It sounds exclusive, exotic and even, in a way, primitive. It is not customary to see this type of animal and less in the Castilian stamp. But there are and they are less than 40 kilometers from the Spanish capital. For example in Colmenar Viejo (town located in the Sierra de Madrid), is the Finca Holes of Santa Ana, which is home to a herd of buffalo. Yes, as you read it: bison of which it is consumed Buffalo meat.
A Michelin Star product
Angel González, that's the name of the owner who, together with his father, runs the Hoyas de Santa Ana farm, confessed one day to the newspaper El País that it all started out of pure passion for livestock. However, by chance or perhaps by fate, they found a small company (Lácteas del Jarama), which traded milk and began to sell their livestock. It was then that father and son began on this adventure that made a place for the Buffalo meat as an atypical local product.
The meat is so rare that it inevitably caught the attention of the restaurant Monty (San Lorenzo del Escorial), with a Michelin Star. The maxim of this establishment is make the most of craft supplies and typical of the Sierra de Guadarrama; and so they do. Top Loin grilled buffalo with mustard or tartar of buffalo with cream of jerky are some of the dishes that Montia created around this succulent bite.
Because the truth is that, even now when the commercialization of this meat is taking off, Ángel and his father have been doing it for more than ten years. Luis Moreno and Dani Ochoa (Montia) were followed by other restaurants of great local prestige such as The Raquetist of the chef Javier Aparicio, as well as companies like Gourmet Museum, which is dedicated to the trade of exotic meats.
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Buffalo meat, a little more popular
As we have said, it is one more product American than Spanish, but to which every time you want to give a certain popularity. An example of this is the famous television program Masterchef. In the last program of the edition of the smallest they traveled until the caves of Altamira, in Cantabria, where there are cave paintings of this animal.
Taking advantage of the location and the culture that hides in it, the program's judges prepared a menu with buffalo or bison meat, as they are better known in that rock art). Perhaps, taking advantage of the great speaker that is the program presented by Samantha Vallejo-Nájera, Pepe Rodríguez and Jordi Cruz, the close existence of this product reaches more people.
Because the truth is that it is a most grateful meat: it is tender, with much flavor y healthy thanks to its low fat content. All this is achieved with a diet based on herbs and other plants provided by the meadows. The problem is that it is a somewhat is the unknown; a meat that the Spanish consumer is not used to and that, perhaps, is not too attractive to the ear. But there are those who have known how to see the great potential of the Buffalo meat.
Quality in local food
In addition to the nutritional value of this meat, it is very versatile. It can be used, as we have seen before, in restaurants high level, but also to prepare more everyday meals and more within everyone's reach. And so has his own Angel González, who saw the clear opportunity and did not hesitate to seize it. With the aim of making his passion known, he started the business of gastronet, foodtruck in which he makes from hamburgers to meatballs, passing through dogs.
"Cholesterol free and almost as tasty as game meat ”, said the rancher to El País. This is how he presents the meat of the bison. It seems that his initiative paid off because he toured, with the mobile food stall, various agri-food events in the Spanish capital; Among them, the Madrid fair specialized in gastronomic products Cómete Las Ventas. In all of them, the success was remarkable.
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Who would have thought that this type of meat could not only be consumed, but also raised locally in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula? Thanks to farms like Ángel's, a product so exotic it is at your fingertips. A proximity product; unknown but at the same time with so much to offer. Do you dare to try the Buffalo meat? Its price is not exorbitant either!
