Making the Box

1. Make a wooden box that measures about 1000 mm high, 600 mm wide, 600 mm deep, and that has a door on one side (a door is not shown in the diagram).

2. Place a wooden divider in the box about 250 mm from the bottom (it must be high enough from the bottom that you can place the bulb under it).

3. Drill several holes in the sides of the bottom section (A), the divider, and the top of the box.

4. Cover the holes on the side and top of the box with insect netting, the kind used on screen doors, this will stop the bugs from getting to your biltong before you do.

5. Place several (6 or 7) wooden rods (C) inside the box about 50 mm from the top. Space them about 75–100 mm apart.

6. Place the 60 watt bulb in the center of section (A).

7. Now hang your meat from the rods using little s-shaped hooks which are commercially available or ordinary metal paperclips which can be bent back to resemble s-shaped hooks.

8. Make sure the pieces don’t touch each other (the meat will rot at the spots where they touch), and wait patiently for it to dry (4 to 5 days).

9. The heat from the bulb will warm up the air in section (A), causing it to rise through the holes in the divider, through section (B), and out at the top of the box. This also causes fresh air to be drawn into the box through the holes in the sides of section (A). This causes a constant airflow through the box (as indicated by the blue arrows), and that is what you need to dry the meat — and voilà — biltong.

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