Our Story — Biltong from the Cape, Made for Texas
The whole story, no myth-making:
I love biltong. Texas loves beef. And somehow, biltong is still a stranger here.
That's it. That's the origin story. No garage, no venture capital, no forced fairytale. Just a South African who grew up on the stuff, moved to the best beef state in America, and couldn't believe nobody here had tasted the best thing you can do to beef.
So who's Billi Tong?
Billi Tong is a character inspired by my son — South African blood, Texan blood — bringing two worlds together in one bag. He's the character on the bag. The Tong part is real. I'm Calvern Tong, and my surname is literally half the product.
Biltong has followed me down a very winding road: Cape Town restaurants and the early days of BOS Ice Tea, teaching English in Taiwan, 2,500 hours underwater as a scuba instructor across Southeast Asia, running resorts in Fiji, and the last two years in Austin doing tech sales at Luxury Presence. Through all of it, biltong came with me. The full About Me is here — worth 60 seconds.
A passion project with standards
This isn't a faceless-brand play — it's a passion project with standards I won't bend, and it's the thing pulling me toward the next chapter of life. The recipe is a traditional South African cure, made by our maker — beef, salt, pepper, coriander, Worcestershire sauce and white vinegar, plus a stubbornness that's inherited. Made in South Carolina by a USDA-inspected producer; the bag reads "Billi Tong's Biltong — manufactured by Backcountry Beef". No MSG, no artificial additives, nothing you can't pronounce. Every order ships from our kitchen in South Carolina, anywhere in the USA — because the part I love is putting great biltong in people's hands. When something's off, you email the guy whose name is on the bag. Half of it, anyway.
Culture is not your friend
Terence McKenna said that about bigger things — but stand in a gas-station jerky aisle for sixty seconds and tell me he was wrong. Cooked, sugared, shrink-wrapped, ground into shapes nature never asked for. That's not a snack, that's a settlement.
Biltong is the older, stranger, better idea. South Africa worked it out 400 years ago: vinegar, salt, coriander, moving air, patience. A short ingredient list and a refusal to hurry. The full method and history →
Four hundred years, dried for days
- Cut thick. Whole muscle, with the grain. Never ground, never reshaped.
- Cure sharp. Steve's five-ingredient cure — a cure, not a sugar bath.
- Hang high. Moving air, no ovens. McKenna said nature loves courage; nature apparently also loves waiting.
- Dried for days. Ready when it's ready, boet.
"If it wouldn't pass in the winelands, it doesn't get bagged."
The deal
Air-dried for days, never cooked, always. No MSG, no artificial additives, always. A traditional South African cure, made by our maker, always. Ships from our kitchen in South Carolina — $15 flat anywhere in the USA, free on orders over $250 — from the person whose name is on the bag.
Taste what Texas was missing →
Meet the founder · Biltong vs jerky, explained · Feed your office · cal@btbiltong.com
Slangin' beef, Cape to Texas · Austin, TX · Est. 2026 · Find the others.