Raw Bison

[meatbeater]

I just got 2 LBs of grass fed Bison. This will be my first attempt at eating raw meat.   Do you usually add some sort of flavor or just munch on it. I was thinking about adding it to a salad. Or should I eat it by it's self ?

Any help to make this successful would be appreciated.  thanks

[TylerDurden]

Newbies might want to add a raw egg yolk to their raw meat or add some pepper or some other raw condiment. Long-termers mostly just eat the raw meats on their own.

[edmon171]

Try cutting thin slices like its a very rare roast beef or thicker slices like sashimi then eat it with your hands or some chopsticks. Or just eat it whole with your hands and tear pieces with your teeth like an animal would. Putting it into an appropriate form for raw food really helps your brain get over the squeamishness. There is just something about putting a fork and knife to raw meat that still makes me uncomfortable. I think its from all those scary movies like hannibal or hostel where they are eating human flesh with a fork and knife. I don't know what to tell you about salad, I've never eaten one. Maybe fine chop some herbs and use like a garnish if you want to be fancy about it.

[meatbeater]

Done. First raw meat meal down the hatch.  Last night I made little meat balls , nothing added just raw meat.  I took them to work with me this morninng and sat on the side of the road and ate them.  I ate about a third of a pound. Not bad as I thought.  If this keeps up I will take hunting season a lot more serious. Good meat is pricey.

[meatbeater]

Finished my two pounds of raw bison ground in 4 days. So 1/2lb a day.  At that rate I needed to find a less expensive meat. They  got me for 10 bucks a pound. That would brake my bank.   

So today i hit the super market and found some grass fed beef from Australia for 5.99 a pound. 

Raw meat is not gross like i thought it would be. At first a little but by the third day I was stuffing my face no problem.

[edmon171]

When you start to expand your pallete, raw fat is an excellent deal and makes for a more balanced diet if you have it half and half with the lean. You can get it for dirt cheap, for sure under $3 a lb. Sometimes even free if you're cool with the butcher and he doesn't take it home for his dogs or something. Its a shame how much of this gets thrown away after it is trimmed from the lean cuts. I would recommend the grass fed beef over the bison, unless the bison is grass fed. I used to assume bison was all grass fed because its so lean, but it turns out they can be fed grains just like the cows.

[eveheart]

I used to assume bison was all grass fed because its so lean, but it turns out they can be fed grains just like the cows.

I was surprised to find grain-finished bison, too. If it doesn't say 100% grass fed, it pays to ask. Bison is always pastured because the animals die quickly on feedlots, but some ranchers make grains and other feed available right out on the pasture to fatten their stock.

As far as cost, "specialty food" bison often has a higher price than grass fed beef. You can also save by finding a butcher who will sell you large, untrimmed roasts.

I eat meat unseasoned. I learned to enjoy chewing raw meat, and I think that chewing is an important part of the digestive process. I eat a lot of backfat and bone marrow, and other organ meats - I can get them by mail order.


It didn't take long for me to mentally adjust to spending "real" prices for "real" food.

[meatbeater]

You are right about Bison being finished with grains.   Only about %5 of all the Buff in USA are %100 grain fed.

Do I ask a butcher for raw fat and bone marrow.  ?  I never saw it for sale any were. Or maybe I just never noticed cause I was raised on burgers and steak.   I am looking forward to hunting season this year.  I have read about marrow and how nutreint dense it is.  I have often looked at the marrow of an animal I downed and it does look tasty.  Only three months to hunting season. I think I will try to eat all the organs, meat and bone marrow of the next animal.

[jessica]

Yeh you can just ask for trimmed fat and ask if they can cut you some soup bones for marrow, femurs have a good amount of marrow in them.  where are you? you can try eatwild.com to see if there are any grass fed bison ranches listed near you. three months til hunting what?

[meatbeater]

Yeh you can just ask for trimmed fat and ask if they can cut you some soup bones for marrow, femurs have a good amount of marrow in them.  where are you? you can try eatwild.com to see if there are any grass fed bison ranches listed near you. three months til hunting what?

Archery elk start at the end of August.

[Projectile Vomit]

Where do you live where the elk archery season starts so early? I live in Vermont, and our deer archery season starts in early October, and moose is usually mid to late October.

[meatbeater]

Where do you live where the elk archery season starts so early? I live in Vermont, and our deer archery season starts in early October, and moose is usually mid to late October.

Colorado,  Archery usually starts last week in August.  Black powder mid Sept.  Then a rifle seasons in Oct. Nov. and some areas Dec. jan.

[jessica]

CO was going to be my guess, that's where I am from    Where are you in CO?

Elk is really delicious meat, I have only had it from this ranch:

http://www.highwireranch.com/

They also raise some mighty tasty bison.  I know you can go to their ranch to buy meat and they are also at the Telluride Farmers Market.

http://www.zranch.org/

 Zapata Ranch in the San Luis Valley is another option for bison, I am pretty sure you can buy their meats at "Vitamin Cottage".

Getting a whole elk would be amazing?  Do you have a place to hang one, or pieces or one, for a while?