Bison Bourguignon

OK folks, this is one of those recipes that’s a bit fancier and takes a bit of time to cook. It’s kind of a twist on the French dish called Beof Bourguignon in the fact that it’s not really a stew, but a red wine reduction. In fact…. It’s cooked down until the red wine is almost like a gravy. And there’s a whole lot of flavor going into this. Buckle up boys and break out a couple beers, this is going to take a while to do it right.

Ingredients list:

2 pounds of buffalo with the fat trimmed

5 medium onions peeled and sliced

3 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour

Big pin of marjoram and thyme

A whole 750ml bottle of red wine. Burgundy, Zinfandel, or Chianti

A whole 32 ounce carton of beef broth

1 cup of wild rice

1 bullion cube or equivalent for the rice

About 3/4 pounds of sliced mushrooms if you happen to be into eating fungus.

It all starts off with 2 pounds of fresh bison (buffalo). Normally I use venison meat instead because it really makes this dish pop. Bambi’s mom has some really good flavor and this sauce takes away any gamey taste that deer might have.

You want to cut the buffalo into bigger bite sized chunks.

Five medium sized onions are then peeled and sliced.

The Buffalo and onions are simmered in separate pans. You want to just carmalize the onions on low heat in a little olive oil.

Add the tablespoon and a half to the meat and stir it in.

Here’s the lengthy part of the recipe….. in the pan with the buffalo meat you want to put in about 1 cup of red wine, and about 1/2 of the beef broth and let it simmer. As time goes on and the liquids begin to evaporate out of the pan, you’re going to keep adding more red wine and more beef broth a little at a time until you have put the entire bottle of wine and the beef broth into the pan.

The ratio should be about 1/2 cup of broth to 1 cup of wine. Ideally you want the liquids to almost cover the meat as it’s cooking down. Grab a beer and read a book or something, because this reduction is going to take about 3 hours. But don’t get so involved with watching the TV if you choose that you forget to keep an eye on the stove.

While this is cooking, you’ll want to start your wild rice. I use an InstantPot for this and the ratio is about 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water. You can add a bit of bullion to the rice for extra flavor.

All that’s on hand is the chicken flavored stuff, so the rice got a single spoonful.

How do you know when the wine reduction is done ? Well then 3 hours is an approximate time. You want to keep adding the red wine/broth combo until the last of the red wine goes in and the bottle is empty. You’re done adding liquids at that point. As the last of the red wine goes into the pan, you can add the onions to the meat. Now it’s fair to say that if you like mushrooms and want to add them, now is the time to put them in with the onions. I’m not a ‘shroom head and don’t care to add any fungus to my chow.

Once you have the onions and if you want them…. The mushrooms added…. Stir the entire pan well and make sure you mix everything together thoroughly. You’ll cook this another 45 minutes. At this point the sauce will be very thick and dark. It’s best to make this ahead of time and refrigerate it overnight. Yes, you can eat this as soon as it’s done cooking but for some reason it tastes better if allowed to sit in the fridge overnight so the flavors can blend together.

If you’re going to warm it up to serve, I like it on a bed of wild rice. If you think the sauce is too thick, you can always add a splash of broth and wine to thin it out. I can’t find the words to explain how great this tastes. It doesn’t get cooked here at home often, but it doesn’t last very long when it is.