Basic Cooking: Bison Steaks

A Note from Jill: The ingredients of Wild Idea Buffalo Meat are simple: fresh water, native grass and sunshine, producing a naturally delicious, healthy, and sustainable red meat. Wild Idea bison steaks are tender, with a rich, slightly sweet taste and are very user friendly. Because Wild Idea buffalo steaks are naturally lean, we recommend that you cook them no more than medium. Below, I’ve broken the cooking instructions down per cut, and have offered grilling and searing instructions, along with temperature guidelines.

Bison Tenderloin Tips: A great product for easy gourmet meals!

• Rinse the meat in a colander and pat dry.
• Toss the bison tips with olive oil, salt, pepper and other seasonings if desired.
• To Sauté: In heavy, lightly oiled sauté pan, over medium high to high heat, sauté in two batches to brown and cook the meat, about 3 minutes. *If you are adding the tenderloin tips to a sauce, sauté as above and add to the heated sauce right before serving, to avoid overcooking the bison tenderloin tips. OR  To Grill: Season the bison tips as above and thread them onto a skewer. Grill over high heat with the grill lid closed, turning three times, or - as needed for your desired temperature. About 3 minutes for medium rare.
• Remove the tenderloin tips from the heat source, and transfer the seared bison tips to a platter. Cover the meat and allow it to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Premium Steak Strips: Our steak strips come from the New York, Ribeye and Top Sirloin. These pre-cut strips are tender, easy to use, and delicious! Try them in salads, stir-fries or fajita’s, just to name a few.

• Rinse the bison steak strips in a colander and pat dry.
• Toss the bison meat with olive oil, salt, pepper and other seasonings if desired.
• To Sauté: In heavy, lightly oiled sauté pan, over medium high to high heat, sauté in two batches to brown and to cook the meat, about 3 minutes. *If you are adding the steak strips to a sauce, sauté as above and add to the heated sauce right before serving, to avoid overcooking the bison steak strips. OR      To Grill: Season the bison meat as above and thread them onto a skewer. Grill over high heat with the grill lid closed, turning two to three times, or as needed for your desired temperature outcome. About 3 minutes for medium rare.
• Remove the bison steak strips from the heat source, and transfer the seared bison tips to a platter. Cover the meat and allow it to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Tenderloin, Ribeye, New York, Top Sirloin, Terres Major Filet, Bone-In Ribeye, Hanger Steak, T-Bone and Porterhouse: Wild Idea’s 100% grass-fed/grass-finished premium bison steak cuts are tender and flavorful, and take minimal preparation.

• For basic grilling or pan-searing, rinse the bison steaks under cold water and pat them dry.
• Rub the bison steaks with olive oil, salt, and pepper, or seasonings of your choice. Loosely cover the steaks, and allow the steaks to rest at room temperature for two hours before cooking. 
• Grill, or pan sear, following the cooking guidelines offered below, and base the time on the thickness of the cut, using the cooking time table below as a guide. 
• Remove the cooked bison steaks from your heat source, cover and allow to rest at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving.

Sirloin, Eye of Chuck Filet, Round Heel Steak, and Flat Iron Steak: These great-tasting cuts are some of my favorites, but do require a little extra care to achieve maximum tenderness.

• Rinse the bison steaks and pat dry. Using a fine tined fork, pierce both sides of steak, holding the fork at an angle.
• Rub with a simple marinade of: olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper, or use a favorite marinade of your choice. Allow the steaks to marinade for 4 to 12 hours.
• Rest at room temperature for 2 hours before cooking.
• Remove steaks from the marinade and shake off the excess marinade.
• Grill, or pan sear, following cooking times based on the thickness of the cut.
• Remove the cooked bison steaks from the heat source, cover and rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Flank Steak and Skirt Steak: These bison steak cuts have great taste, and if you take the time to marinade, they will be tender as well.  Enjoy these cuts as a steak, or slice thin, against the grain and use in carne asada, fajitas, stir fry’s, salads or sandwiches.

• Rinse the bison steak and pat dry. Using a fine tined fork, pierce both sides of steak, holding the fork at an angle.
• Rub with a favorite marinade of your choice. Here is a link to my favorite marinade. Allow the steaks to marinade for 4 to 24 hours.
• Remove the steaks from the refrigerator and allow them to rest at room temperature for 2 hours before cooking.
• Shake off any of the excess marinade and grill or sear following the cooking & temperature guidelines below. NOTE: For the Skirt Steak, you will only need to grill or sear, for about a minute per side.
• Remove the cooked bison steaks from the heat source, cover and rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Gas Grilling General Instructions:

1. Ensure the grill grate is clean.
2. Preheat the grill to high heat, 500° and close the lid.
3. Brush the grill grate with oil.
4. Place prepared steaks on the grill, close grill lid during grilling and follow cooking times below.
5. Remove the steak from the grill, place on a plate, cover with foil and let the steak rest for 5 minutes before carving or serving.

Char Grilling General Instructions:

1. Ensure the grill grate is clean.
2. Pile coals high in the center, light and allow the coals to become white, for best heat.
3. Using tongs spread coals around evenly.
4. Oil grill grate and place low and close to the coals.
5. Place prepared bison steaks on the grill, close grill lid during grilling, and follow the cooking time guidelines below.
6. Remove the grilled bison steaks from the grill, place on plate and rest for 5 minutes before carving or serving.

Pan Searing:

1. Heat seasoned (rubbed with oil) cast iron skillet over medium high heat and allow the pan to become very hot.
2. Place your prepared buffalo steaks in the hot pan, snugging the side of the steak to the side of the pan, and follow cooking time guidelines below.
3. Remove the steak from pan, place on plate, cover with foil, and let steak rest for 5 minutes before carving or serving. 

Steak Cooking Times:

1. The length of the cooking time depends on the thickness of the steak. Turn the steaks after 1½ minutes and repeat until cooking time/desired doneness is achieved.
2. *1/2” thick or for 5 & 6 oz. sized steaks: 2 minutes each side for medium rare.
3. *1” thick: 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second side for medium rare. 
4. *1½” thick: 4 minutes for the first side and 3 minutes on the second side for medium rare.
5. *For thicker cuts: Increase cooking time by 1 minute per half inch per side for medium rare.

Temperature Guide - Internal temperatures of meat, before resting:

Rare – 125 degrees / Medium Rare – 135 degrees / Medium – 145 degrees.

Other Cooking Tips

Resting and Freezing:

1. If you have the time, this little trick does make for a plumper, slightly juicier steak. After resting the steaks for two hours prior to cooking them, uncover the steak and place the steak in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes, based on the size of the steak, before grilling. This allows the steaks outside and inside to cook at a more even rate. Follow the cooking and temperature guidelines based on the size of the steak. After cooking, cover the steaks and rest at room temperature for 5 minutes before serving.

You can find more steak specific recipes HERE!

And, you can stock up on all of your favorite Wild Idea 100% grass-fed/grass-finished and humanely field harvested steak cuts HERE!