Buffalo, Bison & Cattle
Quebec is producing a variety of specialty livestock. They include the Vache canadienne, elk, deer, wapiti, and buffalo (called bison on the packaging, a direct translation of the French).
A buffalo farm visit is pure entertainment. Quebec has about 30 of these farms and about 5,000 buffalo. A handful of city butchers sell the meat, called bison, and connoisseurs have learned how to cook it, along with other specialty meats such as venison, boar, elk and wapiti.
Bison is considered the latest exotic meat, taking over from ostrich or llama, and slowly advancing on venison at Quebec specialty meat counters. It’s as expensive as the best fish and seafood and about double the price of good beef. Produced naturally, without hormones, antibiotics or animal-based feeds, bison contains only about 25 per cent of the fat of beef, is lower in calories and cholesterol, and higher in iron and vitamin B-12. Meeting my first buffalo up close, I couldn’t imagine looking after 100 of these giant animals, as Josée Toupin does on her farm La Terre des Bisons, at Rawdon north-east of Montreal. Their size, some seeming as big as a panel truck, is menacing, but that’s a false impression, said Josée, jumping down from her high fence to have a word with one 2,200-pound male who had arrived for a snack of oats. She considers her herd a good-natured family.
“But we never turn our backs when we are in the field, because they’re so big and we could get bunted,” she said as a group of the dark brown creatures crowded around us in silence.
These animals are smart, she said.
When winter winds blow, they will gather in a circle, each facing out, protecting their youngsters in the centre. They are keeping an eye out for predators, such as wolves, and also showing off their natural bulk, which is in their shoulders, Josée said. That habit contrasts with that of cattle, she noted. Cattle have big rumps and tend to face inward in bad weather. I loaded up on various cuts of the meat at her farm shop, including cubed buffalo for her favourite stew.
A bison steak
Treat bison like extra-lean beef and begin by learning how to cook a steak or medallion, say buffalo ranchers who know this cuisine. A steak that’s an inch (2.5 cm) thick will give best results. If you overcook this meat, it will be dry, I learned when attending a big buffalo conference in Rapid City, South Dakota. On the Great Plains of the American prairies, buffalo ranches can be home to more than 1,500 animals, grazing freely on 25,000 acres and more. Western Canada has big buffalo herds too, some raised on ranches, some in the forests. To cook a steak, oil a heavy frying pan lightly and heat it until smoking hot. Give the steak a quick sear, 30 seconds a side, then lower the heat to low-medium, cover the pan and cook it another three to four minutes a side for medium-rare, until an instant-read thermometer reaches 135 degrees F (57 C). Cooking bison to the medium-done stage tends to dry your steak and reduce its flavor; ranchers suggest if you like your steak medium, skip bison. After cooking, let the bison steak rest at room temperature for a few minutes. It will be crisp and browned on the outside, juicy inside. All you need is plenty of pepper and a little salt for your perfect steak dinner. The perfect food with a bison steak is sautéed mushrooms. The woodsy taste of the mushrooms goes well with this meat. An alternative is a slab of chilled, flavoured butter; blend softened butter with moistened, chopped, sun-dried tomatoes and then chill it. Since bison costs twice as much as beef, you’ll want full value from it, so don’t cover it with too much sauce. Martin Picard of Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon restaurant tops his bison steak with sautéed onions. If you choose bison burgers, don’t add too many trimmings, or you’ll lose the bison flavour and think you’re eating beef. That means skipping the cheese or yellow mustard in favour of just a slice of tomato and onion.
Accenting bison
Tough cuts of bison, such as the sirloin tip or inside round roast, should be cooked slowly at a low temperature so you don’t dry the meat out. Start with the meat at room temperature. Some bison specialists like to brown it quickly on all sides before roasting. It’s not necessary. Roast bison, covered, at 325 degrees F (160 C) just until medium-rare.