This article is from the old blog in 2020:

As South Africans, Charlotte and Trevor cannot “survive” extended periods without biltong and droëwors (sausage), both made from beef which is spiced and air dried. Since it is not available in Abidjan they learned how to make it themselves.

In South Africa, a small biltong box can be bought to dry your own meat, so they dutifully bought one. That proved far to small, holding only a few pieces of biltong. Trevor checked it out closely and decided to build his own to make “enough”. After a day in Treichville they found a big box and three computer fans and all the other items for the fans, lights and electricity; and “voila”, the “production line” was born, taking up to 10 kg of meat.

The process of making biltong is fairly simple. The meat is cut to the desired size, left in salt to extract moisture, scraped to remove most of the salt, dipped in vinegar and sprinkled with spices. Coriander is the basic spice, but black pepper and chilli also prove popular. It takes about 48 to 60 hours for large pieces of biltong to dry and 24 hours for smaller biltong sticks. As the sticks prove more popular among friends and colleagues they produce them on a more regular basis. For the trip it is easier to make the big pieces and this is the first batch which will ensure a source of protein when we cannot find it anywhere else.

Droëwors is a bit more complicated to produce. You need to mince the meat, add some fat (pork or lamb) and spices, use the right size casing (typically pig intestines, but synthetic casings are also used) and a sausage machine to fill the casings. A sausage machine was secured from friends when they moved back to South Africa. Synthetic casings were bought in South Africa and brought by Trevor’s father on a visit to Abidjan. Here is the end result.