Monique St. Luce came to New York for a vacation and left with a husband.
A few years ago, the South African-born banker stopped into Greenhouse nightclub while visiting the Big Apple from Australia. There, she met a man named Camran St. Luce. The two fell for each other, and at the end of her two-week visit, Camran went back to Sydney with Monique.
They were together for four months before they moved back to New York. They’re now married and living in Brooklyn.
But not everything was perfect in Monique’s world. While pregnant a little more than a year ago, the mother-to-be experienced severe cravings for one of her favorite South African foods: biltong, a dried meat snack that is light-years ahead of a Slim Jim.
Yet biltong wasn’t exactly available at the corner deli.
“In South Africa, it’s as big as hot dogs are to Americans,” Monique says. “It’s the biggest and most well-known snack food.”
When her cravings couldn’t be satisfied, she started making her own dried meat.
Jonty Jacobs was initially sold online and through a few local grocery stores. On Wednesday, its first brick-and-mortar store opened in the West Village (114 Christopher St.; 646-490-5312, jontyjacobs.com).
Monique acknowledges that Yanks who wander in off the street might be a bit perplexed.
“As popular as jerky is, you don’t see many jerky stores,” she says. “There’s definite confusion. But the best way to end that is to get it into people’s mouths.”
Inside the tiny shop you’ll find a selection of South African foods, but the main attraction is the biltong, available in several different varieties.
“In South Africa, everyone likes their biltong differently,” Monique says. “You can get the cuts that you want and the style that you want.”
The process starts with two cuts: sirloin and bottom round. Each is adequately marbled to give the biltong flavor and moisture.
The beef is coated with vinegar and a proprietary spice blend, including brown sugar, salt and pepper. The slab is then hung up to cure.
Three weeks later, it’s ready. Unlike beef jerky, the process uses no chemicals or preservatives.
Customers have several choices to make. First, do you want regular beef, grass-fed or aged? Do you want it lean or “traditional,” which is fattier? Do you want it shredded, sliced paper-thin or served in larger chunks?
It also comes in a spicy version with a sprinkle of salt, pepper and cayenne on top. Jonty Jacobs makes it all here in the US with American beef, except for the grass-fed, which uses meat imported from New Zealand. R
egular beef biltong is $35 a pound, grass-fed is $70 and aged, $85 — a price point likely to keep it off gas station shelves for the foreseeable future.
As for the taste? Biltong is nothing like jerky, its flavor and texture closer to steak. It’s far more moist and tender than one would expect — it doesn’t snap like a Slim Jim.
Biltong might be a very good snack for those on restrictive diets.
“Atkins and the low-carb [diet] is huge,” Monique says. “We’ve got people who are into paleo.”
One group less into biltong is women.
“Women are usually hesitant to try it,” Monique says. “Jerky is not attractive for women to eat. Once they try it [though], they find it’s great for their diet.”