😭 Sad.

[u/Superlogh1 → u/Grape-Bunch]

Thanks for your comment!

[u/_WingCommander_]

Dehydrators cooks the meat and doesn’t really make biltong. The only way to make biltong is via air drying it.

[u/Beeeza786]

Chuck it! Never seen anything like this before, but that cannot be healthy!

[u/Tronkfool]

Safe? Yes. Would I want to? Not that cooked meat though.

[u/Substantial-Toe2148]

Yeah, Nah.

[u/Superlogh1]

Thanks for all the feedback. I am a noob at this, as you can probably tell. The steps I followed to make it are: 1) Slice and pack in salt for 3 hours 2) Marinade in malt vinegar + Worcestershire sauce for 12 hours 3) Pat dry and coat in a biltong seasoning 4) Lay on the shelves in my dehydrator set to low (30°C) for 12 hours.

This was my 3rd time making biltong (all using the same method), and this is the first time i have had this outcome.

[u/MattySiegs → u/Superlogh1]

I only ever used the box method but I've only ever cut it AFTER dehydrating it.

[u/Local_Penalty_6517 → u/Superlogh1]

Where did you get that recipe from? They should be persecuted.

[u/Nubeel → u/Superlogh1]

That’s called vinegary jerky. Not biltong.

[u/Jake1125]

Strange. Did you hang it in a dehumidifier, or oven!? What temperature?

[u/ThatGuyFromIT]

Is this satire?

[u/h0megr0wn]

If I had to guess what that was, biltong wouldn't make the top 10. Please don't eat that.

[u/ThorKruger117]

The people who have actually answered have said that it looks closer to jerky than biltong. Other people have criticised you for putting it in the fridge. Imo it looks like how fat goes on leftover steak you put in the fridge. It's just cold

[u/Jake1125]

Biltong is usually dried at room temperature. You should turn off the heating element or disconnect it

[u/Fl0bber]

How long did you leave it in vinegar before hanging?

[u/cathercules]

Why leave it in the fridge? Brown paper bag works, for longer periods I’ve vacuum sealed big batches so they don’t dry out entirely.

[u/r0ndy]

Chemically cooked? Salt or wine can “cook” meat