Monday, December 11, 2006

Something everybody should know

There is nothing like it, even when I introduce non-Africans to the concept of BILTONG they are blown away. Beef Jerky is the closest (yet furthest) thing you get to it, but still there is nothing like it.

So something everbody should know, how to make biltong :
(Unfortunately I cannot take credit for this it is from the this biltong website)

Ingredients: Top Sirloin Butt Salt Peter Apple Cider Vinegar / or Safari Vinegar Brown Sugar Worstershire Sauce Coriander (Scorched) Seasoning to taste Biltong Box

The following recipe is for curing approximately 10 pounds of beef. Do not use any metal during the initial curing of the meat as the salt will react with the metal leaving a bad taste. Use plastic, glass or earthenware containers. Assemble all necessary ingredients before starting.

Step One

Scorch the coriander:
Heat a large iron skillet to a medium heat and add 1 1/2 cups of coriander. Stir and mash the seeds with a potato masher until seeds are brown.


Take off heat then place coriander in a cloth and use rolling pin to crush the seeds further. Or use a mortar and pestle

Step two: Use a 10 pound piece of Top Sirloin Butt. Wash meat and Remove excess fat, sinew and connective material

Step Three: Cut sirloin with the grain into 10 inch strips that are around 1/2 to 1 inch thick

Step Four: Spray strips of meat using a mister/plastic spray bottle that is filled with solution of pure apple cider vinegar mixed in with a shot of Worstershire sauce (say 1 teaspoon per 2cups) . Make sure to completely cover all the meat surfaces. Squeeze meat to remove excess vinegar.

Step Five: Immediately following the misting of meat roll the strip into the Biltong curing dry spices. Make sure you cover meat completely

Curing dry spices

2 Cups of brown sugar (Well broken up)
2 Cups of Rock Salt (Kosher)
3 Teaspoons Salt Peter
4 Teaspoons of Baking Soda
1/2 of the scorched coriander (Husks and all)

Step 6: Let meat sit and "cure" for 5-7 hours in the refrigerator. The timing is variable based on size of strips and amount of salting material. During this period the meat will draw in the spices and vinegar. Put meat strips in a large bowl and make sure that you have something in the bottom so the meat will not sit in the extra blood. I use a colander inside a bowl or a plastic Tupperware cover. I also remove the colander to pout out the drained blood a couple of times in the first 15 minutes or so.

Step 7 Heat up your tap water as hot as it will get. Fill another large bowl with this hot tap water and add approximately (works for the size of bowl I have) one cup of apple cider.

Step 8: Immediately take a strip the meat and plunge into the hot vinegar solution. Wash off all the salt and spices and then squeeze meat to dry - remove as much of the cleaning solution as possible. Once the rinse becomes to dirty to use make up a new batch. (2-3) batches per 10 pounds. After rinsing spray the meat once more with a 100% vinegar spray. Leave the meet on a paper towel to soak up the extra liquid.

Step 9:
Add any seasoning spices you may choose. Keep in mind that you do not want to overpower the taste of the meat. This is a matter of personal taste here is what I use: I make a mixture up that contains the rest of the coriander passed through a sieve to keep most of the husks out. To this freshly scorched coriander powder add Garlic flakes, Ground Black Pepper, Cavender's Greek Spice, Peri-Peri. I kind of guess at proportions. The Coriander powder and Pepper making up the bulk. I put this into a shaker and lightly apply. If I run out I do a few with just pepper. Step 10

Insert untwisted paper clip to hang meat. Hang meat in biltong box. Make sure each bit hangs free and does not touch the side or any other piece if they are touching mold will follow soon.

Making the Biltong Box;

I made this one out of plywood. Cut holes in the bottom where the lamp is and at the top to help air flow. These holes I double covered with a plastic screen to keep out insects. I put doweling in at the top to hand the biltong on. I put a removable shelf in to protect the lamp. Dimensions 27 x 17 inches. Shelf is 8 1/2 inches from bottom. I live in the humid south so in summer I need to keep a open bowl of baking soda to help keep the box dry. I use a 75 watt bulb. Cost of plywood and other hardware around 40$. My brother in law has a similar one with a fan in the bottom.

Step 11

Wait 3-7 days

When the biltong is dry cut up and eat.

Smaller bits take less time than the larger thicker ones. If unsure cut one up and check.

Storage: Keep biltong in brown paper bags in fridge or store whole or cut up in plastic bags in freezer.

So that is my view from on top of the world where I miss good biltong.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

הבלוג הראשון שלי בעברית

"?אחד מהחברים מדרום אפריקה שאל אותי אחרי שהוא קרא את הבלוג: "דובי, אבל למה זה לא בעברית

אז חשבתי לכתוב פוסט בעברית, אבל האמת היא שאני עדיין כותב, חושב ומדבר באנגלית. זו שפת אמי.

חוץ מזה כל הקוראים של הבלוג המפורסם אינם מדברים עברית.

אף אל פי כן, החבר צודק, אם אני חי פה אז אני צריך להשתמש בשפה של הארץ.

או-קיי, אז מה לכתוב בעברית? המחשבות הראשונות שלי היו, שיהיה משהו קל ופשוט, אז אתאר יום רגיל בחיי כאן. מה, יש יום רגיל פה בארץ???? או שרק אמרתי שהחיים שלי פה קלים ופשוטים? לא התכוונתי לכך - סתם, בוא נתחיל.

שבועיים בחודש אני כותב תקציר על החדשות בארץ בשביל חברת תחקיר בלונדון. לכן אני קם מוקדם בבוקר וקורא את העיתונים הישראלים והבריטים וכותב את תיאורם על המצב פה ובמזרח התיכון.

לאחר מכן אני הולך למשרד יחסי ציבור ותקשורת אסטרטגית. שם אני עובד ביחידה הטכנולוגית, מעבד את מערבת המידע של הלקוחות, ואת האתרים, כמוכן אני נותן פתרונות טכנלוגיים שיכולים לעזור ללקוחות.

זו העבודה אבל בנוסף לכך, אני גר בעיר נפלאה: תל אביב.

הם אומרים שכמו נוי יורק, תל אביב היא העיר שאינה ישנה. תמיד מוצאים אנשים בברים ובבתי קפה עד השעות הקטנות (אני תמיד חושב לעצמי במה הם עובדים ואיך הם מסוגלים לקום בבוקר) והכול קרוב וקיימת תחושה של עיר אינטימית.

בקיצור, זהו יום נורמלי בחיי כאן בארץ לא כל כך נורמלית

"Nothing Much"

So the average conversation goes like this, "What you been up to? Nothing much."
Do people really mean that, surely you have been up to a lot and keeping busy and interested in life or are people stuck in a same mundane routine that nothing new occurs or "nothing much" happens.

So I decided to look back on the highlights and points of interest for me of my last week where "nothing much" happened (Chronological order of how they happened):

World AIDS Day Support World AIDS Day

Being from South Africa this day is having more and more significance, due to a country with a ridiculous high infection rate and terrible government policies to try sustain the problem. The international press did cover the day a bit and I picked up on an interesting interview of Zackie Achmat (South African AIDS activist) in the Independent. Zackie is a very interesting and inspiring person and I am proud to say that my friends back in South Africa work closely with him and the work that he does. On local issues here, Israel's AIDS cases consist of 5,130 HIV-infected people of whom 384 a AIDS patients. In 2005, 26 people died as a result of AIDS in Israel, and 350 new cases of HIV infection were discovered. It is a ten percent increase. Nothing in comparison to the South African epidemic but yet still something to be aware of and educate about. Marking the World AIDS day the health ministry had free AIDS tests around Tel Aviv and the university. It is interesting to note that Palestinians HIV statistics are pretty much unknown. In a simple form of utilising technology, I was reading an Israeli paper there was an advert that said sms this number (3300) with the number 10 to donate ten shekels to the Israel Aids Task Force. I obligingly did.


Innercity traffic - Tel Aviv is a great city but not so well designed and overcrowded in terms of traffic and automobiles. The favourite trick here is to rip up the roads a bit lay down some pipes and put the road back. So nothing really changes to the human eye but large sections of roads are often just closed. So I took my car on Thursday night just to the outer suburb of Tel Aviv called Givatayim, for a game of evening doubles in tennis. It took me just to get out of the city centre about 40 minutes (no more than one kilometre), I was stuck in the centre no matter which way I took I could not get out and then finally out of the centre it took me 5 minutes to get to the tennis courts which are normally about 15 minutes away. Highly frustrating!

Evening game of doubles - The previous paragraph gave this one away, but I occasionally play tennis, and last week was the first ever game of doubles I have played in Israel. Amazing...

Abu Shukri Humus in Abu Gosh on Friday: I went on an outing with some friends to the "so called" best humus in Israel in the Arab village of Abu Ghosh just outside Jerusalem. Now everyone has their humus favourite but Abu Shukri is always in the top three. The famous story of Abu Shukri is his fallout with his partner who opened up "Abu Shukri Number One Original" right opposite the first one. The legend and story goes that they stand outside and shout at each other while also shouting at customers to come into their store. Needless to say both hummusiot (houses of humus) were fairly busy and I being a traditionalist stuck to the original one.

Borat movie - I went to see the much spoken about Borat movie with actor who is Ali G impersonator, Sacha Baron Cohen. A surreal experience watching in Israel when Borat who is a Kazakhstani news journalist is actually speaking Hebrew when he is supposed to speak Kazak. A really humourous, scary look at society and its deep down secrets. The method he used of a fictional story line using reality clips and some set up scenes made it all the more memorable yet uncomfortable to watch at times with the awkward moments.

That is my view on top of the world from the week where "nothing much" happened!