Bison Meat

So I bought a bison ribeye and cooked it last night on my Performer. It was about 1 1/2 inches thick and looked great, but of course it was lean as all get out since it's bison. Cooked it to 125 then pulled it to a cool plate and went on with fixing side dishes to let it rest.

That said, it was good but not great. Just did heavy salt about four hours before I grilled it and ground some fresh black pepper before it hit the grill. It was kind of chewy but nothing bad, just not tender tender.

Is that what Bison is suppose to be like? It wasn't a WHOLE lot beefier than a fairly good dry-aged steak I'd say, and it was of really good quality bison supposedly. Whole Foods sold it to me and said that Bison was king in taste over beef. I have had ground bison before and it was just way too lean for my liking after I cooked it and I suspect this is a real killer maybe even when it's cooked med rare. Very little marbling for sure. 21.99 a pound for stuff that didn't cook up right at least for me.

Am I doing it wrong and mistaken here? I really wanted bison to be like a new found amazing thing for some reason. Just sounds cool to say bison over beef, even though it's price is a bit silly. Here's a picture of on of the steaks after it had been salted for three hours, then set out for an hour to hit room temp. All the salt moved into it, so it was well seasoned BTW. That's my 8" chef's knife behind it to show how dern thick is was too so should've been real hard to overcook (and it wasn't :biggrin1.

$22 a pound Damn I just bought 18 pounds of pork butts for $21 total. So I guess I will never find out what that will taste like.

Yeah man, dry-aged ribeyes are $26.99 a pound there, so it ain't a whole lot cheaper than prime dry-aged stuff. They age it a long time too, some of it as long as 40 days I think and it is only available rarely. And I ate the whole dern thing but it took a whole lot of chewing compared to other beef ribeyes I've cooked. 2" thick chuck eye steaks were tender as can be last time I cooked em even.

But yeah, bison ain't what it cracked up to be unless I am an idiot or got a really bad cut for a really stupid price.

Yes it was grass fed. I have had grass-fed ground beef and it was too lean, a lot like the ground bison I've had that I mentioned up there. Both were 90/10. I kinda agree with ya, but I've never had a grass-fed beef steak before so IDK personally. That will be what I try next.

Now the dry-aged ground chuck I've had? That s*** is the best burger I've ever had. It is nuts. Was hoping bison steaks would be that good but it wasn't.

My advise is wait until just before the 4th of July and if you have a Cash and Carry or similar restaurant supply store in your local area, they should have New York Strip for around $3 to $3.50 a pound so about $40 for the average pack, take it home butcher them up vacuum pack them individually and enjoy.

J'ville Grill said:

That would be the day I'd spend $21.99/lb because I thought it would sound cool to say bison.

Click to expand...

I think most people pay that and more for dry aged stuff no? I know I've seen some nice dry aged stuff cooked on here.

But yeah, it was more to be able to know what whole bison cut would taste like. Ground meat is just different and I've had that. They call that ground buffalo though even though it's bison meat. I don't reckon there is any buffalo even in North America. At least not originally.

elvis67 said:

Just thinking, if you salted pretty heavy 4hrs. before cooking you may have drawn out a lot of moisture. Since it was already a real lean piece of meat any lost moisture could work against you.

Click to expand...

That is not what has happened to me ever on regular beef steaks. I did a lot of reading and experimenting and what happens is it pulls the moisture out, but if it goes longer than 45 minutes all that moisture moves back into the steak and the moisture loss is zero. That's why they say to salt your steaks WAY ahead or right before they hit the grille.

Anyone back me up on this? I don't think that is why they weren't that great, but maybe I am wrong and bison works differently.

Well that kind of rules it out as becoming something I eat again then probably. I like fattier cuts, and if it is lean I like it to be gamey as can be like a good deer leg or tenderloin. Never had elk, but sure wish I could get some for a reasonable price. I'll ship you some frozen whitetail for some frozen elk! LOL, true talk right there.

Bison was just lean and tasted like beefy well... beef. LOL. I am beginning to think from this that I got ripped! But I've had it now and know what it is like. Don't have to wonder anymore.

And I can see how making hamburger steaks is a good idea with it, but the ground bison I've seen and bought was $11.99 a pound.... I can get that dry aged chuck for $6.99 a pound and it is 80/20 and not 90/10 like the bison.

Dang those look good. I gotta try beef ribs sometime. Never had them or cooked them.