rookhawk
AH ambassador
Apologies if this is not the right category for this topic. I've read all the various biltong recipes and tried it for the first time yesterday. I'm fussy, and I have to say I think I made 10/10 biltong by sheer luck on the first try, using North American Whitetail Deer no less!
Recipe:
About 8lbs of the "ham" back legs of whitetail deer. I used two buck hams. Once all muscle groups were disassembled and ALL fat and silver skin was removed, I was able to get about 5lbs of clean biltong strips that when raw measured about 3/4"x1.5"x8". Obviously, they varied by which muscle group it was, but that was the goal.
Take your 5lbs of clean, sliced venison. Make sure the meat grain is running long ways on these candy-bar-sized pieces of flesh.
Marinade: 10 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. 5 tablespoons coarse salt. 1.5 Tablespoons Worcestershire. 3 tablespoons coarse ground black pepper. 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes. 3 tablespoons brown sugar. 3 tablespoons coarse ground coriander seeds. (seeds ground, don't use coriander powder)
Prep: Soak the meat in vinegar to get it sticky, then lay the steaks in a Tupperware or other container, putting a light coat of the seasoning on the bottom of the dish before you lay out your first layer of meat. Sprinkle the seasoning on the meat, then layout another layer. Once fully laid out and seasoned, pour the liquid on top of all the meat. Let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours. DO NOT wash the meat to remove the vinegar. Put it in the dehydrator as-is.
Drying: I spent a lot of time researching food dehydrators. The 9 drawer Excaliber runs for about $300 and every hunter should own one. It works perfectly for biltong, but also for dried fruit, wild plums, wild mushrooms, and all the other things you ought to be picking up on your hunts anyway. Set it at its lowest temp setting, 95F/65C and let it run for 24 hours or until you like the consistency. At about 14 hours in I pulled a handful of the tiny pieces of biltong and cut them to verify they were dry. They were perfect. At 24-36 hours the bigger pieces will be done.
Slice them and serve. I like natural biltong in the state I call "day 2 or day 3" where you get a pink, soft middle, I believe I'll like the 24-hour drying technique best. You may prefer to go 36 or even 48 hours if you'd like to be dry as the sahara. (crazy, but some people do like it that way)
Recipe:
About 8lbs of the "ham" back legs of whitetail deer. I used two buck hams. Once all muscle groups were disassembled and ALL fat and silver skin was removed, I was able to get about 5lbs of clean biltong strips that when raw measured about 3/4"x1.5"x8". Obviously, they varied by which muscle group it was, but that was the goal.
Take your 5lbs of clean, sliced venison. Make sure the meat grain is running long ways on these candy-bar-sized pieces of flesh.
Marinade: 10 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. 5 tablespoons coarse salt. 1.5 Tablespoons Worcestershire. 3 tablespoons coarse ground black pepper. 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes. 3 tablespoons brown sugar. 3 tablespoons coarse ground coriander seeds. (seeds ground, don't use coriander powder)
Prep: Soak the meat in vinegar to get it sticky, then lay the steaks in a Tupperware or other container, putting a light coat of the seasoning on the bottom of the dish before you lay out your first layer of meat. Sprinkle the seasoning on the meat, then layout another layer. Once fully laid out and seasoned, pour the liquid on top of all the meat. Let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours. DO NOT wash the meat to remove the vinegar. Put it in the dehydrator as-is.
Drying: I spent a lot of time researching food dehydrators. The 9 drawer Excaliber runs for about $300 and every hunter should own one. It works perfectly for biltong, but also for dried fruit, wild plums, wild mushrooms, and all the other things you ought to be picking up on your hunts anyway. Set it at its lowest temp setting, 95F/65C and let it run for 24 hours or until you like the consistency. At about 14 hours in I pulled a handful of the tiny pieces of biltong and cut them to verify they were dry. They were perfect. At 24-36 hours the bigger pieces will be done.
Slice them and serve. I like natural biltong in the state I call "day 2 or day 3" where you get a pink, soft middle, I believe I'll like the 24-hour drying technique best. You may prefer to go 36 or even 48 hours if you'd like to be dry as the sahara. (crazy, but some people do like it that way)
