Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Big batch of Biltong

We have more beef coming within the next couple of weeks so I decided to use up a lot of what I had left in the freezer from the last purchase and turn it into biltong. I had pieces of schnitzel that I made into biltong chips (top), stir fry pieces for biltong sticks (left), and different steaks for nice big pieces (middle). Unfortunately I did not think properly about the timing of it and the thinner bits were in the salt too long. So they were a bit too salty. I also dried the sticks out too quickly (why they look so light). I decided to try making biltong dust with some of the too salty pieces and it was a wonderful success. I used my juice extractor and got very fine biltong dust (right) as the "juice" and slightly bigger crumbs (bottom middle) where the pulp of what you are juicing ends up. I was excited about letting the girls taste biltong dust on white bread. When Brendon got home and I gave him some to taste he had the exact same reaction as I had had. "Yuuuuummmmmyyyyyyy" and "that makes me remember when I was young".
I started off with 4kg of meat and ended up with 2,4kg of biltong.
I wonder how long it will last. :-)
What's great is that Ruth loves it and I can give her a bowl with biltong dust and she just eats away (and we all love the big pieces that get cut up). Brendon said "it's like medicine for her" as her iron levels have been a bit low lately. Still not sure what causes these dips - but hopefully she won't be sleeping in as late in the mornings with all the red meat she is getting.

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