Bison Butchering

[Robson Valley]

Just in case you wonder, I got a nice phone call from a local ranch that has a 700 acre pasture for the bison herd. I've bought a side of a 2 yr old from them about every year since 2001. There should be sides available in January-February @$5.00/lb, on the hook. That means beautifully cleaned quarters, bone-in. They are really boney critters. I expect to lose 25-30% bone weight. Maybe I get a heart and some liver. I want racks of side ribs if I can get them. Just have to ask. The cutters will ask maybe $0.50/lb or more on that hook weight but I don't have to do a thing except tell them what cuts I want.

I'll ask for roasts and steaks and burger the rest of it.

I figure the bottom line will still be under $1,500.00.
My advantage is that I can turn around and barter for all kinds of other game.
These people are eager to play and trade.

Now. If you got the hots to use a .50cal BP Hawkin rifle to knock down your own bison:
a) it can be arranged, even to butcher your own with flint first-strike blades.
b) you are going to have a ton/2000lbs of dead meat and guts on the ground to deal with.
c) the other bison will be curious as to why their pal is having a dirt-nap.
They are as cheerful as Cape Buffalo.

 

[Janne]

I could do with a shank bone, if the Cortex is thick, and a horn or two.

 

[Robson Valley]

Shank. *** is that? Femur? I'll see what there is for a horn market.
Not a lot on a 2 yr old, but some of the really old breeding group get banged off
for one reason or another.

OK Janne, I put my name in for such things.
The body parts, hides included, just flow like water around here.
I just gotta step in as I need.

The rancher keeps reminding me that I am one of the few very long time customers for his meat.
If that devolves into some priviledge, then bring it on.
I'm happy to share with BCUK, if I can.

I can sit in his pea fields and pound off as many Canadas as come in range.

 

[santaman2000]

Beef shanks make good soups. I don't know if there'd be enough fat on a bison shank for that or not?

 

[Janne]

The Tibia. The tibia is more triangular in shape, and has a thicker cortex.,
The marrow in it should be good when cooking soup. Or making marrow sauce thickening
But the thick cortex should be fantastic for knife handle making!

 

[Robson Valley]

The rancher used to have a client for heads/horns/hides, don't know if that still exists. I'll ask.

I will be talking to the butcher next weekend/18th. His shop is only 2 blocks away (like everything in McBride!)
I used to get whole bones for the dogs to nibble on, anything less and the damn Ravens could fly off with it.
Then I hit a femur in tall grass and bent the crank in the gas mower so that was the end of that.

Personally, bison fat is absolutely disgusting in both aroma and taste.
Just freakin' gross. Ultra gross. I may seem paranoid trimming but it's justified.

Yet, backstrap fat was the best selection for the preparation of pemmican in the fur trade days.
Rocky Mountain House had a pemmican quota to prepare.
Dried and pulverized bison meat and fat, about 50/50.
They made 44,000 lbs of it in 9 days, packaged in bison hide bags
of either 60lbs or 90 lbs. This is no guess. Hudson's Bay Company records.

 

[Janne]

Interesting about the fat.
I recall reading decades ago that during the worst bison slaughter in the 1800’, they only kept the hides and tongues, which they salted.
How does the liver and kidneys taste?

(If you eat that)

 

[santaman2000]

RV if you want something for the dogs to chew on ask for the hooves. Bison hooves, cattle hooves, or horse hooves (a local farrier or even some farm supply stores will keep the shavings from horse hooves for that purpose)

 

[Robson Valley]

As long as the bison's reproductive success was assured, the slaughters (using guns) really do appear wasteful.
Before firearms, the buffalo jumps were just about the only way to secure enough food.
By 1700(?) the estimate was 60,000,000 bison on the plains.


Muddy is retrieving geese in the big swamp in the sky.
Tia's old teeth are just nubbins, their bone-days are over. (Chesapeakes)

Bison liver tastes like bison. Lots of onions and some bacon fat.
For taste, bison is what every cow is trying to be and failing.
Never bought kidney. With a freezer full of meat, the kidneys don't come to my mind!

 

[Robson Valley]

Here's reason enough to hunt with a cheque book.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-bison-attack-todd-pilgrim-1.4398582

 

[Janne]

I have never tried to shoot an animal at 250 meters.. 275 yards....
I do not want to be nasty, but I kind of feel he asked for it.

Lying down, a flat trajectory round, no wind, animal standing still showing the side, maybe. If I was hungry.

 

[Robson Valley]

It is not necessary to shoot a bison to get them to act like that.
They always want to meet and greet you and stomp your guts out.

 

[Janne]

I am used to that, have been successfully married for 27 years.

 

[Robson Valley]

Both ends of my bridge were on fire and jumping was not an option.

 

[Janne]

Normally, do you cut up a bison the same way as a cow ?
What I mean is, can you get a bison T-bone, Flank steak, NY strip?

 

[santaman2000]

I can buy those cuts here. Mind they're more expensive than beef.

 

[Janne]

If you compare two same cuts buffalo and cow, does buffalo shring as much?
I find that grassfed organic beef is about the same cost after cooking, as the bog standard beef releases lots of water and shrinks.

Same with wild contra farmed salmon, the farmed fish rekeases huge amounts of oil.

 

[santaman2000]

The only beef I've cooked that shrinks very much is ground meat or the fatter steak cuts such as ribeye. Mind that fat (marbling) is what makes the ribeyes so good.

As to bison, it's easily overcooked. Whereas beef steaks are well served when cooked quickly with hot heat to sear the flavor in and create a caramelization, the same process on a bison steak will only dry it out. By nature the leaner and more exercised bison will be leaner, dryer, and tougher. You can minimize that by cooking properly or compound it by cooking poorly.

 

[Robson Valley]

Price: Cut by cut, I couldn't afford it. Buying a side changes that a lot.
Lot of $$$ up front but when you spin that out over 1-2 years, it is cost-effective.

Cut: Yup, you talk to the butcher about steaks and roasts and burger.
I ask for good steaks, 1" thick, some roasts 3-4lbs each and the rest is burger and maybe some stew meat bits.

Cooking: There's some shrinkage but if you cook it properly, no more than beef.
Over cook it and it's tough as you can possibly imagine = ruined.

I've got several different methods for cooking cuts of round meat and a dozen recipes to use the burger.
Cooked right, you need only your fork to cut a cooked bison steak and ultra juicy besides.

I've got 15 or 16 years of experience cooking bison as the sole red meat in my house.
I don't that mattered as much as learning what to do over a dozen meals would show you.

It works well in any big game cookbook recipes. Ted & Shemane Nugent's "Kill It And Grill It," for example.

Don't Burn It.

 

[Janne]

Me, I love my beef rare, whale rare.
Codfamily cooked through. Salmon, mackerel and tuna family raw.
Pig, chicken, lamb and goat low, slow and long.