Talk:Biltong/Archives/2008/December

Origin of word
I am not satisfied with the explanation of the origin of the word. It is generally accepted that the word stems from the two Dutch words "bil", meaning buttocks, and "tong", meaning strips (or tongue, which is what the word means in Afrikaans. Has anyone found documentation to support this? My theory has always been that the word was adopted from the Cape Malay, from whom we also have the Afrikaans words "blatjang" (chutney), "piesang" (banana), and I believe "bobotie" also stems from there. The word phonetically has something in common with the other Cape Malay words. Also, it would make perfect sense that the Cape Malay brought such dried meat with them in the ships on which they arrived, and that it was possibly adopted as a culinary item together with bobotie and blatjang. --Mydoghasworms 20:17, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Beefart says: the authority for bil (buttocks) and tong (tongue) comes from The Oxford English Dictionary. When you have a better reference, please phone us. But not before.... Captainbeefart 14:59, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Being Dutch, I can confirm that "bil" is the Dutch word for "buttock", and "tong" is the word for "tongue" [the meaning of "strip" is only used in the word-combination "landtong", i.e. a strip of land, a peninsula]. But for my Dutch ears the word "biltong" sounds quite strange, so a Malay origin might be well possible ?


 * The "Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT)" agrees with the OED. Unless the anonymous commentator above is a published authority on 17th and 18th century South Hollandic dialects I am of the opinion that we can safely ignore this non-issue. Roger (talk) 09:33, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Merge into dried meat article?
Biltong & Beef jerky, or the concept of preserving meat by drying it, has been around for at least 50,000 years. It is one of Mankind's first, critical products, storable food. Beef jerky has been carried on expeditions since the dawn of time because it is nutritious, lightweight, and keeps a long time. Even today, beef jerky has cutting edge applications. The Beefjerky.com Space Program has flown beef jerky into Space several times, begining in 1996, aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, flight STS-79. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.118.44.102 (talk • contribs) 07:20, June 4, 2004


 * Perhaps these two articles could be merged into a single article on dried meat with the other 2 redirecting to it with additional information like that in the comment above included? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Htaccess (talk • contribs) 02:21, June 5, 2004


 * Biltong is also similar to the dried meat they have in etheopia which is usually very hot (spicy). the name escapes me though.


 * I disagree. Biltong isn't jerky, neither is an enormous variety of regional dried meats. Rather WP

document all these idiosyncratic foods than bunch them under a single heading - someone looking for information is more likely to search the name of something he saw in a deli in Cape Town or Kraków than for the concept of dried meat. However the biltong and droëwors articles might be usefully merged. --Marinus 14:23, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

No way! Biltong is not Jerky, nothing like it, I wish people would quit trying to create a comparison. Would you say that Flake is like Trevaly? 58.178.188.107 04:08, 3 February 2007 (UTC)


 * The range of ways of producing products labelled as biltong and jerky overlap. They're the same thing, although I won't waste my time trying to ding your cultural arrogance, as I know you'll just revert it back.  Enjoy your petty victory. Rogerborg 13:17, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

No thanks. Biltong is a unique food, with a heritage unlike other cured beef. I've expanded the article lots now, and added photos (albeit of my own homemade produce). I note this topic is old, but I want to add my point anyway. Jamsta 13:46, 10 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I've bought jerky, bought and made biltong, bought jerky again. Big difference. You may argue that the manufacturing methods overlap - that's false. Biltong is meant to be traditionally dried by hanging - not oven-assisted. The fact that some people use ovens to speed up the process doesn't suddenly make biltong any more like jerky. Also jerky is normally quite dry - biltong can be quite wet. There is also the cultural noteriety. The traditional spices of coriander and vinegar found in biltong. The wikipedia deletionists can try and squelch this article, but that would genuinely be wrong. Rfwoolf (talk) 08:12, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

This is like the discussion about shwarma, donar, gyro, and kebob. All the different cultures will argue that their method of doing it makes their version unique. Is there really any harm in having separate articles with links to the articles on similar foods? It is actually easier, from the point of view of organization, than one big article on dried meat. Tjaques

Upgrade from stub to article?
I can't imagine anything else that needs to be added. Perhaps the next editor can go over this version and give it the ok for becoming a fully fledged, if short, article. --Marinus 14:23, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I've now removed the stub status - the article has been suitably wikified and needs no further additions. --Marinus 12:17, 1 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Somebody has reclassified it as a stub - why? Roger 21:09, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Surely Trekboers not Voortrekkers?
I would think that biltong predates the Great Trek; it will take me a while to check sources, but I recall reading of biltong in Barrow's account of his journey through the Cape- Travels into the Interior of South Africa was published in 1806, so if my memory is correct then this should refer to Trekboers, not Voortrekkers. --Grant McKenna 04:36, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Ja I agree, check it out. Travsuth 04:11, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

how is it eaten?
How do people eat biltong? Is it an ingredient in soup or stew? Or is it eaten by itself as a snack food?


 * Biltong is eaten as a snack. I have seen a few recipes where it is used as a garnish/flavouring such as finely chopped biltong added to salads. It is also used as a sandwich filling etc. I am aware of at least one commercial cheese spread that contains biltong as a flavourant. AFAIK it is never cooked. Roger 17:52, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

so what's a biltong hunter?
you come along lots of references to them when reading about hunting in South Africa. But what are they hunting? raining girl 13:51, 26 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Its a term used to describe a hunter who is not a trophy hunter. Such a hunter does not want (and usually couldn't afford) the 5 star accomodation, guiding, catering, etc. that (mostly) foreign trophy hunters do.
 * He/She does not care much about the size of the horns, but is rather interested in the meat - hence the reference to biltong. Most common antelope species are edible, some more so than others. Roger 13:24, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Shark urine?
I can buy that shark biltong is an acquired taste. But given that shark meat is not a terribly uncommon food, I'd like to see a reference on shark biltong being objectionable because it tastes of shark urine. The implication also seems to be that it's the shark skin that's the problem ("sharks urinate through their skin"), but there's no indication that skin is included in the biltong. Nor is there any reason to assume that the urine flavor (presuming there is one at all) should be concentrated at the skin; given that the process of shark urination is an osmotic exchange, the urine should be evenly distributed throughout the system, and, if anything, *less* concentrated at the skin.

74.94.67.185 (talk) 23:54, 28 February 2008 (UTC)Tom


 * Take a look here, not SA sharks, but similar: http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/Magazine/ma04/indepth/anthropology.asp Jamsta (talk) 12:09, 1 March 2008 (UTC)


 * You need to take a look at shark biology - all sharks, rays, and skates expel their urea through their muscles to the skin. Due to this, all shark meat will have a mild urine taste.  It seems to me that drying the meat may enhance this "flavor" by concentrating the present liquids in the flesh including the urea.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.31.184.166 (talk) 23:04, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

I placed a "cite needed" tag on the shark biltong statement back in July. Nobody has yet managed to come up with a cite to prove that it exists. If there are no objections within the next week I will delete the bit about the "alleged" shark biltong. Roger (talk) 15:45, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry I missed your earlier request for a cite. I've provided two references for shark biltong. Thanks for staying on top of it and giving everyone another heads up. — Satori Son 16:21, 23 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Excellent! Thanks. Roger (talk) 16:53, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Just found one for chicken and ostrich, too. — Satori Son 20:18, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Ostrich is common, so is beef and various antelope meats (venison) - shark is the one I had never seen or heard of before. My family has been involved in commercial biltong production for generations. Roger (talk) 20:33, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Ingredients
"Traditionally equal amounts of: rock salt, whole coriander, black pepper and brown sugar."

I know this isn't meant to be a recipe, but is this by weight or volume? -BillyRego (talk) 02:30, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

I just made some for the first time ever and took a chance by using this recipe - I judged it by volume and given that the end result is very over-salted I have to presume that it should be by weight.

The other thing here to note though is that most other sources I have found have said to salt the meat for a few hours, rinse the salt off with the vinegar, and then spice as you see fit before drying. This article is the only one I've found with this recipe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.174.145.57 (talk) 00:58, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Wildebeest as the meat source
I remember biltong being made from Wildebeest meat being nearly as common as beef in South Africa and also seem to remember being told that beef was very scarce in the early years of South Africa making me at least suspect that Wildebeest may be a more traditional meat for Biltong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.31.184.166 (talk) 23:07, 8 July 2008 (UTC)