Buffalo

I'm running out of ideas. It's pretty difficult to find a new odd food item every week, so I greatly appreciate your suggestions. Please.


I was at The Last Record store in Santa Rosa this weekend which is next to a small community market. It had a bunch of organic and overpriced food so I left. I got the feeling that people could tell I shop for price, not health and they didn't want me there. I then went to Whole Foods. Basically the same thing, organic and overpriced, just bigger. After casually strolling around the store, I ended up in the meat section. I figured they would have cow tongue or something, but no such luck. Or maybe that's good luck? Finally I found something, buffalo meat. I don't know how odd buffalo meat is, but it is to my roommates and I, so I bought it. $10.99 for a pound. I love spending absurds amounts of money on food! Enough complaining, I brought this on myself. I bought the necessary supplies for burgers; buns, tomato, lettuce. 
Uh-oh, spoiler alert! You now know what I'm making this week! After searching through a few recipes when I got home, the main one that kept popping up was Bison Burgers. You can substitute buffalo for beef in any recipe. Just be sure to cook it SLOW AND LOW. Many websites emphasized this.

1 pound will make at least 4 burgers.

I started my burgers by spicing the meat with just salt, pepper and garlic powder. I wanted to be able to really taste the meat without too much spice. I put a little oil on the pan to prevent the meat from sticking. Buffalo is much leaner than beef and therefore cooks faster and is healthier for you. The meat cooks in about 8 minutes, I would say 4 to 5 minutes on each side on a low-medium temperature. All recipes said to leave some pink in the middle for the best flavor but I knew my roommates wouldn't eat it if I did, so I cooked it all the way through. The flavor is very similar to beef. It tasted more like a good grass-fed burger than a regular burger. I think Dan Marino puts says it best, "According to Dan Marino, buffalo meat tastes better than beef. He says the flavor is similar but buffalo has a 'lighter, sweeter flavor' and 'doesn't leave a greasy feel in your mouth.' He also reveals buffalo has a 'much livelier flavor' but isn't 'gamy'."

See, there's Dan Marino chowing down on a bison burger. He loves it! 


Oh, whoops. That's David Hasselhoff destroying a burger. They look pretty similar.





Turns out the Miami Dolphins quarterback didn't actually say that. It was another Dan Marino. What a shame. He could have given buffalo meat a good name like he gave to Nutrisystem.


Buffalo does have a lighter taste to it and is definitely not gamy. If you feel like splurging a bit, I would  recommend it because of the health benefits. Buffalo are also grass fed and raised on open grassland which is a plus. 

And if you didn't find the Dan Marino bit funny, I hope you'll think 

this is.

-Em