Biltong and Coppiette: Dried Meat From South Africa to Italy

Some time ago surfing the net, by pure chance, I saw a site (The rich and intriguing history of biltong – Meately) that talked about a product I had never heard of before: Biltong. Biltong is a dried and cured meat native to Southern African countries (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia).

They use various types of meat to make it, from beef to game like ostrich or kudu.

Italy has a large variety of sausages and cured meats of various shapes and tastes (salami, raw and cooked ham, mortadella, bresaola, capocollo, coppa, culatello, 'nduja, speck, soppressata and pancetta, just to name a few) and I, being Italian, believe that there is a component in my DNA that attracts me to these products. The description of that Biltong intrigued me a lot, and right then I decided to try to make it.

Why not?

Material for box construction:

• An Ikea Eket module with glass door (choose the colour you like)
• A junction box big enough to accommodate two power supplies
• Two 5Vdc power supplies
• Two rocker switches
• A 6mm threaded bar 1.5m long
• Eight M6 nuts and washers
• Four dust filters 40mm diameter
• One dust filter 80mm diameter
• One low noise PC cooling fan 80mm diameter
• A 5Vdc white led strip light 1.5m long
• Forty hooks 46mm height
• A drill with bits for wood
• Hole saw with 38mm and 76mm diameter
• An electric plug
• A few meters of electric cable
• A hot glue gun
• A screwdriver and some screws

The site's excellent article described strips of marinated meat covered in spices, left to dry right in the open air, also saying it was important to avoid the presence of flies on the dried meat. So, I had these two major problems to deal with: which meat to use and where to dry the meat while protecting it from flies.

The first solution was very fast: since unfortunately in my country it is not very easy to find ostrich or kudu meat, I chose to use beef.

Trying to solve the second one I noticed that, luckily for me, there was also a section (How to build your own biltong box (with just IKEA material) – Meately) describing how to build a Biltong box. A box where to put the meat to dry keeping the flies away and with a front glass that allowed to check the drying status, and the possible presence of moulds. It was also perfect because it was made with Ikea material, easily available.

I was ready to start.

I went to the nearest Ikea warehouse where I bought an Eket module with a glass door and started building my box. I will not give the construction instructions for the box here since they are well detailed on the site because I would do nothing more than copy and paste them, perhaps inserting some unwanted errors. I can only say what my build changes were.

First, I changed the ventilation system. Instead of drilling three holes in the top of one side of the box with the fan on the opposite side at the bottom, I drilled two holes in the bottom of each side putting the fan in the top side center.

I used removable air filters instead of gluing them to the frame.

Another small change concerns the position of the support bars, in metal instead of wood, slightly smaller in diameter than those shown, and pushed as high as possible to give more space to the meat to be dried.

This criterion was also used for the choice of the hook. The smaller the hook, the more space you give the meat.

I bought a small junction box where I mounted two rocker switches, one for the fan and the other for the light. I then inserted two 220Vac/5Vdc power supplies inside the box to power both of them. The fan is at 12Vdc and when powered at 5Vdc it rotates at a very low but constant speed, sufficient to guarantee the circulation of the air necessary for drying the meat inside the box.

The construction was very simple and in a very short time I had my Biltong box.

I made my Biltong following the Greedy Ferret (Perfect Biltong Recipe—South African Beef Jerky - Greedy Ferret) recipe. The recipe is mainly the following (almost all copy-paste from the site with some slight modifications):

Ingredients:

Meat

• 1000 g Beef - Silverside or Toprump

Curing spice mix

• 2.5 tbsp Apple or wine vinegar
• 20g Coarse salt (2% of the meat weight)
• 1 tbsp Black pepper
• 1 tbsp Coriander seed
• 1 tbsp Ground chili pepper

Instructions:

• Toast the coriander seeds in a dry pan, then grind down together with black pepper and salt in a spice grinder. It should be mostly powder, with a few pieces of seed shells left in.
• Using a sharp knife, following the grain of the meat, cut into 2.5cm thick lengths and place in a non-metallic container.
• Add the ground chili pepper to spices and sprinkle them into the meat. Sprinkle the vinegar on and rub everything in thoroughly whilst turning the meat with your hands.
• Cover the container and let your Biltong cure for 24 hours in the fridge, turning and rubbing through the meat occasionally.
• Remove the meat from the container and pat dry with kitchen towels, taking care not to remove too much of the spice.
• Add a hook to the thickest end of each piece. Position your biltong box with a fan that gently sucks to increase airflow. Make sure none of the pieces are touching each other and are not touching the frame.
• Place paper under the meat to catch any liquids.
• Drying times will vary with humidity, airflow and temperature. Test the readiness of your Biltong every couple of days by squeezing the sides together with clean fingers. If you feel any give in the meat, it’s still ‘wet’ inside.
• Once ready, cut into thin slices with a sharp knife and enjoy some of the best meat you’ll ever eat.

My first Biltong was really really good and I really enjoyed it.

Under my gazebo together with my usual friends, while I was enjoying a few slices of Biltong washed down with an excellent red beer, I thought that even here in Italy we have a type of dried meat very similar to Biltong. It certainly doesn't have an origin that is lost in the meanders of time like South African meat, but since it was in use at the time of the Roman Empire they had a couple of millennia: The Coppiette (means couples).

In theory, these are thin strips of dried meat prepared with the noblest parts of the pig: tenderloin and loin to be precise. The meat is cut into strips about 20 centimeters long and 1 or 2 centimeters wide. Then the strips are tied in pairs, flavored with fennel seeds and chopped chilli pepper and finally left to dry in the sun or near the fireplace.

At that moment the light bulb in my brain turned on and started flashing, and I decided to try making these Coppiette using my new Biltong box.

The recipe is mainly the following (you will find some similarities with Biltong):

Ingredients:

Meat

• 1000 g Pork - Tenderloin or Loin

Curing spice mix

• 2.5 tbsp Apple or wine vinegar
• 20g Coarse salt (2% of the meat weight)
• 1 tbsp Black pepper
• 1 tbsp Fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp Ground chili pepper

Instructions:

• Grind down fennel seeds together with black pepper and salt in a spice grinder. It should be mostly powder, with a few pieces of seed shells left in.
• Using a sharp knife, following the grain of the meat, cut into 1 or 2cm thick lengths and place in a non-metallic container.
• Add the ground chili pepper to spices and sprinkle them into the meat. Sprinkle the vinegar on and rub everything in thoroughly whilst turning the meat with your hands.
• Cover the container and let your Coppiette cure for 24 hours in the fridge, turning and rubbing through the meat occasionally.
• Remove the meat from the container and pat dry with kitchen towels, taking care not to remove too much of the spice.
• Add a hook to one end of each piece. Position your biltong box with a fan that gently sucks to increase airflow. Make sure none of the pieces are touching each other and are not touching the frame.
• Place paper under the meat to catch any liquids.
• Drying times will vary with humidity, airflow and temperature. Test the readiness of your Coppiette every day by squeezing the sides together with clean fingers. If you feel any give in the meat, it’s still ‘wet’ inside.
• Once ready, cut into thin slices with a sharp knife and enjoy some of the best meat you’ll ever eat.

My first Coppiette were really really good and I really enjoyed it.

Under my gazebo again with my usual friends and my wife, while I was enjoying a few slices of South African Biltong and a few slices of Italian Coppiette washed down with an excellent red beer, I thought that everywhere in the world you can find similar recipes that refer to dried meat, and surely it will be something really good to taste and to enjoy with friends.

My wife got serious and said: Dried Meat From South Africa to Italy... if you add "with love", it might sound like the title of a new James Bond movie ... and since my wife is always right, I did.

I hope you enjoy this Instructable. Feel free to leave your comments and feedback in the comment section.