Biltong maker box

youmagine

The biltong making process needs a bug free environment with a constant airflow that dries the cured meat during the process. This box is a standard 42L plastic container from the store with cutouts for the fan mount and the air intakes which are covered with a piece of cheese cloth. (air in, bugs out) The fan is a 90mm DC one from a PC power supply, (foxconn PV902512PSPF 0D) Power supply was originally a Uniden wireless phone charger (Model:AAD-600S(M) otput: 9V, 210mA) hooked to the fan with an 5.5mm x 2.1mm Female/Male DC Power Plug. The rods for hanging the meat are 10mm thick pine doweling rods, cut to length. (in my case it's 350mm). For food safety reasons and for easy cleaning I varnished the pine rods with clear polyurethane varnish. You can use aluminium tubes if you have some lying around. The two pieces for the air intake are an inner part (goes through the wall from the inside) and an outer part sliding onto the inner one from the outside. The cheese cloth goes between the two. After a couple of drying process you might want to clean or replace the clothes, hence the two parts you can disassemble. Easy build, you need a drill for the holes, a few hand tools to cut out the plastic box and the rods and to connect the power plugs to the wires. Making the biltong: I usually use silverside or similar cuts (whatever available). I cut the meat to 15-20mm thick slices and cover them with biltong spice mix and roasted, cracked coriander seeds. You can make your own mix, I use Freddie Hirsch' Jagveld or Hunters biltong spice. When I covered the meat with the spice and the coriander, I lay them into a box on top of each other and let them sit in the fridge overnight or at least 12 hours. Next day I remove the slices from the box and let them drip-dry or tap them carefully down with a paper towel. To hang the meat I use paperclips folded out to hooks, pierce the meat with them and hang them on the rods, making sure the meat slices are not touching each other and the air can flow around the slices. Lid on, power on and the fan will move the air constantly in the box. During the first day of drying there is a bit of dripping so I put a piece of paper under the meat. As the rods are easy to remove, you can take tha paper out after a day or so. Depends on the temperature, humidity, slice thickness, meat quality and desired dryness, the drying process can be 3-10 days long. (obviously this is not the only way you can make biltong, there are zillion other methods, choose your own wisely, the box works with all of them.)