Cooking Instructions

Here is an excerpt from the Buffalo is Heart Healthy cookbook, available exclusively through the National Bison Association.

"Although buffalo meat is similar to beef, it needs to be handled and cooked differently. You will find most recipes for other red meats can be adapted to buffalo. The important things to remember are, DO NOT OVERCOOK!!!, and, do not let the meat dry out.

Remember "low and slow." Cook buffalo meat to the same doneness that you prefer in beef. We recommend medium/rare. Overcooked or dried out buffalo meat will bring you the same results as other meats that are overcooked - something nearly as palatable as an old boot. If you must have your meat well done, consider one of the very low temperature (180-200 degrees) recipes, where the meat is cooked for 10 hours or more. Very slow, moist heat works especially well with the less tender cuts of buffalo, such as chuck. There is nothing to compare with a buffalo chuck roast cooked all day in a slow cooker. With slow cooking, you do not have to worry about overcooking, let it cook until it falls apart.

For steak or burgers, medium heat is recommended and it is even more important to not drive off the internal moisture. Particularly for ground meat of any kind, the FDA has recommended for restaurants that meats be cooked to an internal temperature of 155 degrees. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends 160 degrees for home use, and because of the difficulty in determining the internal temperature of a burger patty without special equipment, recommends that burger patties be cooked to the point where the pink is just disappearing. These recommendations are primarily for ground meat since any external bacteria on steaks and roasts are killed in normal cooking. 

Ground buffalo meat may be used as a substitute for ground beef in most recipes. Since ground buffalo contains very little fat, once again moderate temperatures will help insure that the meat does not scorch. With ground buffalo meat, what you see raw is what you get when it is cooked, as there is very little shrinkage in cooking."

Bison Recipes

The first is a Dunham family favorite. For all of you San Diegans who love carne asada, it will be one of your favs to. It calls for flank steak, but you can use round steak (we have our round cut really thin - it substitutes for any recipe calling for flank steak, which, on a bison is really kind of measly - they can't help it if they have little flanks, poor guys). The second recipe is for short ribs, which are not good on the BBQ - much too little meat and no fat. BUT, cooked in the crock pot, they are delicious!!!! Here they are! Enjoy!

LIME CILANTRO TACOS
1 ½ pounds flank steak (or thin cut round steak)
4 limes; 2 juiced, the other 2 cut in wedges
1 ½ t. paprika
1 t. salt
½ t. pepper
1 c. chopped cilantro
2 T. chopped onion
Tortillas, cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, sour cream, olives - any other taco garnishes you like.

Prepare marinade for carne asada by using the juice from 2 limes salt, pepper, cilantro and chopped onion. Place all these in a plastic Ziploc style bag along with the flank steak. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. Grill the flank/round until done (3-5 minutes per side maybe - watch it, tough bison is overdone bison??). Slice steak 1/8 thick along the grain first and then chop into small pieces. Fill tortillas with meat and garnish with other items. Yum!!

CROCK POT BRAISED SHORT RIBS

3-4 pounds short ribs
½ c. flour
1 ½ t. paprika
1 t. salt
½ t. dry mustard
2 medium onions, sliced and separated into rings
1 c. beer or stock (bison homemade or beef store bought)
1 clove garlic (or more!!)
3 T. water
2 T. flour

If you are using beef, you’d want to brown the short ribs to remove the fat, but with bison, you can skip this step – you want all the fat they’ll give you! Combine ½ cup flour, paprika, salt and mustard; toss with short ribs. Add rib mixture to crock pot. Place onions, beer (or water or stock) and garlic in crock pot. Stir to mix ribs with onion rings (be sure onions are under ribs). Cover and cook on low 8-12 hours or high 4-6 hours. Remove short ribs to warm serving platter. If thickened gravy is desired, make a smooth paste with 2T flour and water. Turn crock pot to high and stir in paste. Cover and cook until gravy is thickened. Or you can do the gravy in a sauce pan. Makes appx. 6 servings.