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A Bounty of Buffalo (Bison)


Abra

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This weekend I acquired a bunch of buffalo cuts - sirloin tip roast, New York steak, chuck steak, top sirloin, top round, and ground. Previously I've only ever worked with ground buffalo, so I'm looking for tips and recipes for the other cuts. I already know to undercook, and on lower heat, as compared to beef, due to leanness. What else should I know about and do with this treasure?

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Well, in the absence of your fabulous recipes, tonight I quickly seared some top sirloin that I'd rubbed with an espresso-spice rub, then sliced it thin and put it over a salad with Corona beans and bourbon-sauteed onions. It's the roasts that I'm really wondering about, so I hope one of you has experience with buffalo. And if you don't, it's delicious, and very lean, so if you're trying to reduce animal fat in your diet, it's a great thing.

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I've got a load of bison coming in soon. Hubby worked a webpage for the rancher in exchange for meat.

http://www.bisonspiritranch.com/

Last summer, I ordered New York Strips and they were great. I just threw them on the BBQ, some with a light brushing of cajun BBQ sauce, and the rest with just salt and 4 peppercorn steak spice. The meat was very juicy and tender. There's a picture of them on my blog in August.

I also had some ground bison. These I made into a wonderfully moist and flavourful meatloaf and some meatballs. The meatballs were great in a fresh mushroom sauce over fettuccini.

I too am looking forward to seeing some ideas and recipes for the roasts. :smile:

There are a few recipes on the above website.

Edited by Dejah (log)

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Well, in the absence of your fabulous recipes, tonight I quickly seared some top sirloin that I'd rubbed with an espresso-spice rub, then sliced it thin and put it over a salad with Corona beans and bourbon-sauteed onions.  It's the roasts that I'm really wondering about, so I hope one of you has experience with buffalo.  And if you don't, it's delicious, and very lean, so if you're trying to reduce animal fat in your diet, it's a great thing.

Some farmers around Munich breed buffalo and therefore I can offer a few buffalo recipes.

Buffalo roast in herbed mustard crust (filet)

Buffalo-Orange stew (steak chinese style)

Brised Buffalo tarte Tatin style (roast)

Buffalo meat salad (filet)

Doubled buffalo loin Michael Jordan style (loin)

Buffalo roast with porcini mushrooms (sholder)

Buffalo steak rolls with Blue-Ermite-Cheese (steak)

Chopped Buffalo panfried (steak)

May be there is one of those you are interested in.

H.B. aka "Legourmet"

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Thanks for the link, Dejah. I see some good-looking and simple recipes there. And the website looks great too. I'm planning to do the ground bison today - I gather that it works better with some added moisture and binder, that's why you did meatloaf and meatballs as opposed to burgers?

And Heinz, those all look delicious, of course. The porcini roast and the tatin are the ones I'd really like to see. Ever since I made an oxtail tatin style, I'm hooked on that preparation. But I'm truly amazed that buffalo is available in Germany. I really think of them as only New World animals, especially because they're so big!

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Abra, I do a lot of bison cooking, and as with most of my game recipes, I always add moisture, or fat. On most roasts, I will marinate, or I have recently used a spice rub I learned and changed a bit by Madhur Jaffrey:

2T whole coriander 1t cumin seeds 1t. whole fenugreek 1t.whole brown mustard seeds 1t. whole peppercorns 3 whole cloves 3 dry hot red chiles(I use the evil little japones) Toast these in a dry frypan..Cool...Grind.

I rub this on the meat, sear it, then proceed to braise it. It is SPICY, but delicious.

For moisture in meatballs or meatloaf, I use a lot of Rotel tomato sauce (or the diced tomatoes packed with green chiles and onions if you can't get Rotel). The best advice for that usage to keep meatballs from falling apart if you are not going to include some ground pork sausage is to chill the meat cold enough to make your hands sore when you form the meatballs, then carefully brown them before adding them to whatever gravy. My dear husband also always requests porcupines- they're made up with raw rice in the meatball mixture, then simmered a long time in the gravy.

Bison always does good when it's roasted with some porkfat laid on top--fat bacon or porkskin.

Hope this helps you a little. :smile:

Edited by Mabelline (log)
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I'm surprised that there aren't more posts to this thread.

Was curious and did an egullet search to see if there were some previous threads. There are a few useful ideas out there on a couple of threads but yet, not as much discussion as I would have expected.

Here are some of the links:

buffalo tri trip

ground buffalo

Indian Buffalo vs Beef

I'm interested to hear more tips re: cooking it b/c I've had two really nice meals with buffalo but haven't cooked with it myself yet.

Maybe it would work well in dishes designed for venison? (Adding more fat/moisture along the lines of mabelline's and others' suggestions)

I had a very nice dish recently at casa vieja in Corrales, NM (right outside Albuquerque). It was described as a New Mexico raised Bison Strip Loin. It came with a delicious sauce reduction. and was served w/bacon hashed potatoes, julienned vegetables, roasted garlic cream and drizzled with Styrian Pumpkinseed oil. The meat was tender and had lots of great flavor.

Second incarnation was more humble, but also very delicious. Buffalo burgers with green chile and cheddar cheese. It's hard to get the same green chile outside of N. Mexico--but it could still be worth trying.

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Also found this link from a buffalo producer that gives general tips on the different cuts of meat (including roasts): click

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Well, in the absence of your fabulous recipes, tonight I quickly seared some top sirloin that I'd rubbed with an espresso-spice rub, then sliced it thin and put it over a salad with Corona beans and bourbon-sauteed onions.  It's the roasts that I'm really wondering about, so I hope one of you has experience with buffalo.  And if you don't, it's delicious, and very lean, so if you're trying to reduce animal fat in your diet, it's a great thing.

Some farmers around Munich breed buffalo and therefore I can offer a few buffalo recipes.

Buffalo roast in herbed mustard crust (filet)

Buffalo-Orange stew (steak chinese style)

Brised Buffalo tarte Tatin style (roast)

Buffalo meat salad (filet)

Doubled buffalo loin Michael Jordan style (loin)

Buffalo roast with porcini mushrooms (sholder)

Buffalo steak rolls with Blue-Ermite-Cheese (steak)

Chopped Buffalo panfried (steak)

May be there is one of those you are interested in.

Is this water buffalo such as whose milk is the basis for mozzarella di bufala or the american bison? They are different animals with the water buffalo being more common in Europe and the bison in North America. Nevertheless, they should be fairly similar as far as cooking. As for bison, with the exception for cooking times noted and the need for additional moisture due to the low fat content, flavorwise it can be treated just like beef.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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I've had good luck with the steaks, marinating them with wine, garlic and whatever spices I feel like at the moment and then searing briefly. Abra, your method of putting it over a bean salad sounds great. I've served it with lentils as well. Oddly enough, I found the sirloin steaks to be more tender than the New Yorks. May have just been a fluke. I've only purchased them from Whole Foods.

I've made chili using ground bison and it turned out well. I didn't use a special recipe, just made it as if I were using ground beef. I did try bison burgers once, and wasn't happy with the result. I think they were so lean, they sort of just mooshed out of the bun rather than staying patty-like.

I would think that pot roasting would work well, with the combination of liquid and low temperature, but haven't tried it. I'd love to hear how your roasts turn out.

Jan

*edited out comment I made without carefully reading previous post, doh!

Edited by SeaGal (log)

Jan

Seattle, WA

"But there's tacos, Randy. You know how I feel about tacos. It's the only food shaped like a smile....A beef smile."

--Earl (Jason Lee), from "My Name is Earl", Episode: South of the Border Part Uno, Season 2

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Thanks for the ideas and links, all! It's going to be buffalo meatloaf for dinner tonight, and then I'll tackle the roasts. I can also recommend, to those inclined to eating dinner food for breakfast, what I had myself this morning: thin slices of cold, rare buffalo steak on whole grain toast. I know, it was more assembly than cookery, but I still liked it a lot.

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Abra,

I hope you are trying the Steak Sauce Bison meatloaf recipe in the website. That's the one I made. I've never used pureed veg. as part of the binder for ground meat before. Usually I just used bread crumbs and onions. This was very good. I used leftovers in pita pockets with some spicy mango chutney the next day as a school lunch.

The recipe for Italian Biscon meatballs was also good. I made a lot and froze half. Last night, I browned a couple dozen, simmered in a sauce made with fresh mushrooms and served them over Chinese rice noodles. Today, I mushed them up a bit and put them into wraps with lettuce, carrot sticks, and cilantro for school lunch.

The university's aboriginal/First Nation students are holding a bison burger sale. I figured I've had about enough bison for the day :wink: . I just gave them the money.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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We made burritos tonight with bison skirt steak. These were marinated in chile and garlic and then grilled rare and sliced. The burritos were filled with this, refried black beans with roasted green chile, onion and lime juice, cheddar and guacamole. The bison was perfect for this.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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Yum, bison skirt steak sounds good. They didn't have this available when we went bison shopping, but I'll be on the lookout for it when next there's buffalo. The market was having a special buffalo sale - normally we can't get it at all here. I think I'll be begging them to make it a regular event. I just vacuum sealed about 20 lbs for the freezer, but I'd love to have it fresh on a regular basis.

And thanks for the recipe reviews, Dejah. I din't use that meatloaf recipe, but next time I will. It's a Weight Watcher's thing to put finely diced vegetables in meatloaves and burgers, but I've never pureed them.

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Nephew called and reports that he may have a source of bison and asked me what I know. Isn't this place amazing. I was able to say, "I think we have a current topic on that." :biggrin: Then I thought about a recipe for venison I got from a friend at work the other day. It occurs to me that recipes like this for venison could work for buffalo. After all, you are dealing with lean red meat in both cases. That it is based on beer is not surprising since my friend is an avid home brewer. He calls it a "brazen departure from Guinness Beef" and is willing to share . . . therefore:

Guinnison

4 lbs Venison – cut into 1 to 2” Cubes

4 Tbsp to ½ cup Flour – seasoned with salt, pepper & cayenne

2 – 3 Tbsp Olive Oil or Drippings

2 to 4 large brown onions chopped

2 to 4 cloves Garlic – crushed or chopped

2 – 14oz Cans Swanson Beef Broth

2 – 12oz Bottles Guinness Extra Stout

4 cups carrots – Roll Cut

1 cup prunes – pitted and coarse-chopped (adds sweet and balances Guinness bitterness)

4 bay leaves

1 fresh sprig thyme or 1 tsp dried

1 tsp dried rosemary

Parsley – Garnish

1. Coat the meat with the flour mixture and brown quickly on all sides – Remove.

2. Add the onions and cook until golden – add the garlic and bay leaves for one minute additional cooking.

3. Transfer to Slow Cooker and deglaze pan with Guinness into the slow cooker

4. Add remaining ingredients to cooker.

5. Cook for 1 ½ to 3 hours – check seasoning & correct with salt and pepper.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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  • 2 years later...

A friend sent me a buffalo sirloin steak and a chuck roast. I know that buffalo is very much like beef, only leaner. Problem is that I never buy beef sirloin, much less buffalo. How the heck should I cook this thing? It's just one big steak - maybe 1.25" thick.

The roast is a little easier as I have made plenty of pot roasts, etc. But I'm still open for hints.

Friend is no help. He's a die hard well-done kinda guy, and says "just throw 'em on the grill until they're burnt." As I'd rather make something edible, I don't think I'll take his suggestion.

Edited by abadoozy (log)
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A friend sent me a buffalo sirloin steak and a chuck roast. I know that buffalo is very much like beef, only leaner. Problem is that I never buy beef sirloin, much less buffalo. How the heck should I cook this thing? It's just one big steak - maybe 1.25" thick.

The roast is a little easier as I have made plenty of pot roasts, etc. But I'm still open for hints.

Friend is no help. He's a die hard well-done kinda guy, and says "just throw 'em on the grill until they're burnt." As I'd rather make something edible, I don't think I'll take his suggestion.

My husband does the website for this bison ranch. I usually have NY strip loin steaks, so I can't give any specifics on sirloin. On the BBQ, I brush on BBQ sauce, sear them on high briefly, then lower the heat to med. to cook the steaks slowly until med. rare.

I have done a rib roast - again seared then slow roast until med rare. Delicious stuff. :wub:

Here is the website with some info on cooking bison.

Hope this helps.

http://www.bisonspiritranch.com/recipes.html

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Cook it for less time than you would beef. Because of the lower fat content it will dry out much more quickly. I wouldn't shoot for anything more than rare, because if you're going for medium rare and you overcook it to medium it's going to go downhill.

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  • 6 years later...

I love Bison great tasting, lower in fat but touchy to cook due to low fat content.

 

I have a couple of Prime Ribs I am going to have a go at and want to do something different.

 

Usually I cook slow to a temp of 125 and it works out great..

 

Suggestions?

Mike Macdonald Calgary

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my favorites are

 

Flank seared really hot and cut across the grain

Prime Rib - because theirs some bone and fat somewhat forgiving for Bison

Ribs these cook a long time slow I like the big ones but hard to get.

Mike Macdonald Calgary

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