Well, that's summer done then. A hot and dry one, waterhose ban and nationwide droughts, but it's officially time to accept defeat, put the garden furniture away and start the annual argument about whether it's too early to turn the heating on. The mornings are getting colder, it's dark before you've even thought about dinner, and suddenly that big jumper you've been wearing around the house for the last three winters is looking rather appealing again. Personally, we quite like this time of year. There's something nice about getting home when it's freezing outside, sticking the kettle on and knowing you haven't got to go anywhere else. The only problem is that cold weather seems to do something peculiar to your appetite. You can have a perfectly decent lunch and still find yourself investigating the fridge an hour later, as though a roast dinner might have appeared in there since you last checked. And while there's absolutely nothing wrong with a packet of crisps or a couple of biscuits, sometimes you fancy something a bit more substantial. Something savoury, properly tasty and preferably something you can eat without having to wash up afterwards. Which brings us to biltong. Funny how that happens.
Now, biltong isn't exactly a new invention. South Africans have been enjoying it for generations, and the methods behind it go back centuries to a time when preserving meat was rather more important than deciding what to snack on during the football. Long before fridges and freezers, people in Southern Africa were drying meat to make it last longer, and over time those traditions developed into the biltong we know today. It's a wonderfully simple idea really. Take good beef, season it with things like vinegar, salt, coriander and pepper, then let time and air do their thing. As the meat dries, the flavours become richer and more concentrated, leaving you with something that tastes properly beefy. Not artificially beef-flavoured, not vaguely reminiscent of beef, but actual beef. And depending on how long it's dried, you can have softer, slightly moister biltong or something firmer with a bit more chew. Everyone has their preference, of course. Some people like it lean, others head straight for the fatty bits, and some will happily stand there picking through an entire bag looking for their favourite pieces. We're not naming names, but you know exactly who you are.
There's something about biltong that makes it particularly good for this time of year. Picture a typical Sunday afternoon in November. It's raining sideways, you've taken the dog out and come back looking like you've been dragged through a hedge, and the idea of going outside again is about as appealing as doing your tax return. So you get comfortable, find something decent to watch and start thinking about food. You're not really hungry enough for a meal, but you definitely fancy something. This is where a bag of proper biltong comes into its own. It's ready to eat, full of flavour and has that lovely, satisfying chew that makes it feel like a proper snack rather than something you've eaten purely out of boredom. It's naturally high in protein too, which is a nice bonus, although we're not going to start pretending every mouthful is some sort of fitness achievement. Sometimes you just want something that tastes bloody good. And if you've got a cold beer, a glass of red wine or a nice bit of mature cheddar to go with it, even better. Just be careful who you offer it to. There's always one person who says they've never tried biltong, takes a piece, then spends the next ten minutes helping themselves as though they've personally paid for the bag.
And while we're perfectly happy eating biltong straight from the packet, it's actually rather good with proper autumn and winter food too. A few chopped pieces scattered over a baked potato with melted cheese are lovely, and it works brilliantly on a sharing board with
crackers, chutney, olives and whatever fancy cheese you've bought because it was on offer. You can even add a little to soup just before serving for an extra savoury kick. Nothing complicated, just good food made a little more interesting. The only difficulty is keeping enough aside to actually use in the recipe. We've all started cooking with something delicious, had a little taste to check it was good, then another to make absolutely certain, and suddenly discovered we've eaten half the ingredients. Biltong is particularly bad for this. It's the sort of thing you buy thinking it'll last you a week, then find yourself looking at the empty packet two days later wondering what happened. And before anyone suggests buying smaller bags to exercise a bit of self-control, we'd like to point out that this sounds suspiciously like unnecessary hardship.
One of the things we really like about biltong is that it doesn't try too hard. There's no need to invent some elaborate reason to eat it or dress it up as the latest miracle food. It's seasoned, air-dried beef, made using methods that have stood the test of time, and it tastes fantastic. That's really all it needs to be. Yes, it's high in protein, and yes, it can be a great alternative when you're fed up with the usual sugary snacks, but you don't need to spend your evenings counting macros to appreciate a decent piece of biltong. You can just enjoy it because you like it. It's also handy to have around when you're out and about, whether that's a chilly walk, a long drive or one of those afternoons where you've got a hundred things to do and haven't quite got round to eating anything sensible. Just keep it stored as directed on the packet and you've got something tasty ready when you fancy it. Although we'd recommend putting it somewhere the rest of the household won't immediately discover it. Not because we're encouraging selfishness, obviously. We're simply suggesting that some things in life deserve a little protection.
So, as we head into another few months of grey skies, muddy shoes, ridiculous heating bills and trying to remember where we put the gloves, we reckon there's a lot to be said for making the most of the little things. A decent Sunday roast, a good film, a warm house, the dog snoring away on the sofa and something tasty to nibble on. Autumn doesn't have to be all doom and gloom, even if the weather seems determined to make a convincing argument otherwise. And while we can't promise that Smally's Biltong will improve the forecast, fix your boiler or stop the rain just as you've hung the washing out, we can certainly help make those evenings indoors a bit more enjoyable. So stick the kettle on, dig out your favourite jumper and make sure there's some proper biltong in the cupboard. Preferably more than one bag. After all, winter's barely started, and nobody wants to be caught short of beef.