Today’s recipe is a slight variation to the original Biltong recipe we posted several years ago. We are losing the chili flakes and replacing it with Brown Sugar and a powerful flavor enhancer called SavorYe!!
The biggest difference though isn’t the recipe changes it’s the changes in how we are drying today’s Biltong!! We are literally going to recreate the climate in South Africa to try and produce the most authentic Biltong to date!! How do we plan to do this? Stagionello!!!
Several months ago I made a decision to level up my charcuterie business and I purchased a Dry Curing cabinet from an Italian company called Stagionello. The reviews were nothing short of impressive and the functions of this cabinet (at least on paper) seemed unbelievable. to put it simply the Staginello Dry Curing Cabinet is the most technologically advanced Dry Curing cabinet on the planet and to highly understate the capabilities this unit ferments, dries, stores, and cooks with incredible precision. I bought the 100kg unit and so far everything that has come out of our cabinet has been spectacular!!
I will be the first to say that a unit like this was not cheap and I’m currently in the process of seeing how fast this unit can pay for itself. If I can keep up with my current pace its looking like it’ll take close to 10 months.. We shall see…
Today I will be programming the Stagionello to create an environment that mimic’s the climate of South Africa in the fall. My goal is to produce the most elevated and delicious version of Biltong to date!!
Enjoy the video and the recipe where I take you through the entire process of making South African Biltong. If you have any questions let me know..
Here are a few things you might find useful when making Biltong
- SavorYe
- Malt Vinegar
- Stainless Biltong Hooks
- Accurate scale for meat (up to 33 pounds)
- Sharp Kitchen Knives
- Extra Large Mortar & Pestle
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Biltong
Ingredients
- 1000 g bottom round or top round trimmed and cut into 3cm thick steaks – with the grain
- 20 g salt
- 15 g dark brown sugar
- 10 g SavorYe
- 7.5 g pepper corn toasted and freshly ground
- 15 g coriander seed toasted and freshly ground
- 27 ml malt vinegar brown vinegar
- 13 ml Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Begin by preparing your meat. Trim off any silver skin, gristle, sinew, and soft fat. Cut your meat WITH THE GRAIN into 3cm thick steaks. (I USE THE WIDTH OF MY THUMB TO MEASURE EACH STEAK)
- Toast then coarsely grind the coriander and peppercorn.
- In a bowl combine the salt, brown sugar, savorye, and 2/3 of the ground coriander and 2/3 of the ground peppercorn. The remaining 1/3 of coriander and peppercorn will be used at the end of the curing process.
- Combine the vinegar and Worcestershire sauce in a container
Curing the Meat for biltong
- We will be using 100% of our seasoning blend as well as our liquid blend to cure our biltong. There are several ways that you can do this. You can dip each piece of biltong in the liquid mix then sprinkle each piece with your dry spice mix. Place in a nonreactive container and refrigerate overnight. Another way to do this is to layer the biltong as I demonstrated in the video above. In a non reactive container, start with a layer of liquid and spice mix, then a layer of meat, then more liquid and spice mix, and repeat the process till you are out of meat. If you have any liquid or spice mix remaining add that to your nonreactive bowl as well. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Remember we will be using 100% of both the liquids and the spices.
- NOTE: After 12 hours of curing I like to give the meat a toss to ensure even curing.
- After the meat has finished curing remove it from the refrigerator, sprinkle a small amount of the coriander black pepper mix that we set aside earlier and place a stainless hook through the top of the biltong.
- Hang your biltong in an area where the temperature is around 59f – 65f (15c – 18c) and your humidity to 50% – 55%. A biltong box helps protect against insects.You can dry this in warmer weather like 70f – 75f (21c – 23c) but you'll need higher humidity and more airflow.
- Once your biltong has dried to your liking you can vacuum seal them and store in your refrigerator or freezer.
Drying Parameters in the Stagionello Dry Curing Chamber
- If you have a Stagionello you can create very specific cimactic environments for your dried meat. Below is the recipe I created that mimics the climate in South Africa.Step 1: 68f (20c) – 57%h – Airflow Low – duration 12 hoursStep 2: 63f (17c) – 60%h – Airflow Low – duration 12 hoursStep 3: 66f (18.8c) – 55%h – Airflow High – duration 12 hoursStep 4: 60f (15.6c) – 61%h – Airflow High – duration 12 hoursStep 5: 64f (17.7c) – 53%h – Airflow Low – duration 12 hoursStep 6: 58f (14.4c) – 60%h – Airflow Low – duration 12 hoursStep 7: 62f (16.6c) – 51%h – Airflow High – duration 12 hoursStep 8: 55f (13c) – 58%h – Airflow High – duration 12 hoursStep 9: 59f (15c) – 49%h – Airflow High – duration 96 hoursStep 10: 38f (3.3c) – 80%h – Airflow Low – duration 168 hoursWe also added flavor using the Stagionello Fumotic System. In the basin I added 2 cups of malt vinegar, 1 cup of Worcestershire sauce, and 3 cups of water. I programmed the unit to activate the aroma every 6 hours and let it run for 10 minutes
Except for the Savor Ye, we have been using this recipe for many many years. Thank you for a excellent channel. Appreciate you all.