The Oregon Trail, except with an Instant Pot

October 19, 2022 4:43 PM

What can I make for a potluck this weekend with all this bison?

My neighbours are food photographers and occasionally deliver us extreme bulk random leftover food from studio photoshoots and recipe shoots. Previous offerings have included 56 bags of Cheetos and Cheeto variants (likely from some kind of blind Cheeto taste test) and a Nebuchadnezzar of hummus. Today, though, they outdid themselves by kindly handing us a 4lb 12oz bone-in bison "hammer shank" and 1lb 8oz bison "sirloin cap" steak. Both fresh, never frozen.

I'm not a massive meat-eater and I don't really know what those cuts actually are. But it does so happen that I'm going to a potluck this Sunday and have signed up to bring something. So what could I make with either or both of these cuts of meat?

My kitchen equipment includes: two cast-iron pans, a shitty barbecue, a pizza stone, a convection oven that occasionally lies about how hot it is, and aforementioned Instant Pot. I have intermediate cooking skills and (most importantly) not very much free time. I'm anticipating 20 people.

Thank you :)

posted by rpophessagr to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

"Hammer" shank is like "lollipop" drumsticks or "tomahawk" (beef) steak: they trimmed part of the bone clean to resemble this or that thing. You have a bison shank, and I think I'd go straight to Osso Buco, which is well within the wheelhouse of the Instant pot. The problem is that a hammer shank is a whole, uncut shank bone, whereas the dish is usually prepared using basically shank steaks (the shank, wiht meat-on, cut into 1-2" disks). So the question is, do you or your neighbor have a hacksaw or access to a bandsaw? You need to at least trim off the bare bone, and could potentially cut the remainder into disks. Shank is hard bone, so if you chop, use an axe instead of a cleaver. If you can't cut the bone, braising in a deep pot should work; you'll just have the bone sticking out of the top of the pot.

Worst case, trim the meat and all the connective stuff off the bone, make osso buco; meanwhile roast the bone and see if you can get marrow out of it. You could try making broth with the bone for some other project, but the size of the thing will come into play. You could make a very big dog very happy, as well.

Sirloin cap is good for roasting or grilling, not so much wet-cooking like slow-cooker. Picanha, a Brazilian steak style, is perfect for this cut, but it's grilled. (Or roasted, which is just grilling upside-down, really.)
posted by Sunburnt at 5:01 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

My late much lamented co-worker Dennis used to make a chile that was made of small chunks of bison meat (not ground meat), which you could do in the instant pot. He used all kinds of meat cuts to do this. It was a bit more like a stew than what people think of as chile, and used green chiles, New Mexico style. This recipe is similar to what he did.
posted by gudrun at 5:11 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks so far--not to threadsit but I am looking for all recipes too, not just Instant Pot
posted by rpophessagr at 5:15 PM on October 19, 2022

The shanks can either be braised or roasted in the oven, either way, low and slow is the name of the game. You can use any recipe for whole beef shank and it should come out OK, though you may want to add a little extra fat as bison is very lean.

I agree with Sunburnt that it would be a waste to throw the sirloin cap in the Instant Pot. You can either slice it and cook as steaks or cook whole. I'd recommend searing in a cast iron pan and then tossing in a 450+ oven to come to internal temperature (which definitely should be at most medium-rare for bison). It wouldn't hurt to do a little basting with fat as you cook it, especially if the cut has some on the outside (start it in the hot pan with the fat side down to render it out before you move on to searing the meat sides). This might not be an ideal potluck dish because it should really be cooked and eaten in relatively short order.

I think if you have bison and you aren't eating it habitually, it makes sense to cook it very simply and let the flavour of the meat come through.
posted by ssg at 5:23 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I would make some sort of chili with some of the bison. I have no specific recipe for bison chili, but I'd be inclined to add a bit of extra fat as the bison is likely pretty lean.
posted by hydra77 at 5:23 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Chili was my first thought. But it would seem to be a waste of the sirloin to put that in chili. Save that for yourself, use the big bit for the chili.
posted by Windopaene at 6:34 PM on October 19, 2022

For the chili, if you have a favorite recipe, just use that. The only thing to do is to remember that bison is very lean and add ingredients appropriately.

If you don't want to go with something like osso bucco, but just eat something as a plain steak, you can also marinate the hell out of it for 24+ hours to let the marinade soften the meat up for you.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 7:18 PM on October 19, 2022

I'd go with liquid. Since it's fall, you could do a bison pot roast with some dark beer and red wine and parsnips and leeks and what not.
posted by credulous at 7:34 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Do the sirloin in a reverse sear. That means, cook low and slow in the oven until it reaches a little below desired doneness, then take out and sear all the sides in a hot pan for crispy goodness. For bison, since it’s lean, sear it in lots of fat like butter or avocado oil (or if you have beef fat for some reason). You can season your fat with hardy herbs like rosemary or thyme and garlic to make it extra scrumptious. Salt and pepper to taste. Also optionally, you can salt it generously the night before and stash it in your fridge overnight to slightly dry brine, then pat it dry before roasting. Either way, slice and serve with roasted vegetables and potatoes or on a big hearty salad with crispy greens.

I had to look up what a hammer shank is. Very flinstones. It looks like it has a ton of connective tissue, which will make it delicious but you have to cook it a whole lot to break them down. I’d probably go for a long slow braise in a lot of liquid. Maybe sear it first with spices like cumin, paprika, powdered garlic and onion, then braise with beer, orange and lime juices, and extra beef broth if needed to bring up the liquid level. You could braise until it’s falling off the bone, shred it, and serve with pickled onions and salsa and corn tortillas. A chili would also be good probably, but that’s a lot of meat processing before it’s cooked (I’d just stick the bone in there to cook with it and then take it out when it’s done, for flavor).

Bison really does have excellent flavor but a lot of people are turned off by it just because they are used to something else. However you bring it to the potluck, I’d suggest bringing a lot of garnishes/extras like sauce and veggies and a starch to help people enjoy the taste in combination with familiar things, instead of just plain bison. It is very lean and prone to being overdone especially when ground, so don’t be afraid to make a rich sauce with lots of fat.
posted by Mizu at 8:44 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I would use the shanks to make a bison bourguignon.
posted by saladin at 3:37 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

I had a great bison rendang once. If you have access to the various curry ingredients, it was delicious.
posted by lulu68 at 3:37 AM on October 20, 2022

I'd make a crossover of pot roast/ beef bourguignon. Red wine will enhance the strong meaty flavor. Agree that the sirloin would be a nice meal on its own, so I'd freeze it.

In a big pot, layer peeled, quartered white onions(2), meat, peeled carrots(5) sliced lengthwise and in half to make nice 3" - 4" inch pieces, scrubbed potatoes(5) cut in half. Add 1/2 cup red wine, burgundy is nice, nothing very sweet. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat, covered, for 3 hours or more. The onions will mostly fall apart, the carrots and potatoes will be tender. Sprigs of rosemary and/or thyme are a nice addition. Mushrooms would be a nice addition; their umami flavor would be good with bison. Salt and pepper to taste.

You could brown the meat 1st in 1 Tb olive oil, then pull it out and layer everything back in. The vegetables will release liquid for a nice broth; I don't thicken it, some people do. If it needs liquid, a bit of water can be added. The friend who taught me this recipe bakes it in a Dutch oven. I don't have an Instant Pot, but it should work fine. Long slow cooking will tenderize cartilage and release a lot of fat. The bone will have lots of good flavor left, I'd probably simmer it in water and make risotto with squash and/or mushrooms, onions, wine, parmesan.
posted by theora55 at 7:03 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

The shank has lots of connective tissue that has to be converted into gelatin. "Hammer shanks" are just shanks that have the bone exposed because it looks cool for presentation purposes, and there's no reason you have to keep it in there. Anyway, you can cook the shank more or less the same way you might cook a cut of beef that has lots of connective tissue, which is to say either low and slow or high and fast but not in-between. Hammer shanks seem most often to be smoked low and slow. But you could certainly roast low and slow in a very low oven. Otherwise you're gonna want to braise it low and slow, or in the alternative you can braise it by pressure cooking high and fast. Some of this will depend on whether you want a reduction sauce, roasted veg, Maillardization, and so on--all of which suggest traditional braising. On the other hand, I find the texture of so-called "stewing cuts" is better when pressure-cooked. A central challenge with something like bison is that it is very lean, which means that you have to be extra attentive to stopping the cooking at just the right time or it will end up dry. You cannot assume it will cook the same way an equivalent piece of beef would cook, because beef has much more intramuscular fat. I've had things like chili made with bison, venison, moose, etc. and it has universally been dry even with all the other wet ingredients, so govern yourself accordingly. Alternatively, you could get some spices, fatback and hog casing and make sausage out of it.

For the sirloin cap, you can cut into steaks and cook that way. But, again, you have to be mindful of the fact that there is little intramuscular fat. Anything more than the rare side of medium rare will be dry. If I were going to cook it as a steak or roast, I'd probably treat it like picanha by leaving the fat cap on, cutting it into three equal-sized strips, folding them into half-moon shapes, threading them on a skewer and grilling/broiling at very high heat so the fat cap and exterior gets charred and crisp while the interior stays pretty rare. Alternatively, you could cut it into cubes and use it to make something like goulash or stroganoff, understanding that you should cook the meat as lightly as possible an serve immediately.
posted by slkinsey at 8:00 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

big love for your post’s title
posted by BostonTerrier at 8:48 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I agree with Mizu's point that you shouldn't hesitate to add a little more fat to whatever you do. Bison is very lean. In my limited experience, its flavor is nicely complemented by that of bacon.

Also, TIL that a "bison" emoji exists:🦬
posted by Dr. Wu at 10:11 AM on October 20, 2022 [3 favorites]