Bison is not a traditional cut of meat for osso buco, but then again, this is not a traditional osso buco recipe. The concept is the same, though: Sear the meat, salt it, add it to a sauce and slow-cook in a slow-cooker or Instant Pot it until it’s falling apart.
Why bison?
I ran into some cuts of bison osso buco at one of my favourite Atwater Market butcher shops last month. I’d never seen them before and they’re not nearly as expensive as the roasts or steaks, so I grabbed them and started dreaming of bone marrow.
Then I used a slow-cooker recipe for chili colorado (you can also just set your Instant Pot to cook for 3 hours, and you only need one pot!). And if you’re thinking “Chili and osso buco?” Don’t worry. This sauce is far from a traditional bean chili. It’s mostly cubed meat with soaked then blended dried New Mexican chili peppers with a broth base. So the sauce ends up thick and smoky with nary a bean in sight. Serve it with mashed potatoes and you’ll feel like Italy and Colorado fell in love.
A little bit spicy, a little leaner than lamb, a meatier flavour than veal (the traditional osso buco meat) and so, so comforting for the end of a long winter.
If you can’t find bison osso buco, use any other cut of meat where the bone marrow is exposed. Veal is the obvious one, but you can also do this with lamb shank, beef or other bone-in wild game (elk, deer, etc.).
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