Biltong - with recipe!
A special guest post for my holiday period - Felicity Pulman, author of Ghost Boy and the Janna Mysteries has kindly given me something I’ve been curious about for a long, long while. Biltong - with recipe!
“Growing up in the 50s in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) as I did, one of our greatest treats was eating biltong. Our (infrequent) supplies came from a farming friend who would make it after shooting some sort of game buck, usually impala. The meat would be cut into strips, salted and seasoned, and then hung up to dry - not a problem in a country with (usually) low humidity. Our ‘drying rack’ was on the side of the lean-to shed that housed ‘V13′, an ancient black box Ford much beloved by my father and so-christened because of its number plate.
Biltong nearly broke up my relationship with my fiance, a Pom. He came out with his family from England for our wedding and was so disgusted and horrified when he saw the strips of meat drying in the sun and crawling with ants that I wondered if the wedding was off. Although we now live in Australia, I am tormented by the knowledge that my childhood home, once the ‘breadbasket’ of Africa, is on the brink of starvation and ruin because of Robert Mugabe.
It’s possible to buy (beef) biltong in some butchers’ shops here in Sydney, but my kind nephew makes his own and keeps me in supplies - yum yum!”
Biltong recipe: a topside (about 5 kg). Take fat off and separate the muscles. Cut into slices 30cm x 5 cm x 1.5cm approx along grain of muscle. Make spice mixture as follows: 3/4 cup coarse table salt; 1/3 cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup ground coriander; 1/3 cup cracked pepper; 1/4 cup Allspice. Roll meat slices in spice mixture and lay in dish. Sprinkle brown vinegar over each layer. Leave in fridge to marinate for 12 hours then turn; leave another 12 hours. Hang meat strips with fan blowing cool dry air over them for 4-6 days. NB Leave tray underneath to catch the drips. Meat should be firm when squeezed before removing. Store in fridge. Enjoy!
Felicity Pulman.
food history, Felicity Pulman, Janna Mysteries, Ghost Boy, biltong
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