Bison meat is also known as American buffalo. It is a more flavorful meat than beef with a sweeter and richer taste. It is very lean and has a tremendous about of protein about 20g and very low in fat. The meat is tender and has no marbling as beef does.
Bison is considered a gourmet meat so it is a little more expensive than your select beef cuts.
Bison’s health benefits are that it has sufficiently less fat 2.4g than select or choice beef, than chicken, pork and salmon which range from 7.41g-10.97g. It is also is lower in cholesterol 82mg and 143 calories than these other meats and fish mentioned.
It is high in Iron and Vitamin B-12. It’s recommended by the American Heart Association as a beef alternative because of its low caloric intake and saturated fat content.
Bison ground meat cost $5.99-$7.99 per pound, depending on where you purchase it. As the demand grows for this leaner meat the price increases. For a good size cut of bison steak, you could be paying anywhere from $22-$30 per steak cut of this very lean meat.
Bison is sold as ground meat, several cuts of steaks, brisket and ribs. This meat can be purchased online through bison wholesalers and at your local Whole Foods. Whole Foods has a nice selection of variety of bison meat. The online wholesalers usually run specials for those first time buyers of this meat.
Bison needs to be cooked on low heat because it’s a tender meat with no fat, so it can burn easily if your heat is too hot so use caution when cooking it. Although it’s delicate you can cook it the same way you cook beef just at a lower temperature.
You can grill, roast, broil and cooked it on the stove top. For all of the crock pot lovers out there bison is ideal for even more tenderness.
Bison will be featured as the main course for the 200 invited guests at the inauguration luncheon. The tender meat will be hickory grilled and dressed in a huckleberry reduction and strawberry preserve.
The vegetable surrounding this bison is golden baby beets (the president’s least favorite vegetable) red potato, red cabbage and horseradish to form a pancake (sort of like a latkes). Below is a bison recipe or you can try the president’s inauguration recipe.
Recipe
Bison with caramelized onion and red wine reduction
• 4 pieces of bison tenderloin, 5 oz.
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• ½ tbs. of minced garlic
• 1 tbs. of Montreal steak seasoning
• ½ tbs. of black pepper
• 1 vidalia onion
• 2 ¼ cups of red wine
Steps
1. Marinate bison with 1 tbs. olive oil, minced garlic, Montreal seasoning, black pepper and ¼ cup of red wine. Put in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to allow wine and seasoning to penetrate meat.
2. Put olive oil in skillet, place bison in skillet and sear meat on both sides.
3. Then transfer seared bison to baking sheet and bake in 350 oven for 15-20 minutes (for medium rare 15 minutes and well done 20 minutes)
4. Cut onions into rings and the skillet that the meat was seared caramelize onions
5. In a sauce pot put 2 cups of wine to boil, and then lower your heat covered the sauce pan and let the wine reduce to half. Once it’s at half uncover and let reduce to ½ a cup where the wine would be a thick consistency.
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