Thoughts on Cooking Bison

Karen Dunham • Nov 07, 2019

I have some thoughts on cooking bison that I wanted to share

It is usually said that bison should be cooked at a lower temperature and for less time than beef, but I’m not sure I completely agree. Although bison steaks should be cooked low, slow, and for less time than beef, it has not been my experience that other cuts of bison work that way. Braising cuts are more my speciality than grilling cuts. You’d actually be horrified if you knew how many high end, super expensive steaks I have ruined….not kidding. Ironic isn’t it? A meat purveyor who can’t cook steaks? UGH!! I recently purchased a digital meat thermometer and I’m hoping that helps break the curse. But back to my point - I find that for anything other than steaks, bison needs to cook for quite a bit longer than beef. There is a rubbery quality about bison when it is under cooked. I fear that more than one, first time bison-eater has been turned off by this quality, blaming it on the beast itself, when it is actually user error. It took me a long time to figure it out myself; I used to wonder why it sometimes had a chewy texture and sometimes it did not - definitely my problem, not the meat.


Because cooking time varies depending on the individual cut and its size, I can’t even give you specifics on how long it needs to cook. I know that in my Instant Pot, I cook bison stew meat for about 7-8 minutes longer than beef stew meat. Roasts sometimes need to cook for 10-20 minutes longer than beef in the Instant Pot. I can also tell you that when your bison is cooked to doneness, you will be rewarded by tender, falling apart, delectable morsels that will make you wish you had more. So - I’ll keep you posted on my thoughts about the steaks after I use my thermometer and stop ruining them. But, for any other cut, do yourself a favor and go a little more than the recipe calls for - then test it. It if isn’t amazing, then it isn’t done yet!



By Karen Dunham 03 May, 2024
Raw Honey is one truly amazing substance. We all know that it tastes fantastic, but did you know that it also provides a myriad of health benefits for us both internally and externally? First, let’s talk about what defines Raw Honey as opposed to conventional honey. Raw honey is not filtered, but instead is strained, often gravitationally, in order to remove bits of beeswax, bee parts, dead bees, and other impurities that are in the hives and honey frames. To be considered raw, honey isn't heat extracted from the hives or ever heated above the temperature that bees keep their hives (around 95-105 degrees) in order to strain or pour it. This careful process allows the honey to keep all of the beneficial nutrients that are naturally present in the hive, including pollen and propolis. According to Dr. Josh Axe, raw Honey is a “functional food” containing 22 amino acids, 27 minerals, 5000 enzymes, and at least 16 known antioxidants. Raw Honey is also anti-fungal, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. These properties make Raw Honey perfect for applying to wounds and killing infections as well taking internally for digestive and gut issues. Personally, we have used raw honey to heal a staph infection, and it also worked wonders for me when I had a case of food poisoning. This fabulous substance is full of phytonutrients, phytochemicals, and polyphenols that act as antioxidants, hunting down free radicals within the body, boosting our immune systems and unlocking neuroprotective functions that aid in brain performance. Raw Honey does all of the above, and it even tastes fantastic too! Isn’t that crazy? I mean, we all know how great liver is for you, but it definitely does NOT taste anything like honey. There are some other very interesting aspects about Raw Honey as well. For instance, Raw Honey never goes bad. It can freeze with no change in properties, and if you happen to stash a container in your storage room and find it years later (that'd be me!), it will still be perfectly fine - just hardened or crystallized. And speaking of crystallizing and hardening, honey does one or the other depending on the climate, water content, and conditions during the year in which it was made. Personally, I LOVE hardened honey, but most years, honey tends to crystallize rather than harden. Honey is harvested once a year, and so over the course of that year, it crystallizes (or hardens); some years it crystallizes quickly and other years more slowly. Our bee keeper says that honey is alive and can change in color and texture from year to year, even within the same hives that are in the exact location. It is a truly miraculous product. We LOVE our Raw Honey. We’ve never tasted anything like it. I never particularly liked honey, and I NEVER would have licked the honey spoon, until I tried the honey we sell at Glacier Grown. That super dark stuff that the grocery stores call honey is a far inferior product. I’ve even had some honeys that are called raw, but are pretty terrible. You don’t have to sacrifice taste for quality and nutritional benefit - you can have both!! If you haven’t tried our honey yet, do yourself a favor and give it a shot . We have some in stock now, from last fall’s harvest, but with the summer farm stand season starting in May, I’m expecting that we will sell it all prior to the 2024 honey being ready at the end of September. Running out of Glacier Grown Raw Honey is never a good thing.
By Karen Dunham 21 Jan, 2022
It's been a while since we've been in touch. The last 6 months have been a wild and woolly ride over at the Dunham household, but we've finally come up for air. We hope that you and yours enjoyed a lovely holiday season and that you have headed into the New Year full of hope and enthusiasm. Those of you who have been with us for years, undoubtedly, see a different group of people in the above photo than when we made deliveries to Southern California in the past. All of those previously little people have grown up - the baby started college this past year, and the oldest has a baby of his own. All in the blink of an eye. We wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you - we appreciate you and your continued support. It is a privilege to provide the very best 100% grass fed, grass finished, pasture raised, chemical-free, humanely raised meats that our northwest corner has to offer. If you are looking to stock your freezer for the next few months, before spring deliveries begin (we will start taking orders in March and deliveries will start in late May/early June), we still have some items remaining from the Fall Harvest ready to ship.
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