A meat making kit answers a question most of us have idly asked over a bacon sandwich: could I actually make this myself? You can, and far more easily than the words "curing" and "air-drying" suggest. No smoker, no cellar, no equipment beyond the oven and fridge you already own. This guide takes the view from the top of the category: what meat making kits actually contain, how curing, drying and marinating differ (they get muddled constantly, and the difference matters), which kit suits which sort of person, and the one box that lets you try bacon, jerky and biltong without having to pick a favourite.
What is a meat making kit?
A meat making kit supplies the specialist half of the job: the cure, the seasoning blends and a booklet of measured, tested instructions. You supply the meat itself, fresh from the supermarket or butcher, which keeps everything as fresh as possible and lets you choose exactly the cut you want. You'll also see these sold as meat curing kits or charcuterie kits; the idea is the same, and so is the quiet pride of slicing something you cured yourself.
Kits come in two shapes. Single-purpose kits go deep on one craft, bacon, beef jerky or biltong, and each of those has its own dedicated guide on this blog if you want the full walkthrough. Then there's the do-it-all option, our Ultimate Meat Making Kit, which packs the bacon cure and the jerky and biltong seasonings into one box, so you can work through all three crafts and discover which one earns a permanent spot in your fridge.
What's the difference between curing, drying and marinating?
Every recipe in a meat kit leans on one of three old preservation techniques, and knowing which is which tells you exactly what you're signing up for.
- Curing is for bacon. A traditional dry cure, salt and sugar with sodium nitrite (E250) and sodium nitrate (E251), is rubbed evenly into pork belly. The cure draws out moisture and preserves the meat while it rests in the fridge; afterwards you rinse it, pat it dry and let it air-dry. The whole process takes about a week, nearly all of it waiting.
- Drying is for jerky. No cure at all, just a seasoning blend. Lean beef is sliced thin, seasoned and dried slowly in a low oven until firm. Removing the moisture is what preserves it.
- Marinating, then drying, is for biltong. The beef takes a bath in cider vinegar and spices before it dries, and the vinegar helps preserve it alongside the salt.
The line worth remembering: only the bacon recipes use a cure. Jerky and biltong use no cure whatsoever, just seasonings and your own beef. And if the E numbers give you pause, we understand; in an ideal world we'd leave them out. But the nitrites are what protect the meat while it cures, and a proper dry cure is the easiest and safest way to make bacon at home.
What can you make with a meat making kit?
Dry-cured bacon, three ways
Streaky bacon is simply cured pork belly, and the kit flavours yours three ways: chilli & garlic, juniper & fennel, or pancetta. The method is what sets it apart from the shop stuff. Most supermarket bacon is wet-cured and pumped with water; yours is dry-cured and air-dried, which makes it firmer, more flavourful and gloriously incapable of leaking water and shrinking in the pan. As a bonus, the trimmed skin makes pork scratchings, the perfect thing to snack on while your bacon cures.
Beef jerky
Jerky is the American classic: lean beef sliced thin, seasoned with a BBQ or chilli & garlic blend, and oven-dried on a low heat until firm. The leaner the beef the better, because fat does not dry well; thin-cut frying steak and brisket both work really well. You need about 500g per batch, each kit makes two, and the simplified oven method takes a few hours rather than days. One trick worth stealing immediately: thirty minutes in the freezer makes the beef far easier to slice thinly, and slicing across the grain keeps the jerky tender.
Biltong
Biltong is South Africa's dried meat, and its devotees will tell you, at length, that it beats jerky hands down. The beef is marinated in cider vinegar with coriander, pepper and Himalayan salt, with chilli & garlic to add if you like some heat, then dried to your taste: softer and moist, or drier and firmer. At medium it should bend without snapping. A more tender cut suits biltong, inexpensive steak or a roasting joint, and the simplified method gets you there in a couple of hours.
Which meat kit should you choose?
Here's the honest routing guide.
- The breakfast perfectionist. If your ambitions begin and end with the perfect rasher, the Bacon Making Kit is your box: a proper dry cure, all three flavours, and rashers that crisp instead of shrivelling. Prefer back bacon to streaky? The same cure works on a 500g pork loin joint with the skin removed.
- The snack-drawer raider. The Beef Jerky Making Kit is quick, oven-based and pretty much foolproof, which makes it a lovely first project.
- The biltong loyalist. The Biltong Making Kit lets you dry each batch exactly as far as you like it, which no packet from a shop ever will.
- The takeaway devotee. A sideways step from the drying family, the Kebab Making Kit brings doner kebab night home instead.
- The one who can't decide. The Ultimate Meat Making Kit is the whole category in one box: bacon in all three flavours, both jerky blends and biltong too. It's the kit we hand to anyone who read the three descriptions above and simply thought "yes".
Whichever you choose, every kit is hand-packed in Britain, and they make disgracefully good gifts for the person in your life with strong opinions about bacon.
Do you need a smoker or any special equipment?
No, and this surprises people. Meat smoking and curing sound like crafts that belong in outbuildings, but these kits are built for an ordinary kitchen. There's no smoker needed for the Ultimate Meat Kit or any of the others: the bacon uses a cold cure, curing and then air-drying in the fridge over several days to develop its texture. The trick for the air-drying stage is to hang the bacon from the top shelf so it dangles into the door area where the tall bottles would usually live, the one spot in a fridge with room to spare. Jerky and biltong dry in a low oven, and if yours won't go low enough, set it to its very lowest setting and hang a tea towel between the door and the oven so the door stays ajar and the moisture can escape. A dehydrator is arguably the ideal tool if you own one: 65°C for 10 to 12 hours until dried right through. A sharp kitchen knife handles all the slicing, since air-dried bacon is much firmer than raw belly and slices cleanly. If you own a meat slicer, we're jealous.
Is it safe to make your own meat snacks?
Yes, when you follow the booklet, and the booklet makes it easy. For bacon: use fresh pork, follow the cure quantities and timings exactly, keep it refrigerated throughout, and always cook it through before eating. The cure is what preserves the meat, so never reduce it. For jerky and biltong: use fresh lean beef, follow the recipe and dry the meat thoroughly. The salt, the seasoning and, for biltong, the vinegar all help preserve it, and if you're ever in doubt, dry it a little longer. Once made, jerky and biltong keep in an airtight container for a couple of weeks, longer in the fridge; bacon stays refrigerated and gets used within the booklet's timeframe, or sliced and frozen.
Meat making kit FAQs
Do meat making kits include the meat?
No. You buy pork belly for bacon and lean beef for jerky or biltong, and the kit supplies the cure, the seasoning blends and the instructions. It means your meat is completely fresh and you choose the cut.
What's the difference between jerky and biltong?
Both are dried meat snacks. Jerky is American-style: sliced, seasoned and oven-dried. Biltong is South African: marinated in vinegar and spices, coriander and black pepper leading, before drying.
Which recipes use a cure and which don't?
Only bacon. Its traditional dry cure of salt, sugar and nitrites (E250 and E251) is what preserves the pork. The jerky and biltong recipes use no cure at all, just their seasoning blends.
How long does each project take?
Jerky takes a few hours in the oven, biltong a couple of hours with the simplified method, and bacon about a week, almost all of it hands-off while the meat cures and air-dries in the fridge.
Can I freeze home-made bacon?
Yes, but slice it, or cut it into lardons, first, and freeze the pieces spread on a baking sheet before bagging them up. Freeze the joint whole and you'll be defrosting the lot every time you fancy a sandwich.
How do I know when jerky and biltong are done?
Firm and dry to the touch, bending without snapping: jerky a touch firmer, biltong to your preferred texture. Too tough next time? Slice thinner, across the grain, and reduce the drying time.
Browse the full range of meat making kits, hand-packed in Britain with free UK delivery over £25, and settle the bacon-or-biltong question the delicious way: both.
