COPPERBiltong recipe
Beef cured with salt and malt vinegar, coated in toasted coriander and air-dried whole for a week.
Ingredients
- 1000 g beef silverside
- 20 g coriander seeds
- 200 ml brown malt vinegar
- 50 g coarse salt
- 10 g black pepper
- 15 g brown sugar
How to make Biltong
- Trim 1 kg of beef silverside and cut it with the grain into strips 2 to 3 cm thick; cutting across the grain or thinner than 2 cm gives jerky, not biltong.
- Toast 20 g of coriander seeds in a dry pan until fragrant, about 2 minutes, then crush them coarsely with pepper.
- Layer the strips in a dish with 15 g of coarse salt and 15 g of brown sugar, and leave them 1 to 3 hours at room temperature so the salt draws out water.
- Wipe off the excess salt, then dip each strip in 200 ml of brown malt vinegar and let them sit 30 minutes; this acid bath is what preserves the meat.
- Press the crushed coriander and 10 g of black pepper firmly onto every side of the strips.
- Hang the strips on hooks with air circulating on all sides, at 15 to 25 °C with a fan and low humidity; a still, damp room will mould the meat.
- Dry 4 to 7 days: 4 days gives a soft, red centre, 7 days a hard stick.
- Slice the dried biltong thinly across the grain to serve.
What is Biltong?
Biltong is a traditional dish from Zimbabwe, and takes about 5 days and 4 hours from start to finish. It is built around beef silverside, brown malt vinegar and coarse salt. The recipe below uses 6 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Biltong take?
At 7410 minutes it is slower than 99% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 2 dishes built on beef silverside. The method runs to 8 steps, the longest being 30 minutes.
Any tips for making Biltong?
Hang the strips with air circulating on all sides and low humidity; a still, damp room will mould the meat.
How Biltong compares
At 5 days and 4 hours, Biltong is among the 10 longest of the 586 dishes Copper documents. Hard to find elsewhere: brown malt vinegar (1) and beef silverside (2).
Copper documents Zimbabwe alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.