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BILTONGMAKERS.COM! The home of Biltong,
Boerewors, and much, much more!
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Newsletter - November 2003
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THE
BILTONGMAKERS.COM! NEWSLETTER FOR
NOVEMBER 2003
======================================================
* From the editor
* Points to ponder
* Our Home Biltong Makers
* This month’s special offer!!
* Tip of the month
* Frequently asked questions
* Recipe corner
* Happy people comments
* Around the World
* Funnies
* The Monthly Competition
* Buy on your Budget account
* Let’s hear from you!
* Boerewors in the Benelux
* Subscribing and un-subscribing
FROM
THE EDITOR
================
Keerbergen
Belgium
November 5, 2003
The
two little noses were flat against the windowpane peering outside into the dark
front garden. It was not totally dark
though.
Out
on the front lawn, under the giant toadstools, especially the red ones with the
white dots on them, small little lights shimmered in the dark.
If
you looked really close you could even see something moving under the
toadstools
Were
there perhaps little gnomes or little elves cooking food and cleaning house?
Everybody
knows that in the autumn, when it is dark outside, the gnomes and the little
elves come out to play.
It
is under the toadstools where they work and have fun and if you look really
close you can actually see them!
The
little noses belong to Luke and Jake, Derek and Jeanine’s little boys.
They
could hardly contain their excitement and just kept on whispering:
“Unbelievable, this is just unbelievable”.
They could not go outside lest they would scare the gnomes and elves and
then they would run away, never to come back again!
But,
just before they went to bed they had a last look out of the hallway window on
top and saw that everybody was still having fun under their toadstools.
Later
that night, when they were fast asleep I went outside and removed the little
tea light candles from under the toad stools and replaced them with a little
bit of ash from the open fire place.
Luke and Jake were sure to check in the morning if the gnomes and the
elves had really made a fire there to cook their food and to keep warm!
Isn’t
it nice to be young and full of little fantasies?
It’s
still pitch dark outside as I am sitting here hammering away on my
keyboard. It is 6.30 am and June has
just left for work in Brussels.
Today
is grey-bag day, which means I have to put the rubbish bags outside so they can
be collected. This is a fortnightly
exercise that normally does not happen unless June reminds me. She did remind me this morning but it is
still early and I will do it a bit later.
Here
in Belgium you have to sort all your rubbish, something we really had to get
used to after the way it happens in South Africa.
For
the general rubbish we have a grey bag with the name of the town printed on
them. These bags you can buy at the
local super market at € 20.00 for 20.
These are not special bags in any way.
The price has the collection charges built in. So, if you put a normal bag outside they won’t collect it.
As
simple as that!
Then
we have the blue bag. This bag is for
empty drink cartons, tins, cold drink cans and plastic bottles. This bag is collected on a Friday every two
weeks.
Lastly
we have a huge cardboard box downstairs in the garage for all the paper as well
as a place for all the glass bottles.
When
the box is full and we have collected enough bottles we take them to the
“container park”. There the paper goes
with the paper and the bottles (by colour) in the glass bin.
So
there you have it.
A
piece of total useless information but an interesting exercise to get into.
As
I am writing this, I see flashing yellow lights outside which means that the
dustbin truck has pulled up and I am once again too late! I guess I have to climb in my car and chase
the truck again.
The
month of November is upon us and the year is drawing to a close. Yet another year gone by and how quickly it
went! I suppose it’s because we live so
fast and things are happening so quick all the time that, before you know it,
the day, week, month and year has passed us by without even noticing it
sometimes.
The
end of October brought with it a small hiccup.
It has been on the cards for a long time that our shopping mall payment
facility was going to be changed and upgraded from the South African banks to a
bank in England. Unfortunately the
timing was not very good and the South African connection was discontinued
before the UK one was on line. So, all
orders placed for the next week or so can only be paid via direct bank
transfer.
Apart
from that October was a nice month.
On
the last day of the month Tony and Catherine’s family increased by one member,
a little girl, Caitlin. So tiny and
small. I suppose when you have not seen
a newborn baby for a while you don’t realize how small they can be!
Autumn
is well upon us and the colours are unbelievable.
On
Monday when I drove down to Luxembourg the highway was lined with all these
trees in red, brown, green, bright yellow and a host of other colours too many
to mention.
Travelling
down the E411 can be boring at the best of times but this time it was an
amazing kaleidoscope of colour. Just
after Bastogne I went off the highway and found myself instantly in a fairytale
land of forests, meadows and little hamlets.
After a while I parked next to one of these small chapels you find
everywhere and just savoured the silence and the smell of the woods and
meadows.
I
keep promising June to take a weekend off and find a little chalet right there
in the Ardennes just to relax and do nothing!
Perhaps
soon?
Well,
that was it from me this month.
Surely
I am not the only one in this world doing things and enjoying what it happening
around me?
How
about someone out there adding some of their experiences to this newsletter?
Take
care, till next month.
Lo
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POINTS TO PONDER
=================
Thanks Derek-Ed-
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OUR HOME BILTONG MAKERS
=========================
Despite the slight increase in price the
Home Biltong Makers, both the 2kg and the 5kg models, are as popular as ever.
The larger machine seems to have overtaken
the smaller model ever so slightly. We
suspect that, with the festive season around the corner, people want to make
sure that they have enough Biltong on hand.
Details of the Traditional 2kg Biltong
Maker can be found by clicking here
Details on the RNA-5kg machine can be
found by clicking here
Place your orders now
to avoid disappointment when a parcel arrives too late for Christmas!
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THIS MONTH’S SPECIAL OFFER!!
===========================
During the month of November
we will keep the price of all spices as in October. That means that the price of all spices will be reduced from R
75.00 per 500 gram to an incredible R 55.00 per 500 gram! This amounts to a saving of R 40.00 per
kilogram!
Why not make use of this
opportunity to order your spices so you have enough for the end of the year?
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TIP OF THE MONTH
================
Use teriyaki sauce instead of
Worcester sauce for the Biltong Marinade.
A little olive oil added to the marinade increases the succulence.
Nick
Jeffs
(Anyone out there with some more tips for
our readers! -Ed)
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
============================
Every month we receive
hundreds of mails from people all over the world asking questions.
A lot of these questions are
similar if not identical. In this
section we publish the most regular ones.
It might help others who need
the same answers.
Question:
-------------
What cut of beef is best to use in making Boerewors?
Answer
----------
Boerewors,
like most sausages is normally made from the off-cuts from the meat. Almost anything that comes off the meat when
it is trimmed at the abattoir or the butcher goes back into the mincer for
Boerewors. This is after all how the sausage originally came to be. What else can one do with the off-cuts?
This
does not mean that you only have to use Beef.
Use Pork and beef together or Mutton and Pork. Keep it at about 70% beef and then mix in whatever you
fancy. Remember, it is how YOU want it
to taste!
The
best thing would be to get a couple of bags of off-cuts from the abattoir or
your local butcher. It is very cheap and is perfect to make wors. Go to
your local butcher (that's if he does the butchering from the carcass himself)
and look under his cutting table. Anything that is in that bin and looks
remotely ok is perfect for sausage. After all, that's what he uses
it for!
The
best way to learn how to make sausage is to go to a butcher and watch him do it
from scratch! It's amazing what and how much you can "steal"
with your eyes!
=========================
Question:
------------
Can you tell me if
you have a Pasta Potjie with Biltong?
Answer:
----------
There is not such
thing as a pasta Potjie. Remember that
the whole thing about a Potjie is that it cooks for quite a while. It is a social “happening”
Pasta cooks for a
couple of minutes and is then ready to be served.
As far as adding
biltong to pasta is concerned that can be done. Take some “wettish” biltong and simmer for a while in a frying
pan. Once your pasta and the sauce is
ready just add the biltong for additional flavour.
=========================
Question:
------------
I have received my
machine now and it's great!
Just one question
though: Can I put other things in it besides beef, like chicken or fish? I just fancied experimenting!
Answer:
----------
You can dry virtually anything (food that is) in the
Biltong Maker. It is a machine that
simulates a dry warm climate. We have
customers who dry chicken, fish, fruit etc. etc. in their Biltong Maker.
Just don’t put your socks in it!
=========================
Question:
------------
Do
you also have Boerewors machines?
Answer:
-----------
It depends what one means
with the term ”Boerewors Machine”
Boerewors is basically minced
meat with a flavour and which is put into a casing. This casing is normally a pig intestine.
The machine to fill the
casings is called a Filler. You get
hand fillers, automatic fillers, bin fillers and a host more. Some people who make just a little wors for
themselves even use a funnel to fill the casings.
So, if you are looking for a
Sausage Filling machine the answer is yes, just mail us and we will give you a
price.
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RECIPE CORNER
==============
Here is an old favourite and
made just the way Ouma did it way back………….
USE AN ENAMAL DISH ONLY!
---------------
* 4
Gallons of COLD water.
*
10 cups white sugar
* 3
teaspoons Cream of Tartar
* 3
teaspoons Tartaric acid
* ¼
cake/cube of yeast
* 3
tablespoons ground ginger
*
10 raisins
----------
*
Mix all ingredients into the water
*
Leave overnight
*
Next day strain the liquid through a muslin cloth
*
Sterilize whatever bottles you will use.
*
Bottle the liquid
*
Leave in bottles for 4-5 days
ENJOY!
-- How about YOUR favourite recipe everyone? --
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HAPPY PEOPLE COMMENTS
========================
Hi Lo
SUPER SUPER SUPER
is all I can say! My first batch turned
out better
than any beef
biltong I've bought! A really great "invention" that keeps
me close to
"home".
Thanks all and keep
up the good work :-)
Georg
----------------------------------
Congratulations!!!
A First Class Web site with lots of yummy information.
I
have lived in Munich (Germany) for the last 12 years and since starting making
Biltong the quality of life here has improved drastically!
The
beer is fantastic over here but Biltong was sadly non-existent. I have quite a
fan club for the stuff now and find it hard to keep up with all the orders!
Stephen
Giesswein
Munich,
Germany
-----------------------------------
Dear
Biltong Team
Thanks
for the prompt delivery of my Biltongmaker to Ireland; It was here within one
week!
There
is one problem you cannot help me with and that is every time I go into the
kitchen and smell that delicious biltong in the Biltongmaker, I am like Homer
Simpson and find it hard to wait for three days.
Would
it not be great if you could invent a microwave version of the Biltongmaker
that takes only a few seconds! Even that may be too long!
Thaddeus
Thomson
Newtownabbey,
Northern Ireland
(A
big thanks to all of you for your nice comments. This will keep us going again for a while! -Ed)
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AROUND THE WORLD
==================
Nothing submitted this month
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FUNNIES
=======
This was nice to
read again and please ladies……………………..no offense!
MAKING
AN ATM WITHDRAWEL
=========================
MALE
PROCEDURE
-----------------------------
FEMALE
PROCEDURE
--------------------------------
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THE MONTHLY COMPETITION
=========================
THE ANSWERS TO THE OCTOBER COMPETITION
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We had a couple of good laughs……………………….”
The first question was “What is used as a
braai in the picture?”
Well, it was a toss-up between the
Traditional Home Biltong maker and a washing machine!
The answers were as follows;
* Question 1: An old computer chassis
* Question 2: This was up to the
individual and produced some very good results!
* Question 3: Four.
THE WINNER OF THE OCTOBER COMPETITION
=======================================
The winner of the October competition was chosen firstly on the
correctness of the answers and secondly on the caption he wrote to the picture.
Our congratulations go to David Russell from Petervale in
Johannesburg.
David's answers put a smile on our face:
* A rather burnt out computer case...
* Ek dink ons moet 'n nuwe 'fan' kry.
Hierdie charcoal brand nog te warm... Wars die Klippies???
* Four, if you don't count the already eaten sosatie.
Well done and CONGRATULATIONS David.
Your Potjiekos recipe book will be posted to you shortly. it would
be nice to hear what you think of the book and how some of the recipes came
out?
PLEASE REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING
================================
The monthly draw or competition is totally
free to everyone.
You can enter as many times as you like.
You can only enter via the Competition
page on the Biltongmakers web site.
All prizes are sent to the winners free of
charge.
THE PRIZE FOR THE NOVEMBER COMPETITION
======================================
The price for the November competition is
the world famous OmpaGrill!
This braai/barbecue has become extremely
popular over the last two years mainly because it can be used anywhere and
creates no mess whatsoever!
It is very easy to light as well. Just put a firelighter in the little
compartment especially designed for this, put on the little cover, light it,
throw on your charcoal and voila!
Those people who are already the proud
owners of one of these braais or barbecues will agree that this is probably the
easiest and cleanest braai they have ever worked with.
Just visit our home page at www.biltongmakers.com and click on one
of the two competition links.
The winner of the November competition
will be notified by email.
OTHER PRIZES FOR THIS YEAR
==========================
We have some great prizes lined up for
this year.
* Biltongmakers
* Biltong spices
* Boerewors
spices
* Braai tool
sets
* Potjie Pots
* Barbecues
* More Cadac
Skottel Braais and………. much, much more!!!
So, don't wait!
You can enter right now by going to
www.biltongmakers.com and clicking on the COMPETITION link.
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BUY ON YOUR BUDGET ACCOUNT!
=============================
Just to remind you that you can now
purchase any of the items on the Biltongmakers web site on your credit card
budget account. We see that more and
more of our customers are choosing this way of purchasing. So, if you hesitated in the past you can now
click on our website link www.biltongmakers.com and follow the order placing
procedure. It's as easy as that!
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LET’S HEAR FROM YOU!!
=====================
Lots of people wrote to us this month.
Please remember that if you have something
interesting to tell, a nice recipe to part with or perhaps a question to ask,
it would be nice to hear from you!
Perhaps you have some advice to give?
You never know how you could help somebody
else with your own hints and tips.
Of course it does not have to be about
Biltong or food. Anything that is of
interest is welcome! Share it with
other people around the world!
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BOEREWORS
===========
Boerewors is, as always, in abundance!
Just remember that we have the “Beef and
Pork” as well as the “Beef Only” version for those people who don’t eat pork!
The price is € 8.00 per kilogram.
You can mail us at info@biltongmakers.com
for details or phone Lo at +32-16-53.96.25.
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Till next month!
THE BILTONG TEAM
Lo
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