Buffalo Stance

When last we talked, I was in a meat substitution quandary. As you may recall, I'm writing a column on swapping meats in traditional recipes. I recently made Bison Bourguignon and had a decision to make: whether to consult a bison-specific recipe or use a beef one and substitute bison.

After receiving some expert advice from Canadian reader and bison ethusiast "Al," I went with Julia Child's beef recipe. While bison is leaner and prone to drying out, that wouldn't be a problem when cooking in liquids as in a bourguignon, he wrote.

Of course, it being a bit of a fancy pants recipe, it took a bit longer than I'd hoped. The Spoonstress made a heck of an herb bouquet, using cheesecloth we hadn't seen since making horchata. She said it looked like an herb diaper--I suppose we're not gourmands. Anyway, let's just say I was glad we didn't have guests over waiting until 10 to eat.

In the end, the dish was the savory salvation to a night's worth of waiting. I'm not sure the bison was an improvement over beef cubes, but it gave us an interesting topic of conversation during those hours of preperation. Plus, I now have a Canadian reader or two.

Buffalo What?

The die has been cast. The bison has been purchased. Tonight will mark two firsts: my first bourguigon and my first Bison Bourguignon.

After conjuring "lambalaya" recipes for days, I've decided to cap my Musical Meats column with some bison cubes. After all, it's the new red meat. Or perhaps this slogan: "Buffalo--don't feel guilty, there's plenty now."

It wasn't hard to find the meat. I had heard of someone getting buffalo burgers from Whole Foods, so I called their deli department. With some advance notice, they cubed some bison instead of grinding it. I enjoyed a few free orange slices and graham bear thingies and checked out, earning brownie points for not taking a plastic bag.

So what do we call this protein anyway, buffalo or bison? Apparently real buffalo are what you and I call water buffalo. Bison are what we've always called buffalo. So we'll just go with bison meat. At least that way there won't be any confusion with buffalo wings. There will be no blue cheese or celery involved.

Names aside, I face a harder question: Do I use Julia Child's beef bourguignon recipe and trade bison for beef? Or do I go with Bison Centre's "Bison Bourguignon" recipe (which I saw only after thinking up the idea. Honest.)? I'm leaning towards J.C. because I already bought the bacon and the Bison Centre is in Alberta, Canada. Then again, what the Albertans may lack in fine dining, they may make up for in buffalo, er, bison know-how.

Either way, wish me luck. I'm a bourginner.