Authentic Biltong Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Cut the meat along the grain into strips roughly ½ an inch thick and around 8 to 10 inches long.
Place the meat in a mixture of salt, Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar making sure each part of the meat is moistened in the mix – you can set the meat aside to marinade in the fridge for between half an hour to an hour.
Once you’ve got the coriander seeds ground, coarsely grind your black peppercorns and add them to the mix. Try to avoid grinding the peppercorns too fine if you want the best flavor.
Mix the coriander, black pepper, ground cumin, and salt. (Photo by V. Edgar)
Remove the meat from the vinegar/Worcestershire sauce mix, pat it, dry with a clean kitchen cloth, and then coat it evenly with spices. As each piece is covered in spice, set it aside in a dish until you are ready to hang it up to dry.
Hang the meat up in your dryer.
Leave the meat to dry for between 24 hours to 4 days in the biltong maker, and close to a day if using a dehydrator. It all depends on the type of dryer and thickness of the meat as to how soon your meat is ready. If you are hanging the meat in a room with a fan it may take up to 10 days to dry.

The point of using the vinegar is to make sure any bacteria are neutralized.
The Worcestershire sauce just adds depth of flavor to the biltong. You can use red wine vinegar rather than balsamic vinegar if you prefer.
The length of the strips will depend on the height of your dryer as the meat must not touch the tray at the bottom.
The point of using vinegar is to neutralize any bacteria that may affect the meat. The Worcestershire sauce just adds depth of flavor to the biltong. You can use red wine instead of vinegar if you’d prefer.
Some people soak their meat in salt first, then rinse off the salt before placing it in vinegar, but it can make the meat very salty. So, many omit the salt soak and add the salt to the spice mix instead. Salt is essential to let the meat dry and cure properly.