SANParks.org Forums

Think it's time this gets its own topic.

What is your fav - excluding beef.

I'm addicted to ostrich and tried Springbok Biltong yesterday for the first time. Now I'm addicted to both.

Can't get myself to try Elephant biltong though. Kids say it's quite good.

Ellie biltong is good. Nought some in Pretoriuskop over Easter. SO wouldn't touch it

I don't care what Biltong it is, I like them all

Then again, I am a carnivore

Springbok is good, as well as kudu. I do like good ol' beef as well though

Eland is the best and even beter than beef.

Love ALL types of biltong from springbok, impala, kudu & blesbuck to ellie...
{think it all also depends on who made it... some peoples spices are just better than others}

*EDIT* forgot to say Gemsbok is also very tasty!

As I write this I am knibbling on a piece of Kudu "billies". I love springbok, rooibok and kudu most. I have even developed an interest in Ostrich.

Biltong?? Who eats biltong?? Raw, dried meat, yuggg!!

Just kidding. I luv the stuff. Springbok, kudu, elephant, you name it. Must say that I do prefer beef biltong though.

Now droëwors, that's my favourite thing and my favourite is kudu droëwors.

LOVE biltong
Also just send 5 big vacuum packed pkts of biltong to daughter in England.
She and her boyfriend shares a house with 10 housemates and she will not share with anybody (not even her boyfriend) and they all have to sit and watch her nibbling biltong in front of the telly

Recipe for biltong:

1. Buy a gun
2. Stalk your animal - but don't turn your back on it.
3. Don't forget to hire a PH to back you up!
4. Shoot a Kudu, or whatever your favourite biltong animal is... and be sure to kill it or it may kill you?
5. Hang it up by it's back legs, gut it and then remove the head. Remember to take your airline sick-bag with you.
6. Hang the carcass in a cold room for at least 2 weeks, preferably 4, to 'mature' - aka until it stinks!
7. Employ someone else to butcher the meat, saving the rest for biltong - a horrid job! Sell the most tender parts to the local Spar butcher!
8. Persuade the 'someone else' to spend hours cutting the least tender meat into small strips for your biltong
9. Now we get to the most imortant part......
10. Take the strips of meat and place them in a large basin, layered with spices of your choice, herbs and peppercorns, vinegar and salt. Put back in the cold room to marinate. Your hands will be sore and raw at the end of this proccess but don't give up - I am sure that your biltong will taste great even if you suffer from e-coli as a result!
11. Over the next 2 - 3 days stir the blooming cold mixture (by hand) to ensure that the spices etc infuse into the meat and to ensure that you have worked hard enough that you will eat the darned Biltong even if you hate the bloody taste of it by the end of the proccess!
12. Take the strips of meat and hang them on hooks (you can buy the hooks in your local DIY but be careful not to hook your fingers) in a warm, dry place - you may wish to smoke them or dry them by artificial means if you do not live in Africa - until they are dried out to your own satisfaction - or they are so covered in flies that you are afraid that you will end up eating maggots!
Unlucky 13. Enjoy your home-made biltong or, in the case of your maggot-ridden biltong, send it as Christmas presents to those 'freinds' who you don't really like but cannot avoid and hope that they get 'biltong-tummy'!

From one who knows about these things......

I took some beef biltong back with me in Feb for colleagues at work (it's a kind of custom to bring back something from your hols). It didn't go down very well. Some people refused it altogether, some had one piece and spat it out. A couple actually finished one piece but didn't have any more. Only one person (my boss) actually liked it. So we shared the whole pack!

Good job I kept the ostrich back for myself!

And today I found out that our local butcher sells biltong. Wonder what it's like...

What we both vote for, Omie, is biltong made with care and detail. A lot of the mass production is unremarkable. The owner of Sloane's was telling me that he uses tumble dryers at some stage to make sure the flavours are well and truly saturated through the meat.

Here is the proper way to make it...

The taste of some biltong is changing, maybe due to the
tumble drying Also too much pepper in them

I agree on the point about too much pepper (or worse still, peri peri). Also there's not enough coriander the mass produced stuff.

One of the problems of many mass made biltongs, is that it caters for the "chip market".
A really good biltong has a very special balance of spices, needing to be infused into the meat. Its not about throwing a layer of "spice cremora" on top.
Like I said, its the special places which acheive this.