Recipe of South Africa's Dried Meats

South Africa isn't particularly known worldwide for any groundbreaking ideas in the culinary world. Theirs is a similar story to that of many other countries, particularly ones belonging to former empires. South Africa is strategically located between two oceans, allowing it easy access to Eastern and Western influences and foods. One of the few areas that South Africa has developed their own foods is in dried meats. The two prime examples are Biltong, and droewors (which will be called “Drywors (dry-vors)” for the purposes of this paper).

Biltong is as generic a word as stew and curry are. Its origins are from Holland, where Dutch settlers used to make it extensively in South Africa in order to make sure their meats would have a long shelf life. For those beginning long journeys, biltong was an ideal choice among what food items were brought along. Biltong is basically a dried meat that is seasoned to the consumers liking. It is almost always started in a vinegar solution in order to give it its characteristic acidic flavor.

Biltong is traditionally made from beef. As the exploration and expansion continued in South Africa, so did eating of the indigenous wildlife. It didn't take very long for the population to decide that they needed to somehow store the meat of the local game instead of just leaving it to rot while they mounted the animals heads on their walls. Popular game variations include kudu, gemsbok, and ostrich. A kudu is a type of large antelope, similar in size to the American elk. Kudu is a very lean and dry meat, and is therefore ideal for the creation of biltong. This is also the case for gemsbok. The only difference between these two animals (besides appearance) is the variance in taste. Ostrich is unique from their other avian cousins as their meat is actually a red meat. Even though it's a red meat, they are still similar to other birds in that their meat is low in fat and cholesterol. When made into a biltong, ostrich can be very tender and consistent when compared to other meats, particularly beef.

While an endless amount of biltong recipes exist, most of them follow the same procedures. Below is the recipe that the Brummers use to make a basic biltong:

• 1 roast, any kind (the leanest possible is preferred)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 cups salt, kosher or sea salt preferred.
• 1 gallon red wine vinegar
• salt, pepper
• ½ cup cracked coriander
• ¼ cup red chili powder

Cut the roast into 1 inch thick slices. Rub equal parts salt and sugar into the meat and allow to sit for one hour, letting the remaining liquids in the meat be drawn out. Rinse meat in red wine vinegar and allow to soak for 5-15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, coriander, and red chili powder. Hang in a dry and cold environment for at least 2 weeks.

Biltong is important to South African culture. It is used for teething babies to give them something to chew on. If there is a rugby, soccer, or cricket game, then biltong is always present along with beer and chips. It is eaten by all races and people of all social classes, from those who are poverty stricken to the incredibly wealthy. It's considered one of the most iconic foods to represent South Africa and is regularly made in South African communities within other countries. Since most countries do not allow for beef from Africa to be imported, South Africans have taken the recipes with them all over the world and have recreated biltong using local ingredients as well as classic ones.

Drywors is similar to biltong as far as its cultural importance to South Africa is concerned. Drywors also has its roots in Holland, particularly from metworst. Metworst is simply a raw pork sausage that has been air dried. To understand drywors, one has to first understand boerewors (boo-re-vors)

Boerewors is a sausage that consists of beef, pork, and bacon. The literal translation of the name is “farmers sausage”. Boerewors is the only sausage that is thought of if a South African is talking about wors in general. In order to avoid being wasteful, the Afrikaaners would use whatever leftover meat from pigs and cows and would make it into a sausage. Afrikaaners are direct descendents from the Dutch, speaking a now-warped form of Dutch called Afrikaans. As with biltong and drywors, the Afrikaaners adapted methods brought from the Netherlands to make their own variations of sausage and dried meats. Boerewors was adopted by all cultures within South Africa and is the meat of choice when any form of sausage is being considered for a menu.

Boerewors is most commonly seen at what's called a braai (br-I). A braai is just the South African term for a barbeque, with a few differences. The braai consists of numerous different meats, easily 2 to 3 more times the amount of meat than the participants can actually eat. The usual meats are boerewors, steak, pork sausages, chicken (whole or broken down), and lamb. Plenty of alcohol is also involved, but that's encroaching into the territory of any “men cooking meat near a fire” situation, which does not discriminate between cultures.

Instead of being cooked, boerewors that is being turned into drywors is rapidly air-dried. The disadvantage of this drying method is that it's still possible for drywors to rot. It is therefore important to store it in a cool dry place, and in a brown paper bag. About 30% of drywors (depending on the original boerewors recipe) is just fat, so drywors is incredibly unhealthy. The drying stage brings out the coriander, black pepper, and allspice flavors present in the original sausage.

It's a shame that dried meats have an almost nonexistent place with the American pallet (jerky doesn't count). While eating dried meats isn't going to win any culinary awards, it is a snack that anyone would love.