Seasonal Ontario Food

For some reason we have not gotten into eating much bison. Occasionally we buy pre-made burgers. However I saw some ground bison at the 100 Mile Market, and since I've been hearing the call of the meatloaf for a couple of weeks now, I decided I'd see what kind of a meatloaf it made. Very good, is the verdict. Bison is much like beef; maybe a little more robust in flavour. It is very lean meat though, so I added a little fatty bacon to keep it moist.

6 to 8 servings
2 hours - 30 minutes prep time


1 large carrot
3 or 4 shallots
1 or 2 stalks of celery
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil

900 grams ground bison (buffalo)
150 grams (1/4 pound) fatty bacon
2 extra-large eggs
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon celery seed
2 teaspoon sweet paprika; Hungarian OR smoked Spanish
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup thick tomato sauce or other glaze

Peel and grate the carrot. Peel and mince the shallots. Wash, trim and finely chop the celery. Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the vegetables until soft, but not browned; about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Set aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Chop the bacon finely, and grind the black pepper, fennel and celery seeds. Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. It's best to do this by hand.

Press the mixture into a large loaf pan. Cover the top with the tomato sauce, or use something else if you like. I'm out of tomato sauce, so I used a mixture of apple butter and hot pepper jelly. Pretty good, but I do like a bit of tomato flavouring in there. Chili sauce is a popular topping for meatloaf and so is ketchup. Either would work fine. Barbecue sauce might be good, as long as it wasn't too strong, but I'm not sure it would be ideal with the seasonings I used.

Bake the meatloaf for 1 hour 20 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.




Last year at this time I made Apple Dumplings.