My new Biltong Box

[Henrik]

I've seen and read about something called a biltong box. I have no idea where the word/name comes from, it certainly ain't Swedish.

Either way, it's a box made for drying/curing meats. I built one with stuff from Home Depot, it was dead cheap and the assembly took less than an hour.

I use a low speed fan made for pulling out moist air from showers/bathrooms. The box is made of plastic, and I put 5 metal bars through the top edge, for hanging the meat. The box measures approx. 2 feet by 1 feet, and it's 1.5 feet tall. The meat hooks are 2 inches tall.

So the air is pulled in through the vent, and then out through the fan. The 'controlled' environment keeps flies and other unwanted creatures out, and dries the meat in no time.

Here's some basic reading on biltong boxes, there are many different sources, a quick Internet search will guide you further:

https://www.sa-austin.com/make-biltong-box.html?cn-reloaded=1

Here's my box, soon filled with meats




And here's a view from above.


So what do you all think? Is this gonna fly? Anyone else tried it?

[Troutman]

Very cleaver, reckon you could dry cure a large piece of meat in a refrigerator?

[richinlbrg]

INTERESTING! Never heard of this. I'm anxious to see how it works!

[johnec00]

I think Biltong is dried meat somewhat similar to jerky but much thicker. I also think it's originally of African (South African?) origin. In warm climates (like here in Florida), the box used for curing also has to be chilled somehow.

[Cheef]

My Australian Mine Clearing buds in Angola always had one going. It will need a heat source. They used a light bulb. Biltong is a whole another thing from jerky. I prefer jerky but they all loved the biltong.

[Cheef]

They built a cabinet pretty much like this but a LOT bigger. They used game the natives brought in for them. to me it is DEFINITELY a survival food but after watching this ladies recipe I might have to adapt it to jerky.

[Cheef]

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=how+to+make+biltong&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1

[Henrik]

Thanks johnec00, I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

Yes, I plan to hang and dry thicker meats. A friend has done it, he typically dries meat in two weeks. The fan runs 24/7.

Found a good explanation here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biltong

[johnec00]

Seems like a real simple arrangement, even a dummy like me could make (as opposed to your fantastic DIY smokers). Let us know how your biltong turns out!

[Henrik]

Will do!

[RonB]

Really cool.

[MBMorgan]

What??? No reverse flow???

... Looks good, Henrik ...

[Henrik]

No, I’m a big fan of Free Flow smokers, and the same goes for meat drying cabinets :-)