Cooking Bison: Do a Little Less

If you've cooked beef your whole life, most of what you know still applies. The real difference is fat. Bison is leaner than beef — that's part of why people seek it out — and lean meat cooks faster and dries out faster. So the one thing to keep in mind is to pull it sooner than you would beef.

Steaks

Get the pan or the grill hot, get a good sear, then go by temperature, not time. The National Bison Association puts medium-rare at 145°F and medium at 160°F, and recommends not taking a bison steak past medium. A bison steak can cook close to a third faster than beef, so pull it a little early and let it rest. Season it simply — salt, pepper, maybe a little butter at the end. Good meat doesn't need much.

Burgers

Ground bison cooks to 160°F, same as any ground meat. Because it's lean, keep the patties a little thicker, handle them as little as you can, and don't press them on the grill — that's where the juice goes.

Roasts

Low and steady. The Association suggests around 275°F, with 145°F for medium-rare and 160°F for medium. A thermometer does the work here.

The short version

Treat it like a lean, good piece of meat. Use some restraint with the heat, pull it sooner than beef, and let it rest. The point is to taste the meat, the grass, and the work that went into raising the animal right — which is the whole reason we do this.