Phil Warren
New member
The past weekend I went to a local farmer's market with my parents-in-law to pick up some fine Kansas bison. They usually just buy ground bison to make burgers, but this time I offered to try to smoke a roast as long as they were paying. The rancher had a 4.75 lb Pike's Peak roast that I thought might be interesting to try. After doing some research around the site I was a bit worried since smoking bison seems to get mixed results, but I decided to continue into the abyss nonetheless.
I first marinated what turned out to be two smaller roasts with one bottle of Schlafly's Pale Ale overnight. I removed it from the marinade, dried it off and applied veggie oil followed by the rub used in this recipe: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisket1.html
For my wood I used one chunk of apple and one chunk of mesquite. My target temp was 150, while trying to keep the WSM around 250. I placed the roasts in a aluminum pan so I could use the drippings in a pan sauce just to cover myself in case it was overcooked. After only 2.5 hours I was at 150 and decided to pull it.
As you can see it was right around medium. I would have preferred it to be a bit more rare, but my wife's family doesn't go for that. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It tasted very similar to a beef roast especially when paired with the red wine and mushroom sauce. The well done outer edges of the roast were certainly tough, but all in all it was fairly tender.
In my opinion Bison can be smoked, but you have to baby it. I would not cook it any more than 150 internal and I would go easy on the smoke wood. I think the mesquite may have been just a bit too much and next time I will go with just apple.
I had never dealt with a Pike's Peak roast before and I probably would not recommend it unless you were cubing it for stew. Too many different muscles and connective tissue on one roast.
I first marinated what turned out to be two smaller roasts with one bottle of Schlafly's Pale Ale overnight. I removed it from the marinade, dried it off and applied veggie oil followed by the rub used in this recipe: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisket1.html
For my wood I used one chunk of apple and one chunk of mesquite. My target temp was 150, while trying to keep the WSM around 250. I placed the roasts in a aluminum pan so I could use the drippings in a pan sauce just to cover myself in case it was overcooked. After only 2.5 hours I was at 150 and decided to pull it.
As you can see it was right around medium. I would have preferred it to be a bit more rare, but my wife's family doesn't go for that. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It tasted very similar to a beef roast especially when paired with the red wine and mushroom sauce. The well done outer edges of the roast were certainly tough, but all in all it was fairly tender.
In my opinion Bison can be smoked, but you have to baby it. I would not cook it any more than 150 internal and I would go easy on the smoke wood. I think the mesquite may have been just a bit too much and next time I will go with just apple.
I had never dealt with a Pike's Peak roast before and I probably would not recommend it unless you were cubing it for stew. Too many different muscles and connective tissue on one roast.
