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[pz]

This beef is not prepared using a pellet cooker, smoked, or even heated.

A friend in South Africa likes making biltong, a form of dried beef, using an old family technique. He simply uses an old cardboard box with a fan to dry the meat, and if needed a 60 watt light bulb for a bit of warmth. It takes anywhere from a week to 10 days to complete the process.

I recently purchased a 10-rack dehydrator and will use that without heat to see if I can make it work.  Just finished the preparation and the meat is now in the fridge until tomorrow when it will go into the dehydrator.

Well, the price of beef fell to a reasonable level so biltong is now under way



Ingredients ready: beef, salt and pepper, coriander, and Worcestershire



Layering the meat cut about 1 cm thick with spices between each layer



Once all the meat is in the dish, it is pressed down to keep all pieces in close contact with the spices

[BigDave83]

I have been wanting to try it for a while, I watched the vid below and picked up what I didn't have to make the box like he has. I just need to do it and go get some meat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1y7FcBLnuc&t=414s

Can't wait to see yours it looks great.

[Peterwoody]

Are you going to rinse the salt off with vinegar. The vinegar tends to remove the "baddies" from the outside of the beef. In my (homemade) biltong box, your cuts would dry out in 3 or 4 days. I use a 25 watt bulb as my source of heat and to move air to aid drying. I'm sure you will love the finished product. Keep us all informed.

[Bar-B-Lew]

What makes this different than jerky?

BTW, just bought london broil roasts for $1.98# this past week.  I bought about 30# for jerky.

[Peterwoody]

Main difference is the use of vinegar to kill bacteria on the surface of the meat. Spice profile is a little different in that coriander and black pepper are usually the only spices used. Meat is dried without heat. Finished product is much drier than jerky and is usually cut into small chewable pieces. Its origin is South Africa and goes back many years. It is probably more like the Native American pemmican than jerky.

[pz]

Yes, I'm planning to add cider vinegar to the marinade for a few hours today, then cut off a small piece and fry it to test the taste. If necessary, add more spice before it goes into the dehydrator.

[Peterwoody]

After resting in the salt and spice mix, I usually rinse off briefly in a vinegar/worcestershire mix. As this removes a lot of the spice from the strips I then dredge lightly in a fresh coriander/pepper mix before hanging. Hope yours turns out great.

[yorkdude]

PZ, totally off topic but care to share where you got the salt/pepper container?
That is slick and I would like to try and get one like it.
Thanks,

[pz]

After resting in the salt and spice mix, I usually rinse off briefly in a vinegar/worcestershire mix. As this removes a lot of the spice from the strips I then dredge lightly in a fresh coriander/pepper mix before hanging. Hope yours turns out great.

That's a good idea - will try that next time; thanks for the tip!  The meat has been in the dehydrator for a few hours now.  I actually used white balsamic vinegar rather than cider because I thought it might give it a good taste.

@yorkdude - not sure where my wife got that one, it's really old and made by Pyrex, and is actually a baking dish. It even has a handy snap on lid

[Bentley]

I think he was referring to the salt and pepper container...

[pz]

Dang, I feel stupid now!

Do a search on Amazon for "Marble Grey Salt Box" and many options will appear. 

[ICIdaho]

So....how did it turn out?  It must be about done.

[pz]

Turned out really good. Reminds me of beef jerky, but because of the vinegar has a different taste. Texture is like jerky but softer (still firm) and more moist. The missus likes it very much, better than jerky, but that might be because it is new to use in both flavor and texture.

I'll definitely do this again because of it's simplicity, especially with the new dehydrator, but will also continue to do jerky on the smoker for that special smoke flavor.

[BigDave83]

How long and what temp in the dehydrator?

[pz]

I set the machine to "Jerky" which is 165F on that dehydrator for a few hours, then decreased to 115F overnight and checked the texture periodically until I found it right for me, which was well into the next day.