Buffalo Patties

[tancowgirl2000]

Do you think cooking these either on the BBQ or in the fry pan makes a difference in its flavor? I pan fried some the other day and was really taken back by the wild taste...wasnt 'xpectin it....then DH BBQ'd some last night and there was minimal wild taste to them....was just wondering if it's the fat content that its cooked in or cooked off...I know buffalo has minimal fat too, but was wondering...anyone?

 

[Michael in FtW]

Do you think cooking these either on the BBQ or in the fry pan makes a difference in its flavor? I pan fried some the other day and was really taken back by the wild taste...wasnt 'xpectin it....then DH BBQ'd some last night and there was minimal wild taste to them....was just wondering if it's the fat content that its cooked in or cooked off...I know buffalo has minimal fat too, but was wondering...anyone?

Heck yes! Just like grilling a beef burger over the BBQ grill vs. pan frying one, or a BBQ chicken vs an oven roasted one.

Buffalo has a different flavor than beef (no, it doesn't taste like chicken) that I've always found to be a "similar" to grass fed beef but a little sweeter. But, I've never had any that tasted "wild" or "gamey".

 

[buckytom]

i think your assumptions about the fat may be correct tanis. i have had a similar experience. i buy buffalo from a place in telford, pa. thru a co-worker who lives next door to the ranch (so i am absolutely sure where the meat comes from, and how it is treated. go to hillsidefarms.biz to check it out). a few times, i have bought ground buffalo that tasted gamey and was particularly fatty. i pan fried it, and was surprised how much fat came out when cooking. normally it's so lean. a week or so later, i decided to finish off the buffalo when grilling one night, and noticed a distinctly different taste, less fatty and also gamey. the smokey taste might be hiding some of it i thought. but you may be on to something. people often talk about how much of the flavor of a piece of meat comes from the amount and distribution of fat, so maybe gaminess follows the same rules. any wild game hunters know about this?

 

[tancowgirl2000]

I know when dad hands over some off his hunt if the cut has a lot of fat left on it, ,I have to either trim what I can and then soak in soya sauce to get rid of the strongest gamey flavor...it's still there but not so strong.....Your right...we need a hunter to help us with this one!!!

 

[ronjohn55]

One of the leading causes of 'gamey' flavors comes from (sorry to be kinda gross this early in the morning) the animal not being properly 'Bled Out' after being killed and gutted.

Anyone who's ever been in Northern Michigan and seen the Buck Poles has seen the deer hanging by the head/antlers - that's just showing off. The guys who really know how to process them string them up by the back legs and slit the throat. You want to get as much blood as possible out of the meat. (That's why a deer that gets hit by a car doesn't process well - too many broken blood vessels letting the blood get into the meat).

John

 

[Raine]

John, that what I was thinking on Bucky's response. I know with dear, if it isn't processd right, it will be gamey tasting.

Then I have heard things like marinating it in buttermilk may help. Never tried that, but then again have never had any gamey tasting deer.

 

[Lugaru]

One of the leading causes of 'gamey' flavors comes from (sorry to be kinda gross this early in the morning) the animal not being properly 'Bled Out' after being killed and gutted.

John

Totally true. Hmm... I think grilling might be your best option in this case as it will have most of the fat and so on drain out into the charcoil besides giving it a smokey flavor that masks most of the unwanted taste.

 

[Brooksy]

The flavour of meat is also governed by the animal's diet. We were spoilt for quite a while, selecting our meat "on the hoof". Our choices were all Murray Greys, but we had the choice of grain fed, natural pasture fed and lucerne fed. Each group was distinct in it's flavour, natural pasture was the strongest flavour, grain fed was the sweetest and lucerne fed was mid range.

We were also very fussy how our choices were handled and slaughtered because ALL bruised meat had to be cut out as a health risk so we were always very carefully how we handled the beasts, even to the point of isolating them 7 days before slaughter to ensure they were blemish free for maximum meat harvest.

We also used to hunt & kill wild pigs and even though the animals were properly blooded immediately after the kill, they still retained their gamey flavour. At one stage these were quite profitable if entrails were properly removed & offal left in situ we had an exporter locally & for big stuff upto $6/kg carcass wgt.

 

[jpmcgrew]

I live in northern new mexico in the high desert and have
access to quite a bit of bison that some of the hunters here dont want and it has always been really good.I hate any gaminess in meat but have never had this problem with buffalo so I dont know why it should be so gamey unless they didnt gut, skin and cool it down fast enough.
When I work in Texas where they hunt alot of white tail deer they feed them with feeders with grain,millet etc and the meat is great but once we got a really gamey batch which again I believe was not gutted quick enough.Its amazing how many so called hunters wont gut their own deer Ive even seen them driving down the interstate with a deer that is not field dressed just to take them to the proccesser and have them do it.A serious NO NO.
Also I have never heard of bison having much fat it is a really lowfat meat usually the proccessor adds some pork fat to the ground meat with the % of fat that you want if you should want it at all.If I decide to fry in a pan some bison burgers I use some olive or canola to add the needed fat to make them juicy. Some how the meat just absorbs it.

 

[Brooksy]

JPM:
Many people forget to cut out the deer's scent glands aswell which will give the meat an awful flavour, same as the old bunny.