Wiltshire food producers - Bush Farm Bison Centre

Local food producers are my heroes. It takes a lot of effort and determination to get a product out into the market when all the big corporations are swamping us with their cheap deals and special offers. (A short rant which is now over).
I recently paid a visit to Bush Farm Bison centre in Wiltshire (http://www.bisonfarm.co.uk/index.htm) where I met the very friendly and informative Colin Seaford and his wife Pepe. Colin has had an interest in Bison since a young age and now has over 74 on his secluded farm that is open to the public in the summer months. They also have elk, red deer and prairie dogs!

One of Colin's impressive Bison

Bison are big, big and fast. They are built more like a horse than cattle and on a sprint start they can out run a  horse. All the Bison were in from the fields kept in yards sorted by age, I was a little bit nervous when Colin suggested we go into one of the yards to get a better look. We toured round 3 different yards the last one containing the biggest Bison (not that my back catalogue of Bison is that big - my dad and I crept quite close to one to get a picture in Yellowstone Park in the US). He was massive towering over the rest of the Bison and apparently weighed in at over a ton. 'He's alright' said Colin 'but I wouldn't trust him. She's a nice Bison I can get quite close to her' pointing out a rather impressive female, 'That one however, I would trust her at all, she once chased me on my quad bike out of a field. She was gaining so much ground on me that when I got to the gate I had to jump off the bike straight over it!' Bison aren't for milking then? 'Why would you want to get near an armed animal?' Wise words indeed.

The one not to trust!

One thing Colin was adamant about is that Bison meat does not fall under the 'exotic meats' category. Bison once roamed all over Europe and when Britain became an island they were hunted to extinction. The meat itself has a sweeter flavour than beef, it's not gamey or wild tasting. Bison carry very little fat and the meat has no marbling unlike beef or lamb, it is very high in protein and lower in fat, cholesterol and calories than most other meats. With less than 50 calories per ounce Bison meat has been used by several weight loss programmes.

I came away with two sirloin steaks and really wanted to do them justice and rather than have steak and chips. So after racking my brain I came up with a dish that would compliment the Bison.  

Sirloin of Bison

The Bison meat doesn't take much cooking and we had ours rare. I served it on sweet potato mash with wilted spinach, caramelized baby beetroot, oven roasted baby carrots, parsnip crisps and a red wine and redcurrant jus. It was without doubt one of the tastiest steaks I've ever had (on par with kangaroo fillet) and now I'm a big fan. I would definitely recommend a trip to Bush Farm Bison centre and whilst you're there get some meat. All purchases come with a leaflet with Bison cooking tips and some information about the animals, their sirloin is so good that it won the Guild of fine foods three star award in 2011 and 2012. Just don't get too close to the Bison!

Steak night!

Steak night in our house is my favourite night, and pretty much whenever we eat out I'll order steak. You can always tell how good a chef is by how well their steak is cooked (I don't mean well done!). Everyone has their favourite cut of steak, mine is rib-eye. Here's a quick guide to the different cuts of steaks:

Fillet: The prime cut of steak and the most expensive! Slightly over rated in my opinion. It has very little fat and is very tender, used in dishes like Beef Wellington and for the cuts known as Tournedos and the famous Chateaubriand.

Rib eye (or Scotch fillet to my antipodien friends) : My favourite cut of steak, it rivals the rump steak for flavour. The 'eye' of fat in the steak helps to maximise the flavour when cooking.

Sirloin: Spoiler alert!....It was never knighted by an English king! Not the most tender of steaks but it still packs a punch in terms of flavour. A whole strip loin is also great for roasting.

T-bone: For some the T-bone steak is the best of the lot (especially dogs and cats in cartoons!). It has on the one side of the T bone some fillet steak and on the other some sirloin. Cooking food on the bone in my view always enhances the flavour.

Rump steak: The unsung hero of steaks due to it's great flavour and being the least expensive cut. It needs to be cooked quickly as it can become quite tough.

Beef needs to be 'hung' on the bone for at least 28 days good quality butchers would have hung their meat for this long. Most super markets hang theirs for 18 to 21 days. The hanging process really helps to let the flavour of the meat mature gaining greater flavour as it does so. An easy way of seeing how long the meat has been hung is to look at the colour. It the steak is a light red then it hasn't been hung very long. If it's dark red then it has! When buying a steak you want to get one that has a light marbling of fat through it (little specks of fat) this really helps to enhance the flavour during the cooking process.    

Cooking process
Steaks are best cooked at room temperature, if they're cooked when they are cold the proteins in the meat tense up causing the steak to become tough. Take the steak out of the fridge a few hours before cooking to get it to room temperature. Just before you are about to cook the steak brush it with olive oil and season well. Get your griddle or frying pan very hot and begin cooking the steak to your liking, here's some timings to get your steak to how you like it (for a steak that's about 2cm thick) :

Blue: 1 minute each side
Rare: 1 1/2 minutes each side
Medium rare: 2 1/4 minutes each side
Medium-well done: 2 1/2 - 3 minutes each side

When you steak is cooked to how you like it it is important to let it rest for at least 3 minutes to let the juices that have been drawn to the surface to relax back into the meat. I like to serve my steaks with at least one type of veg and homemade game chips-super skinny ones. I also like to top it with a baked field mushroom filled with Stilton, but that's up to you!

8oz Rib Eye steak, with garlic green beans, game chips and Stilton stuffed mushroom.