Biltong

Instructions

1. Take about six or eight pounds of beef, cut out in a long tongue-shape, out of the hind leg of an ox, from the thigh-bone down to the knee-joint. There are two such pieces in each leg, each quite encased in a fleecy skin.
2. This meat is quite free from sinew or fat. Rub it first with a little salt, and an hour after rub in well half a pound of salt, the same of brown sugar, and an ounce of saltpetre.
3. Leave for three days, rubbing and turning every day.
4. Then put it under a press for a night.
5. Have it dried in the wind, and then hung in the chimney till it is dry and pretty firm.
6. When eaten, it is to be cut into very thin slices, or rasped. Invalids like this way best; in fact, with bread and butter, biltong is most appetising and nourishing, and on board ship people suffering from mal de mer have relished it when no other delicacy would tempt them to eat.