Biltong
Strips of whole-muscle beef or game seasoned with salt, vinegar, roasted coriander and pepper and air-dried without cooking, sold anywhere from soft and moist to hard and very salty.
Built structures · Smokehouses and smoke rooms
South African household chimney for biltong drying
Household chimney for biltong drying · biltong chimney
Two South African historical accounts describe biltong hung in a household chimney after initial drying or curing; neither supplies a construction plan or modern processing schedule.
A household chimney in historical biltong accounts
Hilda Duckitt’s 1891 cookbook describes wind-dried beef hung in a chimney and later sliced thin or rasped. The description is evidence for the published recipe, not proof that all South African households used the same arrangement.
In a separate essay dated 26 November 1943, C. Louis Leipoldt describes a soft beef biltong variation with prolonged chimney hanging. These sources establish historical household use, but give no plan, dimensions or modern drying schedule.
Sources for this section
Limits of the evidence
The two accounts do not specify a standard chamber shape, hanging fixture, fire arrangement or building dimensions. Their saltpetre references are historical and are not converted here into current curing advice. This entry documents the accounts; it is not a construction guide or validated food-processing method.
Sources for this section
History
Duckitt's cookbook was published in 1891; Leipoldt's essay is dated 26 November 1943.
Site
SettingHousehold chimney referred to in South African biltong accounts.
GroundNot documented.
ClimateNot specified by the cited sources.
FootprintNot documented.
NotesThe sources describe chimney use but provide no dimensions or construction details.
A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.
How it is built
Risks and precautions
Historical descriptions only; not a modern drying or curing method.
Materials
- Household chimney
- This record concerns a household chimney described in South African accounts of biltong. It is not a purpose-built smokehouse plan: the sources give no measurements, chimney geometry, airflow specification or hanging fixture.
- Hilda Duckitt’s 1891 cookbook describes beef prepared in long pieces, initially dried in the wind and then hung in a chimney before being sliced thin or rasped. This is one printed cookbook account, not a universal South African practice.
- C. Louis Leipoldt’s essay of 26 November 1943 describes a soft beef biltong variation with cloth and prolonged hanging in a chimney. Neither source validates a current food-preservation schedule; historical saltpetre references are not translated into modern curing instructions.
Places
South Africa
Historical attestation · Country evidenceThe sources establish historical accounts, not the precise household location or universal use of chimney drying.
Related
Used for
Read more
Beyond biltong: the coil, the slice and the snap
Boerewors, biltong and droëwors share a table but follow different paths from meat to meal. Their histories lead from the braai and butcher's counter to drying lines, household pots and the science of keeping food.
Industrial era
Acadian boucanière
A Cap-Pelé boucanière is an Acadian herring-smoking building. The documented Willie Niles example is a one-storey wood-frame structure with a ridge smoke vent and interior bays for hanging fish-bearing cannes.
Achcharu
Achcharu is a family of Sri Lankan vinegar pickles made with mixed vegetables or seasonal fruit and a piquant spice dressing. This version is a quick, refrigerated, non-fermented mixed-vegetable pickle.
Acocote
The acocote is a long, hollowed and dried gourd used to draw aguamiel from a mature maguey. It is a harvesting tool: the sap is transferred to a separate vessel before it ferments into pulque.
Adrak / ginger murabba
Adrak murabba preserves young ginger in sugar syrup, a sweet South Asian preparation recorded in Indian cookery and food-processing sources.
African locust bean seeds (Parkia biglobosa)
Parkia biglobosa seeds are fermented into regional West African seasonings, including nététou, iru, dawadawa and soumbala. The yellow fruit pulp is a separate food, and names and methods vary by place.
Akazu (red sake-lees vinegar)
Japanese reddish-brown vinegar from sake lees matured about three years, turned to vinegar by acetic bacteria; the vinegar of Handa and Edomae sushi rice.
All-purpose wheat flour
A refined common-wheat flour blended for a broad range of baking; its protein and behavior vary with wheat, milling and market.
Almond mushroom
The almond mushroom, Agaricus subrufescens, was cultivated in eastern North America in the 1800s, lost its market, and returned as a cultivated mushroom from Brazil, where it is grown under several names.
Community
No community contributions have been published for this entry yet.
Share what you made
Sign in to contribute. Published comments and photos are free to read.
Sources
W. P. Schreiner & Co.History · Form · Use
Hilda’s “Where Is It?” of RecipesThe 1891 biltong entry describes initial wind drying followed by hanging in a chimney, then slicing thin or rasping.
Historical cookbook account, not a validated modern process.
Cited in: A household chimney in historical biltong accounts; Limits of the evidence
DBNLHistory · Form · Use
BiltongEssay dated 26 November 1943 describes soft beef biltong with cloth and prolonged chimney hanging.
Historical ingredients and methods are not modern safety guidance.
Cited in: A household chimney in historical biltong accounts; Limits of the evidence