Another year is close to its end, with the Christmas and New Year / Festive Season upon us. As the post title suggests, something from a little left field: a WiFI biltong box! There are nonetheless electronic goodies involved – the box has a display, with a temperature and humidity sensor. The display has in-built WiFi connectivity so that the temperature and humidity can be monitored remotely. And also the potential to control a number of switches, relays, or what-have-you; for example to switch a heater, a humidifier, a dehumidifier, etc.
(For those who don’t know what biltong is then of course Wikipedia is a source of information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biltong. Think non marinated beef jerky and one is close, originating from South Africa, and the taste is exquisite!)
The plan is for a proper write up of the display unit, but for now, and given it’s Christmas Eve, a couple of pictures:
WiFi Biltong Recipe
Of course not complete without a suitable recipe! Here’s something I found out on the web, forgotten where, but tried and tested multiple times.
Ingredients:
| 1-2 kg | Lean beef, e.g., topside or top round |
| 100 mL | Salt |
| 50 mL | Roasted cracked pepper |
| 120 mL | Roasted cracked coriander seeds |
| 100 mL | Brown sugar |
| 10 mL | Bicarbonate soda |
| 20 mL | Smoked paprika |
| 5 mL | Cayenne pepper |
| 0.5 cup | White wine vinegar |
| 0.5 cup | Red wine vinegar |
| 0.5 cup | Malt vinegar |
| 60 mL | Worcestershire sauce |
Method:
- Combine all wet ingredients
- Cut meat with grain into strips, 1-1.5 inches wide
- Soak meat for 60-120 minutes
- Roast pepper corns
- Roast coriander seeds
- Crush both
- Mix all dry ingredients
- Drain and dry meat
- Coat in spices
- Place in fridge for 12-18 hours
- Pat dry meat
- Hang in meat curing cabinet
- Dry for 2-3 days depending on how “wet” one likes it
The biltong made to date has turned out fantastically!
UPDATE: See the post WiFi display module for details of the display, the WiFi interface (based on a Photon module), interfacing of the temperature / humidity sensor, etc.
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