BBQ Brethren "Buffalo" Throwdown!

[BigButzBBQ]

Woo hoo! Haven't had Bison in a while! And wouldn't you know it, we happen to have a bison farm nearby. FYI- They ship meat out all over the country. The place is called North Star Bison. Had a friend from Chicago order some Bison ribs from them last year and said they were pretty reasonable.
Would really love a Bison steak. Last time I had one of those was when I was 16 and we went out to Medora, ND. YUM!
Good choice oh hotly red one.

[Grinchjr]

We have a few of those around here.


seven miles frome home.

[deathamphetamine]

Originally Posted by southernsmoker

Redhot, sorry I'm out..I can get Moose, Caribou, Bear, Seal even Beaver but no farkin Buffalo!!

Edit-We do have frozen bison burgers in the shops but that ain't TD worthy!!

thats crazy man! Beaver? Really?

[deathamphetamine]

Originally Posted by Gore

About those ribeyes of ours ... wanna trade?

Its a whole roast, not sure yet about steaking it. I'm leaning towards rotisserie
I'd love to trade.... been looking for a used weber kettle but they are virtually non existent around these parts

[Gore]

Originally Posted by deathamphetamine

thats crazy man! Beaver? Really?

What? You've never had any Beaver? Really sorry to hear that.

[Redhot]

We just got home from buffalo hunting! First we went to The Fresh Market but all they had was ground bison (guess that employee I talked to on the phone yesterday was having a duh moment). We were perturbed enough to walk away and leave the basket, I mean the employee did tell me they had steaks and roasts. So off to Whole Foods we went hoping they stocked actual cuts of bison. Jackpot!!!! They had some beautiful shoulder roasts and strip steaks. Guerry had already been talking about how much he wanted to try a roast so he went with the shoulder, I picked out two nice similar sized strip steaks. These were...um, pretty pricy! But hey, I've been wanting to try buffalo for years, the very reason I chose this category for the TD. We shall have to limit our adult beverage consumption during the cook.

[bluetang]

Good gosh, that looks good. I think our connection is Whole Foods down in PB. Gonna try to get there, All the buffalo I've ever had was jerky. Fresh

[Redhot]

Originally Posted by SmokinAussie

I'll be sitting this one out, but I'll be watching with interest! I've never seen Buffalo BBQ before!

I was a little worried about regular TDers being able to find buffalo/bison. But after much debating in my head I came to the conclusion that this was the only way I was gonna get deguerre to bite the bullet and let me try buffalo. You have won many a TD and for your next win you could easily choose...kangaroo - or those over-sized crawfish thingys you entered a while back and watch us all scratch our heads trying to figure out if we can even get the goods to enter. Just kidding aussie, but I did think buffalo/bison was a totally new and fresh idea as far as TD categories go.

[Gore]

As I showed before, I did find some buffalo steaks at Balducci's. Our Whole Foods does not carry buffalo. Balducci's only had a few vacuum packed cuts. I grabbed the rib eye:



I think under any other circumstances I would not have picked it up. Unlike Redhot's strip steaks at $19.99/pound, Balducci's carried only half-pound steaks at the bargain-basement price of $33.98/pound. If it weren't for the throwdown, I would've gone right for the Wagyu, which was considerably less expensive actually. For lunch today, I seasoned this with some Foil Hat Rub, Lawry's and parsley.



I heated up the grill and cooked it hot and very fast:



Must say the flavor was quite nice. It was a bit tougher than a choice beef ribeye, but that was expected due to the leanness.



Overall, no complaints here. I'm glad I tried it, which is really the primary purpose of these throwdowns. Thanks Redhot!

[Redhot]

Wow, that is one gorgeous mouth watering buffalo ribeye there gore! I hope my steaks turn out that perfect. I suppose I need to get them on the kettle well before 6 p.m. what with the impending end of the world and all!

[deathamphetamine]

Originally Posted by Redhot

Wow, that is one gorgeous mouth watering buffalo ribeye there gore! I hope my steaks turn out that perfect. I suppose I need to get them on the kettle well before 6 p.m. what with the impending end of the world and all!

it didn't happen, I should have been in hell by now! ...

[deguerre]

That is one gorgeous steak Gore. I've got my shoulder roast in a marinade to cook tomorrow. Not sure how I'm gonna do it though - obviously low and slow after an initial sear but haven't decided on the IT. There seem to be differing philosophies. Most are for pulled bison - but there are a few that suggest med-rare for slicing even on this cut...there appears to be zero connective tissue and almost no fat. In appearance it's almost like an eye of round.

[Gore]

Originally Posted by Redhot

Wow, that is one gorgeous mouth watering buffalo ribeye there gore! I hope my steaks turn out that perfect. I suppose I need to get them on the kettle well before 6 p.m. what with the impending end of the world and all!

Thanks Red, I'm sure yours will be every bit as good. There's a lot of flavor and the ones you have look beautiful.

Originally Posted by deguerre

That is one gorgeous steak Gore. I've got my shoulder roast in a marinade to cook tomorrow. Not sure how I'm gonna do it though - obviously low and slow after an initial sear but haven't decided on the IT. There seem to be differing philosophies. Most are for pulled bison - but there are a few that suggest med-rare for slicing even on this cut...there appears to be zero connective tissue and almost no fat. In appearance it's almost like an eye of round.

Thanks Guerry. I would be hesitant to do pulled bison just because it is so lean. For a roast, I really think I'd do a reverse sear on the rare side of medium-rare (probably just plain rare actually) and slice thin for sammies. For me, that's what eye of round is best for and I had the same feeling about this. Past medium rare, I think I'd be eating shoe leather. This is tougher than beef.

[ecode]

Well, I asked my husband what he'd like to have before the Apocalypse. I was really expecting a typical male response , but he quite surprised me when he said "I'd like to get drunk and have a BOINK." Thank goodness for this Buffalo Throwdown, otherwise I never would have had the ground Buffalo to make him the BOINKs that he requested.



I rolled some buffalo balls and seasoned them with some Foil Hat Rub and Lawry's. I really wanted to cook them on the grill first, but the grind was very fine and I was afraid I would have to scrape them off the grill with big groves in them so I pan seared them first.



I wrapped them in bacon and smoked them over oak



I mopped them with some Loempia sauce. Then I served up some BOINKs for my husband with a mojito, just the way he likes them.



In typical male fashion, they were gone before ya' knew it .



Looks like time's running out. I'm going to get my husband, so I can get what I want before the Apocalypse.

Thanks for looking, and Happy Apocalypse everyone!

[High Q]

When I got home from travelling on Friday, I headed here.




Cause they have some of this (they even have Buffalo Etc.).




I put some corn and asparagus on the grill with some buffalo sliders.




That seemed to go pretty well - nobody started to paw the ground and moo (special cameo appearance by Q2).




With the little qs fed, I turned to Mom & Dad's meal. I browned some more ground buffalo in a skillet and charred some more corn.




I mixed the ground buffalo with some taco seasoning, black beans, and charred corn. I put the ground buffalo, bean, corn mixture in a loaf pan.




I made up some corn bread dough, topped the loaf pans with the corn bread mixture and put in the oven at 375F for 25 or so minutes.




While all that was going on, I broke out the big guns.






I rubbed down the filet with a little bit of olive oil then seasoned with coarse black pepper and very course kosher salt. I put it on for a hot sear - about one minute per side. I then moved it over a single layer of coals in the middle of the weber and covered for about seven ish minutes. After I pulled the steak, I tented it in foil for about five minutes.

Fork shot->




Buffalo filet plated with the buffalo corn bread pie and grilled asparagus marinated in EVOO and balsamic vinegar.




Have a good weekend and enjoy the throwdown!