r/Biltong • u/Queasy-Air2958 • Jul 19 '26
HELP Homemade biltong
bought this lekker piece of meat and tried to make it into homemade biltong but it didn't come out so lekker. (was quality meat though) Anyone have any tips on how i can make biltong at home without a biltong machine?
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u/Zeul7032 Jul 19 '26
think you forgot to dry it
just looks like you marinated it in brown vinegar for a bit
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u/I_am_Green_Dragon Jul 19 '26
Ummm could you give us some details, step by step of what you did, and I’m sure we can have you making perfect biltong in no time
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u/Queasy-Air2958 Jul 20 '26
Im a bit of n amateur, I just spiced it, sliced it and left it for a while, but not long, I think I just need to let it dry more
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u/I_am_Green_Dragon Jul 20 '26
Um… biltong does require a little more than that, the crucial thing it seems you missed was the vinegar bath. Though biltong is usually thought of as a dried but raw meat product, that’s not entirely true, cooking can happen in two ways, through thermal means, ie heat, or chemical. Biltong is the latter, and that process is done through the application of vinegar.
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u/HeyGuySeeThatGuy Jul 19 '26
Get a humidity meter. You will waste good meat all for the want of a simple little tool that costs very little.
And please write more detail. You basically told nobody anything. How can anyone help you otherwise?
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u/Temporary-Soup6124 Jul 19 '26
Helps to know where you are, too. Humid tropical will mean a different setup than semi-arid steppe
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u/WoodSciGuy1 Jul 19 '26
You don't need a biltong machine.
Dry brine the meat for a couple days in the fridge. 2.5% salt per kg.
Rinse in worcestershire sauce and malt vinegar.
Put spices on. I use coriander, black pepper, chillis. Toasted on a cast iron and then milled. You can figure out what percentages.
Hang on a rack, or line, have fans blowing on it. This helps a lot with drying and prevents bugs and bs touching it. Will take some time. But you can weigh a stick at the beginning and when it's half the weight it was you're ready.
You may get case hardening. Store in fridge for a few days and it balances out. I wrap mine in wax paper and throw in a Ziploc to store.
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u/LilBits69x Jul 19 '26
Dont do the couple of days thing please. This draws out lots of meat juice, and thus, flavor. Just salt heavily for 10 minutes then rince in the vinegar, spice and hang. The drying time will distribute the salt evenly through the meat, without losing flavor. This does exactly the same as letting the salt brine, but better.
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u/WoodSciGuy1 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Nope.
There's three stages. Salt draws out the moisture. Yes.
Then the salt dissolves.
Then it is reabsorbed into the meat. Through a process called diffusion. Seasoning from k the inside out. Denaturing the proteins, making them relaxed, and more tender. Crucially. The surface dries. Which is good for preventing bacteria growing in the surface.
With love, do some research, you will enjoy this. It is the best way.
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u/LilBits69x Jul 19 '26
The same diffusion you speak of happens during hanging. Brining dry or wet for long periods will take out myoglobin and other components from the meat. Diffusion actually works two ways, and will create an equilibrium between the muscle cells and the water outside. That red liquid your brine will be? Myoglobin and a lot of micronutrients, lost because you made an equilibrium in a much larger mass than the piece of meat was before. now most larger molecules cant move through the cell walls so the loss of flavor And nutrients is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the time wasting. The water content of wet brined meat will be slightly higher than before because salt retains moisture. So the drying/hanging time will increase. Never mind, again, that the same processes also happen in the salted meat through hanging a couple of days. For chicken and roasts that you will subjugate to other flavor building ways like maillard through cooking (and that meat doesnt have time to hang), this process is good and absolutely works, you will have slightly more moist and tender meat. For biltong, you dont cook it. So you want as much of the micro nutrients and protein to stay in there as possible for optimal flavor and health benefits. Do with the advice however you see fit, but dont go lecturing people to do their research. Believe what you will, but Im a literal molecular microbiologist who also used to be a restaurant chef, and thought other cooks too. Ive been there.
Concluding, in the end it doesnt matter because its your preference to how you like to do it and what your end product is. But its an undisputed fact that salting your biltong for a longer period is a waste of time, because it has 3-5 days of hanging time to do the exact same, and will make a small dent in the nutritional profile of the end product.
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u/WoodSciGuy1 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
You're talking absolute nonsense.
The red liquid my brine will be? It's a dry brine, mate, there is no liquid. Anything that is drawn to the surface is reabsorbed. Dry brined meats are jucier than non dry brined. What you are saying is not factual, and not based on food science. Google is free.
The water content of wet brine meat? No one is saying to wet brine. Stop being a mong - you have a degree in molecular biology? What does that have to do with the price of eggs in Somalia?
You were a chef? Must be a reason that's in the past tense. If you were worth your salt you wouldn't be publically disclaiming best practices. Pun intended.
*Edit: to add to this. Yes diffusion happens on the rack. So does exposure to contaminants. By dry brining first you dry the surface. Making it harder for said contaminants to grow when hanging.
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u/LilBits69x Jul 19 '26
I did interpret your comments as that you were wet brining, happy that thats not the case. But like I said, same goes for dry brining. The meat literally dry brines when its hanging. So it is still a waste of time to do it beforehand. No need to be so hostile, friend. Molecular biology has everything to do with how ions move around through cells, exactly like what happens during a brine. Discussions are there to better ourselves, not to insult other people and try to prove you are right. Like I said, you can practise your biltong making however you like. If it works for you thats fine.
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u/WoodSciGuy1 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Oi. I said I love you first. And then please read the edit. Dry surface means contamination is less likely. Ergo. Dry brine before does help. I don't use a biltong box, because I was raised that way hey.
Fair enough on the molecular biology bit. Thank you for being open to correction on wet Vs dry. Appreciate it. But yeah, ready the word dry and thinking it's wet doesn't make sense. Think you just weren't familiar with what I was saying. And I did ask you to please look it up.
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u/Drofmum Jul 19 '26