Interesting pictures of a Korean kitchen knife being forged

Sounds like you are going to have no problems getting the workings of those knives, and a good deal just makes it even sweeter to enjoy :) I shall not worry in the least about having steered you to a blade that doesn't fit your style after hearing that. Nothing wrong with other styles of skinning either for that matter but it IS important to have a blade that fits how you work. I hope to hear an honest evaluation after deer season, about what you think of them.

I haven't had decent Biltong in a long time, I remember the one I liked as pretty spicy. Peri-Peri seasoned I think. Do you have a box of your own? Or do you dry it some other way? I would be up for giving it a try if I could find a really good recipe (how is that for a "subtle" hint?) I might even be able to find a box that I could build out around here. Do you prefer a box with a fan or just the light bulb with no circulating fan? I think the majority of home ones I remember were just a light bulb under and letting the air rise based on the heat of the bulb where the majority of the commercial ones seemed to use a fan to help draw the air up and out keeping circulating air faster. Damn it, I need one of those drool cups Bawanna is always on about just thinking about good Bltong and a Boerewors roll with fried onions and that chunky tomato sauce... Man, just had a tasty thought. Bear Biltong if you can get a bear that has been eating a lot of huckleberries recently, man all that sweet mild meat with a touch of spicy from the biltong seasoning... YUM!! Might have to find out from the Docs is I can schedule a bear hunt this year and if so get talking with my favorite guides about timing for best opportunity.
 
Heya Blue, You a biltong aficionado too or you thinking it sounds like something you want to try? Always amazes me how many folks we have around here with such similar unique likes and tastes. I think it is because the HI seems to appeal to many folks all over the world but with similar types of values.
 
I will be happy to share the recipe. However, I've tweeked it to my liking over twenty-three years. In respect to the Boer that divulged his family secret, I'll in turn supply the recipe exactly as given to me not altered. I'm a "little bit of this and a little bit of that" type. So, I'd best supply you the original but, give me a few days to find it.

Just a little history. I learned this from a farmer (rancher) from the East Cape near Durbin where I finally scored a beautiful Cape Kudu. Not many were willing to share before. A mountain of a man. I'd guess about 6-8 and 400lbs, not fat, huge is an understatement. Anyway, we hit it off and he welcomed me into his home and we discussed many things, one being Biltong. As a side note, he had more 58" plus Cape Kudu heads on his walls than you can shake a stick at, far beyond anything in the record books even though shrunken with age. That said he deferred me to his aged father, the master of the families Biltong.

The recipe is quite simple, the process is just slightly more involved. The curing and process IMHO are the key. I will outline what I observed and share how I improvised. As you might imagine the Afrikkaners are masters at improvisation. This man's secret was the attic in the farm (ranch) house. After the marination process, he hauled the load up the stairs to the attic. Go figure? A naturally warm spot on the veldt. He hung the slabs of marinated game over portions of an old exposed spring mattress and used a 50's vintage fan to circulate the air around the biltong with an open dormer window until perfectly done. I intern use my attic. I use a cheap plastic throw away sheet to catch the drippings. I hung dowel rods between the ceiling joist and hang the pieces with paper clips bent into an "S" shape. I have an attic fan so, I'm able to replicate conditions near 100%. When I remove the sheet, no fuss, no mess, no bother. I must say, I have the best smelling attic in town.

The final thing and really one of the most important items is a Biltong shredder. While Biltong and Jerky are similar, they choose not to tear off pieces and chew incessantly. Instead, it's shredded and enjoyable with little effort. In SA homes these shredders are as common as frying pans and make all the difference in the world with the final product. They are readily available on line inexpensivly. Perhaps a food processor would suffice, I've never tried it. I prefer th old school manually operated approach. I'm odd that way.

I hope this helps any interested. If confusing, I understand. My typing abilities, brain waves and recollections are helter skelter. If you need any further clarification, please advise and I'll advise to the best of my recollection.
 
being curious, i went to the havalon site. knives look interesting, but ALL the spare blades were out of stock, so all you can get is the original knife with a thin blade that will need resharpening & may snap off.

love biltong. there is a company here in london that sells it in 500 gram vacuum sealed bags, you can get a variety of 'flavours' and in either 'wet' or 'dry', 'dry' being drier and harder. it comes pre-cut into little slices. it's more-ish and seems to disappear rapidly. bought a bag of wet & a bag of dry in a traditional recipe, lasted a few weeks. fairly expensive, but that kilo of biltong was probably 10 kilos of raw meat before it dried. there's another co. i order pork scratchings (pork rind/crackling) by the kilo. that seems to go even faster :) and not as good for the waistline.
 
Shavru said:
Heya Blue, You a biltong aficionado too or you thinking it sounds like something you want to try? Always amazes me how many folks we have around here with such similar unique likes and tastes. I think it is because the HI seems to appeal to many folks all over the world but with similar types of values.
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Nope, I haven't ever tried biltong but it seems right up my alley. I've been wanting to try making it for a long time.
 
Shavru said:
...Always amazes me how many folks we have around here with such similar unique likes and tastes. I think it is because the HI seems to appeal to many folks all over the world but with similar types of values.
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one of my nephews thanked me last week for opening up the world to him and showing him there was more to life. i think that we here are like that. we know.
 
Sounds great, I don't have an attic but I think I can still figure something. But I will take note that mine will be inferior to the real thing. I do have a slicer I brought back with me (usually use it for cheese snacking works great for that too) so I am good to go with slicing it properly once it is ready to eat. I will get started on the drying place while you find the recipe, have to check the freezer for some antelope, deer or elk not sure what I have left in there with the right cuts for this.

Yeah Kron, you understood what I meant. I had a heck of a hard time figuring out how to word the "similar unique tastes" part. Good to hear you were able to free a mind from the swamp of apathy that is the standard today. Critical thinkers are important, it is always good to encourage one once they "see the light." Keep helping him expand and grow as he will not get that kind of support elsewhere.
 
While exploring my grandparents old farm house in Missouri my wife and kids (I wasn't along) discovered numerous hooks hanging in the attic space where it would obviously get quite warm especially in the hot summer.

They raised hogs primarily and I'm sure that's what was hung there but I could never determine for sure nor could I determine for what purpose other than drying perhaps. I'm certain they weren't into biltong.

I'm sure they hadn't been up there in the last 20 years of their lives, the pictures they took showed very little activity, lots of dust undisturbed. It was kind of cool.

Love to had legs and explore myself.
 
That was my thinking but I was never certain. I'm quite sure it was pork of some sort.
 
Yup, I'll have to try and find that photo again but it makes perfect sense. It was quite obvious they hung meat from the hooks along the ridge beam. As I recall there were 6 or 8 or more. Beings they have a large family and extended family and hundreds of hogs they apparently did it in bulk.

Another one of those times when one wishes they'd asked more questions and gleened more information when the older wiser generation was still with us.

I tried to buy the farm 3 or 4 years ago, it's on 96 acres. House is virtually a total loss and my cousins who are local said it wouldn't be worth fixing. Present owner just let it go. They were foreclosing on it and one of my cousins happens to work at the bank. Guy came up with all the back payments and didn't know they were foreclosing so he didn't lose it and I didn't get it. I had my 1000 yard rifle range all laid out using the county property description.
Would have been way cool. No neighbors for miles around. In the middle of crop fields worked by folks that lived elsewhere.

Would have been a great place.
 
Wow Kron, that ham looks gorgeous, thanks for linking that article for us. I got an idea for my biltong cabinet while reading through the article. Since humidity is a HUGE part of the proper curing I think I can hook up a dehumidifier with a meter to keep it in a controlled range while curing.

Sounds like it would have been a perfect place to be Bawanna, Just the sort of place I dream about someday. But I have to say if he didn't know they were foreclosing I am glad he was able to pay it off and keep it. I just don't feel right about a bank foreclosing on someone without proper notice... still, he must have known he was way behind. You can't not be paying and not know you are risking losing. eh, I think I have myself confused.
 
The guy is a dweeb pathetic loser that inherited a bunch of stuff from his parents.
When he got the farm he went in and lowered the ceilings and never really finished, my cousins took my wife and kids over to look around knowing he had moved into his parents house when they passed.
There were beer cans a foot deep in one of the rooms with a pool table, just a mess all the way around.

It reminded me of Gone with the Wind, big pillars out front, cool banister going up the stairs where my grandparents hadn't been in years. The slept in the dining room, used that along with the kitchen which didn't have running water until the 80's and the front room. Neat place. Never expensive or rich like the mansions in Gone with the Wind but same cool factor.

Lot of good memories at that place and one or two bad ones like when I was trapped in the corn crib by them mean old hogs when I was 7 or 8. Had a great little pond full of Blue Gills that were a blast to catch until I stumbled on a water moccasin and lost my interest in fishing that pond. All gone since the loser didn't maintain anything.
 
OK, then I un-confused myself based on that info Bawanna, It is too bad that you didn't get it and this loser deserved to lose it to someone that would have taken care of it and enjoyed it! I think you would have done the place proud if it had been yours to do. Heck sounds like it was just exactly the sort of place I dream of retiring too. And having the neighbors a LONG was off is a definite requirement for my retirement pad.
 
I make lots of biltong here in the PNW. Only equipment I use is a piece of string and some fishhooks with the barbs crimped. My recipe is in the cookbook. I no longer do the refrigerator part, as I found it unnecessary. I hang it over the sink at first to let the blood drip, and then move it over next to a wall with a sheet of plastic underneath.

Works best about this time of year. Oddly enough I get mold in the summertime, when the heat is greater and the humidity is less. I just eat the mold though, so no worries.

Be pleased to see more refined techniques posted there also.
 
What meat cut do you typically use to make Biltong? I suppose you can use anything but Ribeye dont last long enough around my house to preserve it. Kinda senseless ya know? Im thinking skirt steak might work pretty well? Marinade in some papaya first? Id throw in some sumac from the front yard too!
I like your recipe Howard! That gets me to thinking about how nicely that would work inside a 170 degree car during the Texas summer! I dont mind my car smelling of Biltong. I could put a bar across the back seat like they use for hanging suits and hang meat off that! I dang sure aint using it to hang suits and fancy clothes. Hey im stating to like this ideer!

Cops pull me over and ill tell em its the neighbor lady that complains about my shootin on sunday morning:D
 
ANY cut works, that's the beauty of it. Eland, Kudu, Heartabeest, Wildabeest, Springbuck, Elk, Moose, Bear, Deer...... It all makes incredible edibles! I could go on an on about the different critters I've tasted as biltong. I'll leave it at that. However, I'd dare say 170 degrees is way to warm for desired results previously described.
 
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Howard Wallace said:
I make lots of biltong here in the PNW. Only equipment I use is a piece of string and some fishhooks with the barbs crimped. My recipe is in the cookbook. I no longer do the refrigerator part, as I found it unnecessary. I hang it over the sink at first to let the blood drip, and then move it over next to a wall with a sheet of plastic underneath.

Works best about this time of year. Oddly enough I get mold in the summertime, when the heat is greater and the humidity is less. I just eat the mold though, so no worries.

Be pleased to see more refined techniques posted there also.
Click to expand...

Howard, I'm on the same page. Mostly in the summer months, I might get a very few white spots that may be mold, maybe not. I've thrown caution to the wind a hundred times, never a side effect.
 
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