broadening my culinary horizons

[cellio]

Tonight the butcher had a sign advertising fresh bison. From a species point of view bison is kosher, but you rarely find it at all, let alone slaughtered according to the laws of kashrut. I've never tasted bison, so I was curious.

I decided to have the bison and some beef concurrently, to more directly compare the tastes. Also, the bison was $14 per pound, I didn't even know if we would like it, and I wanted to hedge. So I bought one bison steak and some beef steak of comparable thickness (so I could cook them together), and we each had half of each.

Verdict: tastes like ch--... no, actually, it's similar to beef, but we both found it to be more tender and more flavorful. It did not have that gamey taste that I vaguely remember venison having back when I ate that. I would definitely enjoy eating this again, though I will shell out $14 per pound only very infrequently. Judging from availability trends, though, that's not a problem. :-)

I don't know how much of the tenderness was due to its bison-ness and how much to the cut. (It was a shoulder steak, for what that's worth. Doesn't mean anything to me.)

Comments

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

$14/lb is a very good price for kosher bison. We ordered some from Fisher Bros., a kosher butcher in Manhattan (yes, I know, I should expect it to be expensive). They, in turn, ordered the actual meat from a shochet in South Dakota, if memory serves.

It was good, but not worth the $20/lb that we paid. :-)

[mishtaneh.livejournal.com]

Murray Kosher has had it for at least two months, just tucked away in a corner of the freezer across from the meat counter. I've resisted the urge to try it; at $14/lb it's not all that tempting. :) (Then again, I'm still in sticker shock over meat prices in general....)

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

Wolfie had a buffalo burger at a sheep and wool fesitval we went to last weekend, and it was really good. It almost had a creamy texture, and didn't leave a greasy aftertaste the way beef will. Apparently it's supposed to be good for one's cholesterol levels. I'd definitely buy it to cook. I doubt it was kosher, though...

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

I don't care for the taste of bison, but Seth likes it. I can't remember what I pay for it, but it's definitely not $14 per pound. Bison is definitely more expensive than beef near us (both kosher, of course), but not THAT much more.

[dragontdc.livejournal.com]

You mentioned venison, which made me think. What's the Kosher take on animals that aren't slaughtered, but are killed when hunted? It seems that it would have to be different, because you can't be so precise when your meat is running away. Not kidding, I'm really curious. Could someone live in the wilderness and eat kosher 'from the land'?

Bison

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

I had bison steak-tips at a local restaurant, and was disappointed. They were tougher than the beef steak-tips I usually order there. Maybe it was a one time occurrence, and I should try again, given other responses in this thread.