What's on the Grill #111

Bison Sirlon! Or as what my friend Mike described, "The Wooly Sovereign of the majestic plains... on a fork." This is not my first journey into Wooly Sovereign territory, although it is my first time grilling a Bison steak. I have had a lot of fun with ground bison in burgers and chili and more recently, I had a Bison steak at the Ruth's Chris in Houston when I was visiting Matt.

These two small 6 ounce sirloins (note small for me most likely means proper portion size...) were wrapped in a cryopac, so I really was not sure as to the quality. The problem with buying sort of "sight unseen" is that the sirloins were two drastically different sizes, which screwed me in the end as the small one was overcooked. The two sirloins were also very lean and almost devoid of any marbling. A fast and short cook was in order, although as I already indicated, one was not fast enough!

According to the National Bison Association:

Research by Dr. M. Marchello at North Dakota State University has shown that the meat from Bison is a highly nutrient dense food because of the proportion of protein, fat, mineral, and fatty acids to its caloric value. Comparisons to other meat sources have also shown that Bison has a greater concentration of iron as well as some of the essential fatty acids necessary for human well being. Readers' Digest magazine has even listed bison as one of the five foods women should eat because of the high iron content.

A healthy steak! Although you cannot deny the health(ier) benefits of bison, I don't think it calls for a nightly routine of Bison ribeyes.

I was fairly happy with my steaks and yes, I ate both of them. Even with out the red wine vinegar sauce, the steaks had a nice flavor. The NBA (the bison folk, not the basketball ones) have a long list of bison online retailers. Although with consumer demand having risen 17% in 2007, the odds of finding bison at a local grocery store is that much more of a possibility. The NBA (moo not swish) state that bison will always be a niche meat and will never replace cattle. Only 5% of Bison were processed by the FDA in 2007. Not too bad for an animal that was almost driven to extinction 130 years ago.