Bison Tri Tip

[Jim Dixon]

I've got this bad boy thawing out, and even though most recipes I've found online suggest grilling, I'd rather braise it somehow.

Got any suggestions?

Jim

[Jinmyo]

Why braise it? What's the fat like?

[Jim Dixon]

I'd rather braise so I can get some pot roast-ish juices and vegetables (and it looks like rain all weekend here, so I'm not sure if I want to deal with the Weber).

The cut's got a couple of thick bands of external fat (still rock hard, so hard to see too much) and I'm guessing not much in the way of marbled fat. Buffalo web sites all say the meat's quite lean and recommend slow cooking to no more than medium. One recommends trimming the exterior fat as well.

I guess the other option might be roasting.Or I could cut it up and make some kind of stew. I've got about 3 pounds of meat and want to make something to feed the boys (4, all grown, and a few of their friends) at our weekly family supper tomorrow.

Jim

[Suzanne F]

I recently used some bison ribs for a braise -- they were almost totally devoid of fat, I can't imagine any method except braising. My guess is that under that fat, your tri-tip has very, very little marbling. (Didn't see much marbling in the pieces of bison at the Greenmarket today.)

My braise was the usual: sweating diced onion, garlic, carrot, celery; searing the meat; putting it all together with a bottle of wine and some seasoning and herbs in the slow cooker (my most recent purchase, otherwise I'd have stuck it in a slow oven). I ended up with a huge amount of gravy. If I would do it again, I'd use a very, very light red wine, since the meat didn't have a lot of flavor on its own.

[Jinmyo]

Hm.

I just don't see the point of braising bison.

I'd sear it black and blue, slice it thinly. Serve it with a rich sauce made from a reduction of red wine and mire poix with some beef stock, strained, then used to braise turnips, daikon, carrots, and fennel. Much crunchy salt. Some crumbled bleu.

So: pool of sauce, mound of slices of bison topped with bleu and salt, vegetables around and whacks of bread. Some capers? Yes.

[wesza]

I've got this bad boy thawing out, and even though most recipes I've found online suggest grilling, I'd rather braise it somehow.

Got any suggestions?

Jim

Jim; Are you sure that you've got Triangle Tip or Bottom Sirloin ? If your positive this is the correct cut, your in for a treat. This is the most vesatile cut for almost any utilization. I introduced it to, Luchows and Steuban Tavern in NYC for Sauerbrauten, Braised Beef with Onion Gravy, Sliced Sirloin Steak, Ginger Beef and Pot Roast I've used this cut from Elk, Caribou, Water Buffalo and Bison. If prepared with care, or ofen without it's fool proof, even hard to screw up the slicing. For Braising i'd suggest that you cover the dried meat, piercing the skin with slivers of Garlic, and pepper [no salt] them coat with some flour.

Heat oil in a Skillet or even a Dutch Oven [just enough to barely cover the bottom. Remember Buffalo cooks differently then Beef, since theres generally very little marbling. Brown on both sides in the oil, plus brown bottom, sides and corners.

Slice or Dice some onions, shred a few carrots, dice some sweet peppers, hot pepper if you wish, several garlic cloves and couple of diced celery stalks.

Saute this in the oil while the meat rests until onions start to become translucent. Add some red wine, chicken or beef broth and return beef into pot. Depending on your preferance this can be finished in your oven or stove top. Either way first cover your pot to retain heat and moisture with Foil. Simmer on Stove Top or Braise in oven at 300 degrees, alowing the meat to cook in it's own juices, and break down the collogen. The only difference is if you'd wished a tomato flavor to help enrich the sauce would be to add a small [6 oz] can of tomato paste mixed in after sauteing the veggies before putting the beek back to cook. Make sure to add in the juices that dripped onto the plate when the meat was resting.

The sauce will be very rich, with some thickening. Some cooks like to serve with the veggies as they are. Others may prefer using a immersion blender or putting the vegetables and all the pan sauce into a blender or processer to smooth it out, either method works, When your finishing the sauce salt to taste if you wish, or leave it to your guests. I left it out since I wanted to keep as much juice and character into the finished meat. Irwin

[Jim Dixon]

Thanks for the great advice...I got busy in the kitchen and didn't get back to read it before I actually cooked the tritip (and it was a tritip, purchased form Nicky USA).

Here's how I cooked it:

Salted and peppered, then seared in a thin film of oil. Set over a bed of coarsely chopped onion, celery, and carrot, added the deglazed (with water) juices, rubbed the meat with a little more olive oil, added a couple of sprigs of fresh oregano and sage, then roasted, covered with foil, at 275F until just past medium rare (I would've preferred rare, but had a couple of 'no raw meat' eaters).

I served it with a mushroom risotto (used some of the meat juices in the risotto) and a mix of sauteed fresh porcini and matsutakes.

It was a hit, and I'm eating some leftovers for lunch today.

Thanks again,

Jim