The other day, I went to Kinder’s Custom Meats (in Martinez, California) and picked up some buffalo steaks. Behind the counter, a cute blonde covered in blood took our order, disappeared for a minute in the freezer, and returned with a package of buffalo steaks. I’ve always found it sexy to see a good-looking woman in a typically man’s profession, so bonus points to her for wearing an apron with blood on it.
Kinder’s has a delicious bottled marinade that we used to marinade the meat. They keep the buffalo meat frozen, so we picked up a bottle of their marinade, tossed some in a plastic freezer bag, shook it up, and thawed out the meat.
I boiled some potatoes with garlic, black pepper, and thyme, then mashed them up with melted butter and milk. The gravy I just made with chicken bullion cubes and flour.
For the salad, picked up some organic mixed greens. I tossed it with extra virgin olive oil, about a tablespoon of sweet and sour sauce, some shredded Mexican cheese, and golden raisins.
When the meat thawed out, my landlord threw the steaks on the grill and took them off medium rare. You’re not supposed to overcook buffalo.
The flavor - not gamey at all. You’d be surprised. The thing is it’s less marbled than steak, which will disappoint a lot of steak lovers, but won’t take years off your life. It’s not tough at all though. The taste of the meat itself I think is better than beef, you just have less marbling.
The price is a major downside though - almost $17 a pound for ribeye buffalo steaks. Junior missed out for he stayed the night at his friend’s house, but both Mrs. Z and my landlord enjoyed their steaks. It’s something we’d do a lot more often if it weren’t for the price. When I get rich, I’ll eat more buffalo, but I’m not quite there yet.
If any of you try it, definitely let me know. Like I said in that earlier post, it’s much more healthy than beef and as long as ranchers continue to hunt it with rifles instead of herding it like cattle, buffalo meat will not only stay that way but be much better for the environment.
You don’t need pesticides with buffalo and their hoofs are good for the soil, encouraging native grass growth. I’d love to see buffalo back on the plains without barbed wire fences everywhere. We’d see a huge decline in obesity in this country as well as have cleaner rivers and less birth defects. But that’s yet another post. As for now, I just wanted to say buffalo steaks taste just as good, or if not better, than beef steaks. They’re just expensive.
