Tangy Buffalo (Bison) Meatloaf

American Entree

TANGY BUFFALO (BISON) MEATLOAF

INGREDIENTS

1/2 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup grated carrots
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds ground buffalo (bison) meat
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons parsley
2 tablespoons steak sauce
1/2 teaspoon Meat MagicTM spice
1 cup bread crumbs

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mince onion, garlic, and carrots. Add this to olive oil and saute on medium heat until soft or about 6 minutes.

Combine onion/garlic/carrot mix, buffalo (bison) meat, eggs, parsley, steak sauce, meat spice, and bread crumbs in baking dish. Mix this thoroughly. Sorry, you really need to use your hands to do a good job here.

Spray cooking dish with no-stick cooking spray. Transfer the meat mass to this dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-to-60 minutes (The shape and size of your baking dish can make cooking times vary greatly.) Let meatloaf cool for 5 – 10 minutes.

Baking is always a bit scary, particularly when cooking a dish for the first time. What will it taste like? Once you put that dish into the oven there is nothing you can do to change the taste.

TIDBITS

1) I didn’t like meatloaf as a kid. My attitude changed when I could decide what went into it.

2) The musician Meatloaf was in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Nearly all links found by GoogleTM about “meatloaf” refer to him.

3) What Americans call “buffalo” is more properly referred to as “American bison” by zoologists. The heck with them, all Americans except for maybe two, call them buffalo. This beast is our critter. We’re calling it “buffalo.” So there.

4) There used to be up to 60,000,000 buffalo in America. Nowadays, only 200,000 exist.

5) Hunters during the 19th century used to kill buffalo only for their hides and tongues. Millions upon millions of buffalo meatloaves were wasted.

6) Although it’s doubtful that Native Americans ever made buffalo meatloaf before the arrival of settlers, they used much more of the critter, making buffalo jerky, for instance.

7) I am also grateful to the Native Americans for corn. Without corn, there would be no popcorn.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.