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Meat from Northern Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad

Kilishikilishi (Hausa)

Kilishi is a boundary entry, not a microbial ferment. Thin sheets of lean beef are sun-dried, soaked in a spiced groundnut paste, dried again and briefly roasted, so it keeps by drying, not by fermentation.

Fully documentedMeat13 h – 14 h

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe infusion slurry for one study, in kg per 100 kg of slurry; dried beef slices are soaked in it. Traditional makers vary the spices.
Defatted groundnut paste28.5 kg[ogunsola2008]
Water36.2 kg[ogunsola2008]
Onion8.4 kg[ogunsola2008]
Stock seasoning (monosodium glutamate)5.8 kg[ogunsola2008]
Ginger3.8 kg[ogunsola2008]
Sugar3.5 kg[ogunsola2008]
Black pepper (Piper guineense)3.4 kg[ogunsola2008]
Cloves2.6 kg[ogunsola2008]
Alligator pepper2.1 kg[ogunsola2008]
Red pepper and sweet pepper1.9 kg each[ogunsola2008]
Salt and curry0.7 kg each[ogunsola2008]
African nutmeg0.4 kg[ogunsola2008]
Garlic0.1 kg[ogunsola2008]

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 h – 14 h

Start
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What changes: Lean beef is cut into thin continuous sheets along the grain

Step 1 of 5
Slice the beef into thin sheets
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: thin meat sheets.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Kilishi is a boundary entry, not a microbial ferment. Thin sheets of lean beef are sun-dried, soaked in a spiced groundnut paste, dried again and briefly roasted, so it keeps by drying, not by fermentation. Made in 5 steps over 13 h – 14 h. The longest step, first sun-drying, takes 7 h (Ogunsola O.O 2008) and runs at 29–31 °C (Ogunsola O.O 2008).

Key numbers
Main step7 hReported[ogunsola2008]First sun-drying
Temperature29–31 °CReported[ogunsola2008]First sun-drying

What makes this one different

Kilishi has no fermentation step. It is related to jerky and biltong, but its sheets are dried twice with a thick groundnut and spice coating in between and then roasted.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Pork kilishiMade from pork in one study; scored higher for colour and juiciness.
  • Fish kilishiNile perch slices coated with groundnut or tigernut dough in a Sokoto study.

Safety

Kilishi keeps by drying, not by acid. In one study of stored kilishi, Bacillus was the most common bacterium after 36 weeks, and Staphylococcus and Proteus were isolated. A review of Nigerian dried meats reports that kilishi from central Nigeria had aflatoxin B1 and B2 and ochratoxin above the European Union limits, and that the limits were also exceeded in other dried meats there (Falowo 2023).

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus spp. and Proteus spp. (isolated from stored kilishi); Aflatoxins B1 and B2 and ochratoxins (mould toxins) in kilishi from central Nigeria, above the EU limits, as reported in a review of a 2022 survey.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [ogunsola2008] Ogunsola O.O., Omojola A.B. 2008, Qualitative evaluation of Kilishi prepared from beef and pork, African Journal of Biotechnology 7(11):1753–1758paper
  2. [magawata2014] Magawata I., Faruk S.U. 2014, Effect of groundnut and tigernut doughs on the quality of 'kilishi' Lates niloticus, Food Science and Quality Management (IISTE) (abstract)paper
  3. [onwuzuruike2022] Onwuzuruike U.A., Ndife J., Okwunodulu I.N. 2022, Influence of meat type on processed meat (kilishi) quality, FUDMA Journal of Sciences (abstract; beef, chicken, chevon and mutton)paper
  4. [falowo2023] Falowo A.B. 2023, Production, nutritional quality and microbial safety of selected Nigerian dried meat products, a review, Black Sea Journal of Agriculture 6(6):726–733paper
  5. [wp] Wikipedia, Kilishi (outline only)wiki