Alternative Protein

May 20, 2007

One of the advantages of Blacksburg I didn’t appreciate before I got here was how far buffalo had penetrated the local food market. I’ve cornered friends and relatives many times and extolled the virtues of buffalo, often more than once to the same person, boring them to tears.

(For the uninitiated: bison require far less land and, being mean critters, far less protection from wild canine predators. The meat is also much more lean and, in my opinion, far tastier.)

The Brush Creek Buffalo Farm is nearby, and several restaurants (Bogen’s and Rivermill are good examples) offer buffalo meat. And the local Krogers was well-stocked with ground buffalo from another farm whose name escapes me at the moment. But the price was just as good as other free-range ground beef, so we bought some today and made black-bean nachos with it. Fantastic.

Here’s what you do. Get your large 12″ iron skillet and brown a pound of ground buffalo with a little bit of olive oil. Since buffalo meat is so lean, you’ll need to add the olive oil to keep the meat from sticking. Once it’s browned, remove it from the skillet and set aside. (I’d say “drain,” but there’s precious little to drain.)

Back in the skillet, sauté a clove or two of garlic (minced) and a half onion (chopped) until tender. This will be a few minutes after someone sticks their nose in the kitchen and says “what are you doing? That smells great!”

Over medium heat, add a medium jar of salsa (we use Pace) and one or two cans of black beans (drained first). When the beans get hot, smoosh them around a lot with a potato masher. Now you have a reasonable facsimile of refried black beans. Add the buffalo and let it get hot. Keep moving it around or the buffalo will stick.

Then serve with tortilla chips and melted cheese.

We’ve made this same basic recipe many times with beef and refried pinto beans, and it’s good. But with the buffalo meat and black beans it’s hard to keep from gorging yourself. Enjoy.

Posted in Diary