So the water buffalo is back from the butcher. It was aged for about a week, then processed into the usual parts and cuts that you’d get out of wild game processing: roasts, ham steaks, backstraps, stew meat, hamburger, link/smoked sausage, breakfast sausage, ribs. Stuff like that.

Since water buffalo is close to beef, we figured to go with beef-based recipes.

First thing we did was a roast. Took a 3# bone-in roast and put it into the crock pot for about 8 hours (on low). The recipe was a basic beef style recipe, with carrots and potatoes and the like. Wife has the full recipe written down, not available to me at the time of this writing. It turned out great. Very tender, flavorful. Quite nice.

Second thing was pan sausage. I had the butcher make some breakfast/pan sausage. So it was 50% ground up water buffalo with 50% pork, then the butcher’s spice blend. Even with the added pork (thus fat), it cooked up very lean… little fat in the pan, but since we cooked it on a non-stick surface there was no need to add any fat/oil to keep it from sticking. Tasted very good. Oddly, the kids didn’t like it as much, seemed to be the smoother texture vs. the feral hog pan sausage we get. Personally, I liked the flavor a lot more than the hog sausage, and so did Wife.

Third thing we did was backstraps. The backstraps on this guy were huge, so all they were done for processing was to just clean them up and cut them into a manageable sized piece… probably a pound in weight, certainly not more than two pounds, and probably about 2 inches thick at the thickest part. I let them marinate in Stubb’s Beef Marinade for about 24 hours. I like that marinade because it’s got a good spice, a little heat, soy sauce based, very delicious. I put them on the grill. Now the trouble is my Weber grill is dying so I can’t do much for heat control *sigh* and have to do it via amount of coals. I put charcoal in both side baskets and let it burn down. Temperature was probably 400º… a little too hot, but I couldn’t do much about it. Threw a few small chunks of mesquite wood on the coals as well. Let it sit for about 90 minutes, temperature eventually dropped to 325º or so. Internal temperature on the meat got to about 150º, which is “medium”.  Took it off, let it sit for about 15 minutes, then slice it against the grain. The flavor was good, certainly a “medium” meat. The marinade didn’t do much; we thought it would have seeped deeper, but I guess the meat is too tight. Certainly the meat didn’t dry out, even after 90 minutes… hopefully that marinade helped in that regard. The meat tho was kinda tough… it’s that “chew” that I was talking about. Still, it was good enough to eat and fill your belly.

“Low and slow” has to be the way. The crock pot was low and slow, worked out great. The BBQ wasn’t low and slow (tho slicing against the grain is a must). I figure next time maybe 250º-ish, 6-8 hours. Certainly tho the meat will have to be wrapped in foil. My thinking is a good dry rub for 24 hours. Put it in foil but leave the foil a little open the first hour. After the first hour, baste in something like apple cider vinegar with some sliced white onion and other spices if desired. Then close up the foil… gotta keep in the moisture. Try to not poke at it too much, but ensure moisture stays in the foil. Keep it low and slow for 6-8 hours. Will it work? Don’t know, but it’s certainly the next way to go.

Anyway, it does taste good. The kids certainly love it. The leanness is awesome, but given the different muscle fibers and grain it’s certainly needing some experimentation for how to cook it.