Biltong is made by curing lean beef in vinegar, salt, coriander and black pepper, then hanging it to air-dry for about five days. There is no cooking and no heat. The cool Atlantic air does the work, drawing moisture out of the beef slowly until it is firm, dark and ready to slice.
That is the short version. If you have ever wondered how a piece of raw beef becomes something you can keep in the cupboard and eat by the handful, the process is simpler than you might think, and it has barely changed in around 400 years. Below we walk through it step by step, the way we do it by hand here in Sintra. If you are completely new to it, you might first want to read what biltong is.
How do you choose the beef?
Everything starts with the meat, so this is the part we care about most. Biltong is only as good as the beef you begin with. We use lean cuts and trim away the excess, because fat does not dry in the same way the muscle does and can turn the flavour over time.
Lean beef is also why biltong ends up so high in protein. Once the water has gone, what remains is largely protein packed into a small piece. Our lean biltong has over 60g of protein per 100g, with about 3g of carbs per 100g and no sugar. Good beef in means good biltong out. There is no clever trick that rescues a poor starting cut.
What goes into the vinegar and spice cure?
Before anything is hung to dry, the beef is cured. We cut it into strips and coat it in vinegar, salt and spices, then leave it to sit so the flavour works its way in and the surface is prepared for drying.
The vinegar does two jobs. It seasons the meat and it helps keep it safe as it dries, which matters when you are not using heat. The salt draws moisture towards the surface. The coriander and black pepper give biltong its familiar warm, slightly earthy taste.
There are only five ingredients in the whole thing:
- Beef
- Vinegar
- Salt
- Coriander
- Black pepper
That is it. No sugar, no additives, nothing you cannot pronounce. From that same base we make three flavours: Lean, which is the plain version, Garlic and Piri Piri. The Garlic and Piri Piri simply build on the five ingredients rather than replacing them.
How is biltong hung and air-dried?
Once the beef has taken on the cure, it is hung up to dry. This is the heart of the whole process and the part that gives biltong its name and its texture.
We make ours by hand in Sintra at around 400m of elevation, where the cool Atlantic air suits air-drying beautifully. The strips hang with air moving freely around them, and over about five days the moisture slowly leaves the meat. The outside darkens and firms up while the inside stays tender. Nothing is rushed and nothing is forced.
This is the opposite of how jerky is made. Jerky is cooked at heat to dry it quickly. Biltong is air-dried at cool temperatures over days. The two look similar on a shelf but they are made in completely different ways, and they taste different because of it.
How do you know when it is ready?
Knowing when biltong is done is a matter of feel and time rather than a timer going off. After about five days the strips have lost enough moisture to be firm to the touch but still have a little give.
Some people like their biltong drier and firmer, others prefer it softer and more moist in the middle. Because it is done by hand, we can judge each batch as it dries rather than treating it like a machine process. When it is right, we take it down and slice it. A drier piece keeps a touch longer, a softer piece is more tender to chew. Neither is more correct than the other.
Why is there no sugar or heat?
Two things set biltong apart from a lot of dried meat you will find elsewhere: there is no added sugar, and there is no cooking.
No sugar means the flavour comes from the beef and the spices, not from a sweet coating. It also keeps the carbs low, at about 3g per 100g. No heat means the protein in the beef is not cooked away in a hot dryer. The cool air does the work slowly, which is the traditional method and, we think, the better one. If you want to dig into the nutrition side of things properly, we have written about whether is biltong healthy in more detail.
None of this is new. People have been air-drying beef this way for roughly 400 years, long before fridges and food factories. We have simply kept to the method rather than trying to speed it up.
Frequently asked questions
Is biltong cooked?
No. Biltong is air-dried, not cooked. It hangs in cool air for about five days and never sees any heat.
Is biltong the same as jerky?
No. Jerky is cooked quickly at heat and often contains sugar. Biltong is air-dried slowly and, in our case, has no sugar and only five ingredients.
How long does biltong take to make?
Around five days of air-drying, plus the time it takes to cure the beef in vinegar and spices beforehand.
Does biltong contain sugar?
Ours does not. There is no sugar and no additives, just beef, vinegar, salt, coriander and black pepper. It has about 3g of carbs per 100g.
How much protein is in biltong?
Our lean biltong has over 60g of protein per 100g, because once the moisture has dried out, what remains is mostly lean beef.
Why make it in Sintra?
Sintra sits at around 400m elevation with cool Atlantic air, which is well suited to air-drying beef slowly and evenly.
What flavours do you make?
Three: Lean, which is plain, Garlic and Piri Piri. All of them start from the same five ingredients.
If you would like to taste the result of that five-day process, you can shop our biltong. Packs are 17.50 EUR, and there is a monthly subscription if you would rather have it arrive without having to think about it. We make it by hand in Sintra and ship within Portugal.
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