On this first cold day in Oklahoma City, I decided to make a stew with a small bison brisket I had in the freezer. This recipe is about as “slow food” as you can get, so don’t plan on making this one in 30 minutes or even an hour. The meat I used here was left over from a brisket I slow cooked in the oven with carrots, Yukon Gold potatoes, onions and parsnips. We only ate about half of the big four pound brisket, so we had some leftovers. I started by placing the brisket and leftover vegetables on a stock pot. Then I added 8-12 cups of water, a generous grinding of black pepper, and of course a big palmful each of dried thyme and rosemary from our summer garden. I then added a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, a few tablespoons of olive oil, a handful of lentils, and of course a small bag of frozen mixed vegetables. I avoided any garlic or salt since my original brisket was seasoned very well. If you do add any salt, wait until later. The “different take” on the stew comes from the fact that the brisket was soaked in salt and pickling spices prior to us eating it the first time. The pickling spices added a very complex flavor to the brisket and this came out in the final stew. I hesitate to say it’s corned bison since I didn’t quite follow that method. I slow cooked the stew covered on low heat for several hours. It would be fine to cook this in a crockpot all day long as well. This is a leftover recipe and could be used with leftover bison roast or brisket. You could make a small batch with bison stew meat as well. I would like to submit that I believe iodized salt makes stews and soups taste a little weird – I would avoid them.
Recipe:
2 lbs bison brisket, roast, or stew meat (leftover is best)
1/4 cup lentils
1 small bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon black pepper
Salt to taste (sea salt or kosher salt)