WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — What are you having for dinner tonight? Maybe, for something different, you’d like to try the other white meat.
No, of course, we’re not suggesting that you sample traif pork.
But, perhaps, instead of your usual chicken or beef, you’d like to try a buffalo roast or maybe some buffalo chili.
Yes, that’s right — buffalo, also known as bison, the animal you may think of as roaming the Western plains, while cowboys sit around a campfire enjoying a cup of Joe.
Today, buffalo is making its way onto the plates and menus of homes and restaurants, both kosher and not.
The kosher buffalo processing plant is the brainchild of Ilan Parente, owner of Solomon’s Finest Glatt Kosher Meats in South Dakota.
His obsession with the animal began as a result of the Colorado University mascot — the bison. “Two of my brothers graduated from C.U. and we were watching a football game. I grabbed the binoculars and said, ‘I wonder if we can do that kosher,’ and that’s where the whole thing started.”
The buffalo are produced on large, free-range ranches in South Dakota and Minnesota, then brought to Parente’s plant in South Dakota for slaughtering and kashering. “It meets the standards for being kosher, namely a split hoof and it chews its cud,” explained Rabbi Jacob Mendelson of Congregation Bikur Cholim in Bridgeport, Conn.
“The truth is that buffalo is not that new,” continued Mendelson. “People have been using it from time to time.”
Still, it took Parente about five years to obtain certification. He said that in addition to finding a tradition of buffalo, rabbis also looked at the nutritional benefit. Currently, three to four rabbis work at the plant, supervising the kashrut.
“Essentially, all the same cuts available in beef are available in bison, hamburgers, steaks and roasts,” said Parente, who was a vegetarian prior to this venture. Corned bison, pastrami and hot dogs are also available.
Bison also tends to be leaner than beef, Parente said, and even than skinless chicken. A three-ounce serving has 121.5 calories, more than 24 grams or protein and just over two grams of fat.
Mendelson believes the product will be a hit with people who are looking for something new, even though it is more expensive than other meats. There are people who were not previously traditional, but who have now become kosher, Mendelson said, and that “creates a strong demand for some very upscale products.
“You have your yuppies and then you have your fruppies, your frum (fervently religious) yuppies. What happens is you have people with no limit on spending. Why should they settle for a pastrami sandwich?”
Overall, Mendelson said, “If it makes it easier for people to relate to Jewish tradition, to make available to them things they’re used to seeing, we want to do that.”