daily burger, number twenty-five.

Bacon Buffalo Burger. Avocado sauce and tomato.

What more could you want??

My kitchen, DTLA, 12:24PM, May 25, 2009.

my kind of holiday- national hamburger month

Did you know that May is National Hamburger Month?! I figured that sounded like a holiday worth celebrating, so, I'm going to try to eat a hamburger a day for the month of May. Well, I am going to try to eat a ground meat patty with lettuce and tomato every day! I don't think I can stick to an all-beef regimen. Hopefully, this will teach me to perfect my burger-making just in time for the summer.

We started last night with mini prime cheeseburgers at Morton's happy hour, my biggest craving of the moment. They was excellent as usual, complete with tiny lettuce medallions. Presentation is definitely key there.

And this morning, I made my first burger. (Yes, a burger for breakfast. Yes, I'm super hardcore.)

Ground buffalo burger with onions, cilantro, tomato juice, and cayenne pepper, pan-fried with a touch of olive oil. (Buffalo is super lean, so I didn't want it to burn before it cooked to a nice medium-rare.)

My kitchen, DTLA, CA., 7:25am, May 2, 2009.

Yum! It was super tasty, with just the right amount of kick. Let's see if I can make it through the month.

first rib feast of the season!

My persistent insomnia sent me to Whole Foods early this morning (did you know that they open at 7am every day?). Whole Foods is usually my happy place but today, there were high and low points. I found out from a butcher-man that my favorite 365-brand turkey bacon is officially discontinued. I am very sad, as that is my main weekday lunch staple. Alas, I did find something quite fun... Buffalo ribs! On sale, even.


I would like to say that we followed the fabulous Alton Brown rib recipe, but again, we were lazy and hungry and opted to boil them for a few minutes and then toss them on our grill pan with some zippy barbeque sauce I whipped up. Pretty good! I'm sure they would have benefited from a bit more effort on our part, but they did the trick for today. The buffalo was pretty tasty -- impressively large ribs and very lean, but I think we'll try pork next. By the end of the summer, we hope to have them perfected.

farmers' market finds

yesterday, we visited the santa monica farmers' market to check out the fresh-from-the-farm meats. we arrived right before closing time so things were winding down, but i did get the chance to briefly talk to a couple of the meat-vendors.

the first vendor we came across was a farmer for rocky canyon. he had a pretty wide selection of grass-fed beef and humanely raised pork, along with fresh eggs, homemade sausages, juice, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, apples, eggplant, onions, melons, tomatoes, and cucumbers (in season, of course).

my excitement came from kathy lindner of lindner bison. she is incredibly warm and helpful; you could tell she really had a passion for bringing her customers top-notch, tasty products. their story is great-- kathy tried bison meat and loved it so much that her and her husband decided they had to leave their jobs and dedicate their lives to raising bison! their backgrounds helped out of course, him having a lifelong passions for farming and her being a descendant of margaret carlston, the "cattle queen of montana," but now they commute between their southern california home (and farmers' markets!) and the ranch in northern california. how inspiring! i'd like a 20-lb. assortment please, with bison tenderloin, some burgers, meaty soup bones, and jerky... and toss in a few bones for the pooch, please!

here's a picture from their ranch--

also, i learned a new buffalo (or should i say "bison bison") fact from their website:

"Is bison the same as buffalo? It should be. When America's pioneers saw bison for the very first time, they had no name for it. Because it looked similar to a European animal called "buffalo", that's the original term that stuck. For years the word "buffalo" has been used interchangeably with the species name, "bison bison". But when it comes to food labeling, it's another story.As it turns out, labeling laws are so loose in our country, if we were to label our meat "buffalo" we could be selling water buffalo, cape buffalo or North American buffalo. Even if it were North American buffalo, we legally can add up to 49% beef to the ground meat product, still call it buffalo, and not tell you. It's all perfectly legal. Because of this, Lindner Bison from the beginning decided to label our meat by the species name (bison bison). That way, our customers will never have to wonder what they are actually getting from us."

this week's cut:

buffalo! or american bison, if you prefer.

(image source: www.sackschool.ca - possibly a school project?)

what a great little image! not only can american bison be used for tasty and healthy meats, but also for clothing and accessories? something to think about, you fashionistas out there! look for it in the 2010 collections...

i only recently discovered the wonders of buffalo meat. my parents have long been telling stories of the traveler's club international restaurant and tuba museum in okemos, michigan - and they finally were able to take my husband and i there last summer. they have a very impressive and informative menu and as well as having quite a tuba collection and artisan beer selection, are huge buffalo advocates. their menu told me that buffalo meat has many wonderful qualities:

-40% more protein than beef

-lower in fat and calories than beef-- and than chicken, pork, and salmon-- and actually lowers cholesterol

-much less likely to contain all of those pesky hormones and more likely to be free range

and my favorite, and what got me started on eating it--

-buffalo is the only red meat that is non-allergenic!

(stats from www.americangourmet.net)

maybe next week, i will explore the strange world of the beefalo.