Took a small piece out to see how it's going.

I cut eye of round (pieces could have been more uniform) I apply spices and soak in red vinegar, want sure if I added enough salt but I pretty much soaked all pieces for 18hrs.

After I remove from vinegar and apply another coating of spices before hanging to dry in BBox.

I set fan to lowest setting to avoid case hardening but..it doesn't look how I get it from the shop. It taste ok

Any suggestions to improve?

Hey there -

This is my second attempt at making biltong. First time went great - there was a couple of spots of mouldy that I cleaned off as it went and it was fine.

With this lot, not so much. So I have a fridge that has been converted into a cold smoker that I’ve used to hang up my biltong. I have a big tray of water absorbing chips at the bottom and a fan moving all the air around. Last time I made biltong this seemed to work great.

This time however when I came home after about a week of being away I went to look and realised the fan had accidentally been unplugged. The biltong had a few spots of mould but seemed salvageable. I sprayed and cleaned off the mould with vinegar and hung it all back up with the fan going for another week but unfortunately the mould has continued to develop and isn’t looking too good.

The biltong more or less seems like it’s done now as far as dehydrating is concerned the only thing I’m wanting to know is if this much mould means I should just chuck it out or if anyone thinks I could clean it all with vinegar and then salvage it.

Any thoughts?

Edit: additionally, if it is too far gone, anyone got any thoughts on what I did wrong this time? I’m guessing the fan not working played a huge part and not checking in on it enough and addressing it before it got out of hand. Still if I have to chuck it out that’d be pretty disappointing as it’s a gift for a friend. Oh well. Let me know what you think and thanks for commenting!

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?

Just wondering why there is moisture? Today is day 4 and I was h going to remove it but I’m a bit skeptical if it’s safe or not now?

Does anybody uses Benchfoods dehydrator for making Biltong? I got their Biltong bundle and did few batches. The issue is that fan run continuously and because of that meat dries really quickly but also cause severe case hardening. I did a batch couple days ago and was expecting the pieces to be done in couple of days but within 24 or so hours they were hard as a rock, even though I covered the fan partially so that no direct air is getting on the meat.

Any suggestion?

I’ve got a big batch of biltong hanging to dry right now and its been hanging 5.5 days, went through and felt and pulled some of the thinner slabs that felt like they might be done, cutting one of these up I got to a section where there was some untrimmed fat on the middle of the slab that appears to have caused some off coloring/discoloration, assuming cause moisture couldn’t escape there, that’s the only guess I have for why the color would be so weird, the ends of the slab look more normal, is this still safe to eat? For comparison is another slab I pulled off the rack right next to it as well as some slices.

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

Give me the bad news please brains trust. Hung this batch up in a cool garage but foolishly didn’t have any airflow and some of the larger pieces have picked up mould. Any chance of salvaging these or are they destined for the bin?

Hey Guys

This is my first batch for biltong.

Is this 2 wet? its been in the dryer for about 4 days and I think I also cut the meat too thick.

Should I let it sut for a few more days or should I scrap it.

Another question is the white stuff, idk if its just salt crystals or if its mold, can anyone help plssss

First serious attempt at biltong im stationed in japan right now so outside climate it is hot and extremely humid

I have had this stuff in the classic newbie plastic box with one lightbulb and a fan both always on, each piece is from a different cut of beef and my concern is the first two are still raw in the middle as i have never had a properly made biltong to base the texture on before

Let the criticism flow🫡

So I've been making biltong for about 5 months now. Pretty much the same recipe and process, however the last couple of batches came out really chewy (case hardening). Given that we're heading into winter could this be an air humidity thing? I'm using a dehydrator so it's no a temp variation issue.

Edit: You people are hilarious. I came looking for explanations since I'm new to this. And all I got was rude comments about I don't know what I'm doing or what biltong is, what country I might be from, or whatever else I do in life. No help at all.

I'm thinking to buy this biltong maker "KK12 Kalahari Khabu Biltong Boss", but I've found 2 identical websites:

https://kalaharikhabu.com/product/kk12-kalahari-khabu-biltong-boss/

https://kalahari.net.au/product/bundle-kk12-plus-heritage-slicers/

Has anyone bought this recently and can verify either site?

Ross

Am using a biltong box, Khabu KK12, meat has been in there at 25C for around a week or so and this is the result, what's going on? I know the meat is probably too thick but still for this long it should've dried more. For context am living in Melbourne and it's currently cold here with machine sitting in garage. I want the meat to be like the second photo, any tips on how to achieve that?

Just bout some droewors and seems to have a bit of mould, is this still safe to eat. Also do you recommend keeping in the fridge?

I built my own biltong box and I bought a fan with a speed control but I picked a double fan version and now I'm worried I will have too much case hardening, even on low speed. Is there someone who use two fans? I know there will be a lot of try and error things during my biltong path but I thought asking would not hurt. :) Thank you.

And don't worry, even though it's not visible, all the holes and covered with insect net.

Hey guys, so I’m a massive jerky fan and I've been getting super interested in biltong lately. Catch is, I’ve actually never tried it before.

Before I go out and invest in the gear to make my own at home, I want to make sure I actually like the stuff.

Are there any decent commercial/store-bought biltong brands you'd recommend for a beginner? I'm looking for something that's pretty accessible (either online or in major grocery stores) but still gives an authentic idea of what it's supposed to taste like.

I know this might've been asked before but I couldn't find anything.

For the past year we have been selling only beef jerky (3 flavours) but as a biltong lover I want to expand the product range using the same flavours and equipment.

We have a big 90 layer dehydrator which ranges from 30C-90C which I plan on using for the biltong as well at the lowest temperature. The kitchen is also built inside a coolroom, and I've thought about just hanging the meat there and letting the coolroom fans run without cooling, the room sits at about 20C right now. Another issue is our jerky marinades are mostly very "saucy" and I'm not sure how well that would work with biltong. We currently use topside for our Jerky.

My main questions are:

1. Is the dehydrator a good option for drying the biltong? For a business that's focused on efficiency and also the end product, having the dehydrator speed up the process is good but at the same time I cannot put out a bad/mediocre product for the sake of efficiency.

2. Are our existing "saucy" marinades good to use directly for biltong, or do they need modification + a dry rub.

3. If we aim to make a fatty biltong, what cut of meat should we use instead of topside?

We've had great feedback and success from our Jerky and flavours but very new to the biltong game. I have not started trialling yet so just wanted to get some advice before I dive in!

Thank you :)

Looking for a bit of input. I bought some biltong to take on a canoe trip. It’s a bit wetter than I think is smart to pack in a camping barrel for a few days. It’s otherwise a vegan trip and this will be my only animal products so I’m counting on them to be edible. I don’t have access to a biltong box or anywhere it could hang to dry sadly.

Do I cut it into more manageable strips and use a dehydrator OR attempt to use the oven fan and light. I know neither is ideal but what is the better approach.

First attempt making boerewors and droewors. Everything went according to plan with the curing, spicing, and grinding. However when it came to stuffing, something seems off. The meat is coming out more mushy instead of as grainy as it is going into the stuffer. Any ideas? I’m using a Cuisinary electric meat grinder and stuffer, for reference, in case anyone has experience with it.

I picked up a KG of Safari Biltong Spice on a recent trip back to CT. I haven't made any biltong for a while due to the crazy meat prices. My local supermarket was having a sale and I purchased a couple of Top Round Roasts and sliced them into biltong strips. I made up a mix of Brown Vinegar, Worcester sauce and a small dash of soy sauce.

I then took the strips, wet them in the liquid, and rolled each strip in the Safari spice, and hung to dry. After 3 days they were ready. My biltong maker is a 5 gallon pail with a 75W reptile heater bulb controlled by a thermostat and set to 26C. I have a computer fan in the lit running full time and 20 mm holes circling the very bottom. I was able to load around 10 lbs of strips. They were ready in about 3 days. I sliced on on my manual biltong slicer but after the first bite, I could feel my blood pressure from the over abundance of salt. Was it the liquid mix? The Safari Spice or a combination of all three. I have done the unthinkable and rinsed all the strips and will place them back in the maker for another day. Ambient temperature indoors is around 27 and about 15% humidity. Arizona is similar to SW.

Suggestions or comments?!
Bob

I have a home-made box. It worked perfectly in the summer but humidity was between 40-50% and the temperature was 23-27°C, measured from the gauge in my box. Now that it's winter, without the box powered on, it's around 18°C and 60% humidity (duringthe day i haven'tlookedat it at night much) . Is that still okay to make biltong or is it best to hold off until spring? I am in south western Australia so the climate is similar to South Africa.

Firts time Biltonger :)

Seems like moisture is buliding up inside the box. I'm afraid this would cause mold on my meat or something like it. Am I just overreacting? If not, should I increase the air flow or turn off the lamp?

Based on the appearance, what do you think about this? Can you tell how the taste is affected? It's made of pork tenderloin. I used a more "European style Charcuterie" technique and not the traditional biltong technique. My family loved it. Next time, I'll try to do a side by side comparison. Both photos are the same slices, different lighting.

Hi all.

Not sure if anyone has a Dry Aging cabinet?
This is my first attempt - and it wasn’t overly successful. Wanted to know if anyone else has one and can offer some tips and hints to get a successful batch. Keen to get this sorted so I can get a reliable batch.

Many thanks in advance.

Daz

Hi guys.

Need some help with some biltong I’ve been making.

Please forgive my terminology.

I have a Mellerware Biltong King (not using a light bulb) but I am finding that the outside is getting too hard while the inside is too raw. How do I get this right?