Shooting Buffalo and Eating It Raw

Warning this video is not for the squeemish...

The Eichten family has been in the buffalo business for over 20 years. They kill two buffalo every Tuesday, processing the 1000+ pound animals at the nearby Deutchland Meats. I visited Ed Eichten and his 300 (or so) bison last week. It was another cold morning, so cold in fact that my camera began to malfunction. But that didn't stop the bison. That's why they are the perfect Minnesota animal -- protected by the thickest of fur -- they are out there in the fields, held in by a fence that they could easily break down or jump.

I didn't grow up on a farm so seeing any animal die is still hard for me, especially an animal as majestic as the bison. But I appreciated the speedy and skillful way in which Eichten took the lives of these incredible beasts... one shot to the head and it was over. However, killing a buffalo is the easy part; it takes a tractor, a truck and a pully system to get the animals ready for butchering.

Processing done, I ate the meat raw -- in tartare form. When you really know where your meat comes from, there's no fear of raw. Check out the recipe with kale and Daikon radish and pickled mustard seeds here.

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