I love both. I was brought up on biltong and acquired a taste for jerky when I settled in Canada. I’m fortunate in that there is a South Africa butcher, Florence Meats, in the town where I now live in Canada. He makes lekker beef biltong, droevors and boerevors. We’re fortunate too in that there is a South Africa/Zambian butcher in the town in England where my wife is from who makes equally good biltong, so when we visit we can stuff our faces. We’ve managed to convert most of our children and grandchildren to the joys of biltong, boerevors and other South Africa gastronomic delights. Although I enjoy beef jerky I much prefer biltong. Growing up we could get not just beef biltong, but also kudu, Impala, Ostrich and other game biltong, but it’s more difficult to make because the meat is less marbled than beef.
Any Jerky or Biltong fans?
- Thread starter Tyke121
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Never had a bad sausage, steak or hamburger in South Africa. The food overall was lekker except for the biltong we tried. Even the croc carpaccio which I tried for S&Gs was good.
Bob
You have good beef in the UK so I'd try what others have suggested and make it at home. With a little experimenting you should be OK.
Bob
Although I love my biltong I’ve never felt the need to make it myself. However, I do have a boertjie living not far from me who makes his own biltong from time-to-time. I’ll see if he’ll divulge his recipe and techniques that I can share with you; can’t promise you anything though.
Bob, do you remember if the biltong you ate was beef or game? Some game biltong is an acquired taste. Also, if beef biltong is still a bit “wet” or overly fatty it can taste peculiar. On the other hand, you just might not like biltong. As for croc carpaccio, I never came across it; could be a latter-day foody dish. I have had deep fried gator, however, when I lived in Texas; I think the tyres on my car are more chewable.
I don't know what the biltong was made of and only tried it once because of the bad first experience. If I ever get back to SA some day, I will try it again.
Bob
Or, you could order some from Florence Meats and it’s probably cheaper than a trip to ZA.
Probably, but not near as much fun. I suppose the biltong would survive the 900 mi trip by mail to Thunder Bay.Or, you could order some from Florence Meats and it’s probably cheaper than a trip to ZA.
Bob
From the stuff I've had the spice mix is different. Also jerky tends to be really thin strips whereas biltong is much chunkier and you need to cut bits off with a knife. I prefer biltong but like them both. Droewors is good too which is a kind of dried sausage.
I really must get around to making some.
Shaverrific666
368
Got fed up with overpriced online jerky and scary looking shiny (IMHO meat should not be shiny) store-bought stuff.
I decided to purchase a dehydrator off Amazon May 2019 and make my own (Cabela's dehydrator reviews aren't that inspiring for the price, everything seems to die after 3 years of good use). There are plenty of recipes online, simple to prep and you just lay the strips out and come back after 4-5 hours. Freezing the slab of meat for about 30min beforehand makes it easier to slice thinly & accurately.
Favorite recipe so far is this :
Garlic Pepper Marinade
Following one is good too, very similar taste but more garlic taste to it.
Chili Garlic Marinade
I like this one too, nice earthy flavour
Curry Marinade
2 tablespoons honey
3 tsp curry powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce (roughly equal to 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
We've tried flank, veal, eye of round, deer (really nice low-fat). All is good, we devour it in about 2 days.
I decided to purchase a dehydrator off Amazon May 2019 and make my own (Cabela's dehydrator reviews aren't that inspiring for the price, everything seems to die after 3 years of good use). There are plenty of recipes online, simple to prep and you just lay the strips out and come back after 4-5 hours. Freezing the slab of meat for about 30min beforehand makes it easier to slice thinly & accurately.
Favorite recipe so far is this :
Garlic Pepper Marinade
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground chipotle pepper
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
Following one is good too, very similar taste but more garlic taste to it.
Chili Garlic Marinade
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp chili garlic sauce (green cap bottle)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
I like this one too, nice earthy flavour
Curry Marinade
2 tablespoons honey
3 tsp curry powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce (roughly equal to 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
We've tried flank, veal, eye of round, deer (really nice low-fat). All is good, we devour it in about 2 days.