This year we decided to try bison meat. So, we placed an order with The Wyoming Buffalo Company for their combination pack – tenderloin, New York strip steak, and rib-eye steaks. We used the steak rub that came free with our order and broiled up the New York strip steaks. We found that they took less time to cook than we’re used to with beef.
Now, according to the literature that came with our order, bison has less fat and cholesterol and fewer calories than skinless chicken! On top of that it claimed that bison is much more flavorful and better-tasting than beef. Well I can’t say for sure about the healthfulness of it, but it certainly tastes better than beef, and I have a great love of red meat. If this cost less I’d never buy beef again. Unfortunately, the price is rather prohibitive.
Bison is denser than beef, and more filling. And the free steak rub was actually very good. Still, we’re saving the tenderloin cuts for a cumin spice rub.
For bread, we made a sausage, apple, and cheddar bread from The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook. We used breakfast sausage (we slit the casings off and fried up the sausage) instead of the hard sausage the recipe called for. The sweetness of the apple perfectly complemented the sausage, and the cheddar made it a rich and buttery bread. By the way, this is a quick bread, not a yeasted bread, so it’s very easy and fast.
We also had a salad. Yes, I know, that’s pretty unusual for us. But we can be forgiven – it was from the Salad Days cookbook by Marcel Desaulniers, and his salads are ready-made for non-salad people. This particular one started out with slices of cooked beets around the edges of the plates. Then chopped greens went into the center. The recipe called for endive, but we used a mix of endive and Boston lettuce. A couple tablespoons of a mustard/red wine vinaigrette went on over that. On top of that went a simple red potato salad that had been soaked in more of the vinaigrette. Last but not least, honey-mustard roasted walnuts went on overtop for the perfect finishing touch.
It seems like it would be hard to top all of that, but dessert managed. It was again from The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook – an almond cream cake topped with sliced strawberries and sweetened whipped cream. The only deviation from the recipe was that we used maple syrup to sweeten the whipped cream instead of sugar. It is the best cake I’ve ever had!
Leave a Reply