bull tongue
F. Jacot Guillarmod
>I have heard that there is a type of beef jerkey called "bull tongue"
>that is popular in South Africa. I have friend from South Africa, and I
>would like to make some as a surprise gift to him. I have at my disposal
>a food dehydrator and a regular oven (I would prefer to use the oven).
>Does anyone have a recipe for "bull tongue" that I can use?
Nope, but the closest I can get is this one for "Baked ox head" from a
book called "Leipoldt's Cape Cookery" (on page 132). This'll surprise
him all right:
"An ox head, neatly trimmed so that it can stand upright on the neck
part is washed and scrubbed without removing any hair. Particular
attention should be given, in this cleansing process, to the nostrils,
ears and eyelids. The horns should not be removed. The whole head is
placed in a large bread oven and left there to bake for a day and a
night. It is then allowed to get cold and is replaced in the oven where
it undergoes a further prolonged baking. When it is tender, it is taken
out, put upright on a large salver and served just as it comes from the
oven. The carver cuts through and reflects the skin from the forehead
and cheeks, and serves to each guest some part of the underlying fat, a bit
of the tongue, palate, or whatever is fancied."
Now that your appetite is whetted, here are Leipoldt's further comments:
"One's first emotion, on seeing this immense and horrific roast - in
which, if the head happens to be that of an Afrikander ox, the horns
appear to stretch the whole length of the dining table, while the baked
eyes stare with an expression that is ludicrous as well as baleful, and
the lips are drawn back to show the teeth in a sort of snarl that no
living ox ever shows - is one of profound shock. Indeed, on the first
occasion when I assisted, as General Botha's guest, at a party where
this gruesome dish was the main and only item on the bill of fare, two of
my fellow gourmets were so overcome that they had to leave the table."
Have fun...
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The views expressed above are not necessarily those of Rhodes University
Deon Filmer
> >I have heard that there is a type of beef jerkey called "bull tongue"
> >that is popular in South Africa. I have friend from South Africa, and I
> >would like to make some as a surprise gift to him. I have at my disposal
> >a food dehydrator and a regular oven (I would prefer to use the oven).
> >Does anyone have a recipe for "bull tongue" that I can use?
> Nope, but the closest I can get is this one for "Baked ox head" from a
> book called "Leipoldt's Cape Cookery" (on page 132). This'll surprise
> him all right:
-- gruesome description of recipie deleted --
Poor person was trying to be so nice, getting some of that delicious
South African 'bull tongue' for their friend. I did enjoy the baked
ox head recipie though, I've always wondered how that was made.
:-)
--Deon
Aris Stathakis
Very amusing :-) What you are actually looking for is BILTONG! It's
basically a South African version of beef jerky. It's quite simple to
make and I think you could do it quite easily in a food dehydrator.
Get some half-inch thick strips of beef (silverside - called London Broil
in the US). Make sure it's cut with the grain. The should be about 6 inches
long. Put these strips in a bed of rock-salt for an hour.. Turn half
way through so all the exposed meat gets a chance to soak in the salt.
After the hour, scrape all the excess salt with a knife (don't soak it
in water!). Then get some vinegar - preferably apple-cider vinegar, but
any vinegar will do. Put some vinegar in a bowl and dip the strips of
meat in the vinegar for a second or so - just so that the meat is covered
in the vinegar. Hold the biltong up so that the excess vinegar drips off.
Then sprinkle ground pepper and ground coriander over the meat on all sides.
Once you have done this, the meat is ready to dry. There are several methods
of trying. One is to hang it up on a line in a cool place and have a fan
blow on it. This method is a bit difficult because if the air is humid
the meat will go off. The other method is using a dehydrator. I've never
used one, but I assume you just put it in the machine and switch it on :-)
The method I use is a home-made 'Biltong Box'. This is basically a
wooden box (you can use cardboard if you like) with holes in it and a
60w lighbulb inside. Just hang the meat at the top of the box, and
leave the lightbulb at the bottom. The heat from the lightbulb helps
dry the meat (even in humid weather). This method takes about 3-4
days.
You'll know when the biltong is ready when it is quite hard, but still
a bit moist inside. Of course, some people like it 'wet' and others
like it 'dry'. It's all a matter of taste. Most South Africans I know
like it in between - basically just a bit red inside.
Most Americans i've met go crazy for biltong. Maybe you can start a new
craze there :-)
That's about it. Hope it works out! If it does, please tell me.
Aris
--
Aris Stathakis Tel:+27 11 887 4220 Snail Mail:
SCO ACE / Novell CNE Fax:+27 11 786 6647 P.O. Box 78446
M&PD (Pty) Ltd. X25: 06550 11642692 Sandton, 2146
E-Mail: ar...@lasernet.co.za R.S.A.
Henry Pieters PhD.
>From: ar...@unisup1.lasernet.co.za (Aris Stathakis)
>Subject: Re: bull tongue
>Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1993 20:37:22 GMT
>In <DEON.93D...@econ.pstc.brown.edu> de...@econ.pstc.brown.edu (Deon Filmer) writes:
>>In article <CHIIp...@hippo.ru.ac.za> cc...@hippo.ru.ac.za (F. Jacot Guillarmod) writes:
>>> >I have heard that there is a type of beef jerkey called "bull tongue"
>>> >that is popular in South Africa. I have friend from South Africa, and I
>>> >would like to make some as a surprise gift to him. I have at my disposal
>>> >a food dehydrator and a regular oven (I would prefer to use the oven).
>>> >Does anyone have a recipe for "bull tongue" that I can use?
I always thought that "Beef Jerky" was the American equivalent of "Biltong" !
Anyway, has anyone thought about the origin of the word "Biltong" ? My Dutch
background suggests that the word is a concatenation of the old Dutch words
"bil", meaning rump (or bum if you like !), and "tong", meaning tongue or
sliver. Biltong is traditionally made mostly from slivers of rump - from
there the term "biltong".
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