I'm still slowly getting to grips with my budget dehydrator and felt the urge to try and have a crack at making biltong whilst re-stocking my jerky supply. I did my usual soy sauce and Bart's dry jerky mix for most of it but also tried some crispy duck seasoning that I purchased at Hoo Hing (with a little soy sauce too). The dehydrator makes decent jerky but of course it can't impart any smokey taste to it. I've retrospectively smoked jerky made with this homemade idea over a fire but this wasn't n option so I improvised...
I won a smoker on a Ronnie sunshine competition on Facebook and decided that I'd try and use it to add the smokey taste. I tried rump steak and silverside for the first time too (I usually buy topside).
I didn't want to put the jerky in with the lid on as I thought it would crisp it up so I pimped a cardboard box by cutting two small channels along the sides (to let some air in) and inserted four skewers diagonally to but a metal tray in slightly over to the right hand side side. The reason for this was that I loaded in some Jerky Shack oak chips in the left hand side under which I put one meths burner only so that the jerky didn't get direct heat but loads of smoke.
I was watching it...Well obviously not close enough! As you can see the box is no more but mission accomplished after fifteen minutes or so smoking time although a few bits had crisped up a bit. The duck seasoning works by the way and predictably the steak was excellent, the silverside was good but a little more chewy than topside...Next time I'll try covering two thirds of the smoker with foil, cut a slot in a box and put it on the last third so that the jerky and box will be well away from the heat.
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