Biltong Box

[Gill]

Warning!
This post contains some ugly woodwork.

Last summer I made a biltong box out of some odds and ends. I wasn't going to post this project because I'm not very accomplished at 'proper' woodwork, but Sean unwisely expressed an interest in another thread.

For those who don't know, biltong is a preserved, dried meat beloved of South Africans. Compare it to beef jerky at your peril (but it's rather like beef jerky

). I found instructions on how to make both the box and the biltong here.

My box has some slight variations from the traditional design. It is customary for a piece of pegboard (or similar) to shield the heat source (normally a light bulb) from any juices that may drip whilst allowing heat to rise. However, I devised a removable plinth for my heat source onto which was mounted a reflective shield; a piece of MDF covered in tin foil . By setting two slightly splayed dowels at the side of the heat source, I can raise or lower the shield, giving me a degree of temperature control. The springiness of the dowels holds the shield secure.

The end result looks like something you would step over on the pavement, but it tastes lovely and if you hang it where there is no damp (don't use a Tupperware box - DAMHIKT ) it will keep for ages.

Gill

 

[Chems]

The woodworking in that cabinet looks excellent, I don't know why you think it doesn't!

 

[Ironballs]

Agreed, though that biltong does look like shi....

 

[devonwoody]

ummmmmmmmm, lovely.............. cupboard and jerky.

 

[lurker]

But where do you get lightbulbs from (these days)

 

[Gill]

But where do you get lightbulbs from (these days)

I got mine from a local £ store. Screwfix also list them, so they shouldn't be too difficult to source. One hundred watt bulbs are no longer available but biltong boxes only require a sixty watt bulb. Last autumn I dried some home grown chillies in it and didn't need to switch on the light bulb - the air circulation did it without.

Chems - I chose the angles for the photography very carefully! :lol:

Gill

 

[seanybaby]

Nice box Where do you put the box when making biltong?

mmmm i'm salivating looking at this thread :lol:

 

[Gill]

The choice is yours, Sean. Mine is next to my computer .

Gill

 

[DaveL]

I chose the angles for the photography very carefully! :lol:

A skill that we all learn to prefect. :wink:

 

[newt]

Gill, I insist that you are good at woodworking. Is the jerky similar to the dried meat that cowboys use to eat, or is that totaly different?

 

[wizer]

Same idea Newt.

Lovely 'box' Gill. I'm a self confessed food fanatic but have never been able to bring my self to try biltong. I'm not quite sure why, other than it doesn't look appetising. However, great idea for drying chillies which I always get mixed results. I'm going to try it using this method this year. Tho my crops are greatly reduced since moving house and not having the conservatory.

 

[Gill]

Yes, Pete, biltong is very similar to the dried meat associated with cowboys. I think that is jerky and it is also made by air drying, but there is another type of dried meat associated with horsemen which goes back to the days of the Mongols. They would lay strips of meat under their saddles and the warmth from their horses would slowly dry it as they rode.

I like nibbling my home-made biltong with a glass of cold lager. I taste the meat first to get the spiciness then, with the meat still in my mouth, have a sip of lager. It fizzes with the meat as it re-hydrates - quite a taste sensation!

Sadly, my crop of chillis this year has been greatly diminished by an infestation of slugs .

Gill

 

[frugal]

I don't know if plugging non-woodworking commercial websites is frowned up, if it is I will remove this, but if you like Biltong and Jerked meat I can highly recommend: http://www.martinsjerkedmeat.com/. Unlike the stuff you can buy in the supermarkets this stuff lasts forever (we found some in the back of the cupboard that was 3 years old and still perfectly edible).