Bacon Biltong: How To Make It

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Bacon biltong

If you’re like me, the first time I heard of bacon biltong I thought “That’s outlandish”! Or perhaps you’re a bit more open-minded and it instantly sounded like heaven. The question many people do ask is; Is it safe to eat? Does it need to be cooked before you can eat it? Isn’t bacon too thin? And isn’t there too much fat on bacon?

The verdict is, that you can successfully make bacon biltong that is safe to eat and delicious. Bacon biltong is also very simple to make as the meat is already sliced and needs little preparation. People also tend to get experimental with bacon biltong by adding in different sauces such as chutney, hot sauce and even honey.

While bacon biltong is not the most traditional choice of meat, it is a great choice for getting experimental. So if you are interested in trying your hand at making biltong from bacon, keep reading for the full run down.

How To Make Bacon Biltong

Bacon biltong is very simple to make, with little prep needed and a short amount of drying time. You can also try many different flavours without the risk of getting it terribly wrong and wasting a lot of money (compared with beef or venison).

Ingredients

  • 1 kilo of Streaky Bacon (or back bacon)
  • 125 millilitres of Vinegar of choice (Brown malt vinegar, red wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar are all options)
  • 3 Tablespoons of salt
  • 1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon of ground toasted coriander seeds (You can swap this out or add in other spices such as chilli & paprika)

Method

  • Use a glass or ceramic rectangle dish to layer your bacon for marinating
  • Sprinkle some of the vinegar on the base of the dish (just use your hand to lightly sprinkle or use a spray bottle)
  • Grind and mix your salt and spices together (remembering to lightly toast your coriander seeds first)
  • For each piece of bacon, sprinkle the spice mix on one side and lay it down in the dish, then sprinkle on the other side.
  • Once you have created one layer of bacon, sprinkle some more vinegar on top.
  • Repeat this vinegar, spice and layering until you have used up all the bacon.
  • Cover the container with a lid or glad wrap and place in the fridge.
  • Leave to marinate for 4-12 hours (this depends on your preference, here is a post for advice on marinating biltong)
  • After marination, pat your pieces of bacon with a paper towel so there are no drips or marinade.
  • Hang your bacon strips in your chosen drying set-up, in a biltong box you can lay them over the dowel sticks.
  • Leave to dry for 3 days until your bacon biltong is dried out and crispy.

Is Bacon Biltong Safe To Eat?

Like normal biltong (with beef or venison), the common question asked is “Is it safe to eat?” and “Is biltong raw meat?”. Bacon biltong may especially seem unsafe as the standard practice for pork, is to cook it all the way through.

Bacon biltong is safe to eat because it undergoes the ‘cooking process’ of curing the meat with salt and vinegar. This practice kills all the bacteria on the meat and draws out the moisture that contains any food-spoiling bacteria.

Furthermore, once biltong is dried, all the moisture is removed, so the meat is no longer ‘raw’. For more info about why biltong is not raw, read this article which explains the cooking process.

Bacon Biltong Step-By-Step

Here are two videos with great methods for making bacon biltong, both utilise different practices and recipes but you can choose either, or combine them. (The second video is in Afrikaans, but it is an easy video to watch the step-by-step process)

A great experimental video for making bacon biltong (using a different method to mine)
This video is in Afrikaans but it’s straightforward to watch and understand.

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