Bump.
The wife wanted brisket this weekend. I cut the flat off to smoke for dinner over the weekend.
I trimmed the point, removed the vast majority of the fat and membranes from it, and sliced it into smaller pieces. Friday night I let it sit in a mixture of ground/roasted coriander, vinegar, and a small amount of curing salt.
Sorry. I'm just used to using curing salt and I don't think I used enough to turn all the meat red but I just can't not use a small amount to help mitigate bacterial growth.
Also, I substituted some of the salt the recipe called for, with 'lite salt'. Years ago I saw this stuff and realized it was useful from an electrolyte standpoint. If I'm backpacking hunting, electrolytes are a need. So I used 'lite salt' to add some Potassium to the mixture. I also threw one of my magnesium supplement capsules in (I opened the cap and dumped it). How much of this K and Mg will actually make it into the finished product, I cannot say. But I used a small enough amount that it can't hurt yet large enough that if I ended up with a severe electrolyte imbalance from exertion and high water consumption I think it would help. I mean we'll have electrolyte powders when we go hunting, but this should help a bit.
Saturday when the brisket came out of the smoker I immediately had the marinated biltong(?) strips ready to go in. Smoker had been at 275 finishing the brisket, which I like from an antibacterial standpoint. I left it on its lowest setting, either 100 or 105, I forget.
In theory that's too hot for biltong. In reality I think it's going to work fine. It's what I have. I opened the smoker vent so as to maximize air movement.
I started with this recipe but ditched the garlic/chili and other secondary spices. I'm going for something high protein that'll store a few weeks, not some unique flavor. I stuck with coriander and vinegar and salt and black pepper, mainly.
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Right now it's been drying two days. It's nowhere close to being 'dry' but the smaller pieces are getting there. It's tasty.
Honestly, I think I overdid the coriander and will likely take the finished product, wash it to remove some of the dried coriander, then give it another day drying. Right now I've sliced some samples off and 1) it's really tasty. Seems to be heading the right direction, and 2) it's obviously going to take a while to dry.
I think I paid $5.50/lb tax and all for the brisket. I ended up with perhaps 8 pounds, so $44 worth, and when trimmed it was more like 5 pounds. Add $4 worth of coriander (I bought it for this, didn't realize the wife had it already) and a negligible amount of apple cider vinegar ($1 worth?) and other seasonings.
So let's say $50 for two pounds. maybe 2.5 pounds, when all is said and done. That's a guess but I think it'll be close to that.
I'm doing this largely to have calories and protein for this fall's pack-in hunt. I started by buying some Biltong Depot stuff; I got a couple pounds of the original flavor and a couple pounds of their drywoors(?) sausages. Ironic that it's made just right down the road from where I live and shipping was really fast.
Honest assessment: I enjoy the experimentation. I enjoy cooking/smoking anything, even without the smoke (in this case). I like saving money. But to be brutally honest, the Biltong Depot stuff is VERY tasty and at $35/lb it isn't a burden to buy it
compared to what it's costing me to DIY. I'm cheap, but I'm practical.
