Cooking with The Buffalo Guys

After Christmas when we were driving from Richmond, VA to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, The Grillmaster and I stopped at a little health food store that had been recommended to us by a friend. While at Beach Organics in Grandy, NC, we picked up some buffalo andouille sausage from a company called The Buffalo Guys. I made a delicious Black-Eyed Pea Polenta Casserole with the sausage for New Year’s (gotta eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day, you know). Then I started thinking that it would be fun to do a Virtual Potluck party featuring buffalo. I contacted the head Buffalo Guy and we’ve been planning today’s party ever since.

It’s finally party time! Welcome to the buffalo round-up. You’ll find 11 different recipes featuring buffalo sausage in the food blogosphere today – ravioli, brats & beans, sausage with cabbage and potatoes, soup, stuffed mushrooms, cacciatore, jambalaya, gluten-free corn dog muffins, gumbo, risotto and salad (links below). What a line-up! The Buffalo Guys sent each VP participant a sampler package that included hot dogs, bratwurst, Polish sausage and andouille, all made from range-raised buffalo that are never subjected to growth hormones or antibiotics. All four sausages, which do not contain preservatives, fillers, MSG, nitrates or nitrites, will be featured in the recipes today.

Buffalo meat is sweet and juicy, yet hearty. It scores well nutritionally when compared to beef, pork and chicken.

Nutritional information courtesy of The Buffalo Guys. They obtained it from the US Department of Agriculture.

I also really like the philosophy of The Buffalo Guys as a company. Two Kansas buffalo ranchers, Peter and Ken, had a vision to make available superior tasting meat that had been responsibly raised. Demand for their product quickly exceeded the supply. They decided to share their animal husbandry and environmental standards with other family buffalo ranches. Not only were they able to increase the amount of meat available to consumers, but they also helped revitalize the buffalo producing industry. Everybody won.

Now on to the fabulous recipes featuring buffalo sausage!

	Buffalo Bratwurst & Ricotta Ravioli Cooking with Books Photo courtesy of Cooking with Books
	Buffalo Brats & Beans The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine Photo courtesy of The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine
	Polish Sausage with Smothered Cabbage and Mashed Potatoes Thyme in Our Kitchen Photo courtesy of Thyme in Our Kitchen
	Polish(ish) Soup Cookistry Photo courtesy of Cookistry
	Buffalo Andouille Stuffed Mushrooms Miss in the Kitchen Photo courtesy of Miss in the Kitchen
	Chicken & Buffalo Andouille Cacciatore Farmgirl Gourmet Photo courtesy of Farmgirl Gourmet
	Buffalo Andouille and Shrimp Jambalaya Foodie Photo courtesy of Foodie
	Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Dog Muffins (Gluten-Free) GrooVy Foody Photo courtesy of GrooVy Foody
	Creole Gumbo with Buffalo Andouille 30AEATS Photo courtesy of 30AEATS
	Chicken and Buffalo Andouille Risotto Bite and Booze Photo courtesy of Bite and Booze
	Buffalo Bratwurst Salad with Apples and Candied Pecans Diabetic Foodie

Discount on Buffalo Sausage

Are you ready to try some buffalo sausage for yourself? The Buffalo Guys will offer a 15% discount off any hot dog or sausage purchase through the end of March 2012. Just go to their online store and enter the code VIRTUALPOTLUCK when you check out. I’m sure they would also appreciate it if you gave their Facebook page a LIKE.