JaRob's South African Biltong Recipe
Ingredients:
-Beef Rump Roast (or Bottom Round Roast with plenty of fat marbling) 2-4lbs.
-Vinegar 2-4 cups depending on batch size.
-Coarse Salt 1/8 cup
-Coriander seeds 1/8 cup
-Steak Seasoning 1/8 cup (to your preferance such as Weber, Stonemill, etc as long as it is a bit coarse) If the seasoning you prefer doesn't contain a decent amount of salt, then add a bit more coarse salt to the mix.
-Pepper 1-2 TBS
-Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Powder) 1 tsp
Items:
-Dehydrator (or a really warm dry place 100% protected from bugs)I use a Biltong King w/ 40watt bulb, but any heated dehydrator where you can hang the meat in should do.
-Sharp Knife
-Cutting Board
-Large Bowl
-Assortment of measuring cups/spoons
Preparation:
1) Start out by cutting the entire room temperature Rump Roast into strips roughly 1/2" thick by 1" wide, stretching the entire length of the roast. Make sure to cut with the grain, and not across it. Do not trim the excess fat off, this is what adds a lot of flavor so keep it on!
2) Add a cup or two of the vinegar into a large bowl and add the newly cut meat to it. Make sure to have enough vinegar so that you can get somewhat decent coverage of the meat. It doesn't all need to be fully submerged, but rather a decent soaking. Soak the meat in vinegar for a total of 10 minutes while stirring it all up once or twice to make sure vinegar contacts all part of the meat. The reason for this vinegar soaking is to kill any chance of bacteria or mold growth while the meat is initially drying.
3) While the meat is soaking, take all of your dry ingredients and mix them together in another bowl or a baggie for your dry rub. This includes coarsely crushing the coriander seeds.
4) Remove the meat from the vinegar bath, pat each piece somewhat dry with a paper towel, and evenly coat the outside with your dry rub mix. You may not end up using all of your rub so just save any excess for later.
5) Put the meat on the hooks that come with your dehydrator, or you can use paper clips bent to hold it too. Make sure that when meat is hanging that none of the pieces touch each other or the walls of the dehydrator. Also it is really important to make sure that bugs cannot get inside and spoil the meat too.
Total Drying Time:
Somewhere around 2-4 days. Total Drying time depends on how large you cut your pieces to, and your preference for whether you want your biltong to be soft and moist in the middle, or more dry and firm. Personally I like mine to be a little softer and a bit pink in the middle, so I keep mine in for about 2 days. You can do test cuts here and there to see what the inside is looking like. The outside will darken and dry out quite a bit, which is expected. If there is a lot of fat on the outside, it will tend to soften and ooze a bit. Trust me, this is a good thing, and tastes DAMN good!
Eating and long term storage:
Do a few small test cuts to see how the like the seasoning. If it is too salty then you can rub some of the rubbing off that should still be coating the outside, which will soften the taste. Using a sharp knife, cut the biltong across the grain of the meat into as reasonably thin slices as you can manage. The thickness of a nickle is roughly good. Enjoy! It is WAAAAY better than beef jerky and quite a healthy snack too.
If you make a lot and do not eat it within a few days, then you can freeze the rest in a plastic bag for later consumption. Since it is quite low in moisture content it doesn't take long to thaw again.
I have some great South African Biltong recipes that my gf and I make pretty often now. Tastes freaking great.
