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Bison À LA Grecque

Braised bison with vegetables, bison fat, veal stock, and Greek seasonings, finished with a velouté sauce.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Bison and onion work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 44 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Braise

  1. Brown vegetables in bison fat in a cast iron Dutch oven.

  2. Add bison, coriander, garlic, bay leaf, veal stock, and lemon, then cover.

  3. Braise over a low fire for 2–3 hours or longer until tender.

  4. Remove bison to a serving tray near the fire.

Make the sauce

  1. Strain sauce into a separate bowl and discard the pulp.

  2. Make a roux in the Dutch oven with butter and flour.

  3. Stir in wine and cream and cook until bubbly.

  4. Stir in reserved sauce until thickened.

  5. Add more liquid as needed.

  6. Season velouté to taste.

Serve

  1. Pour over bison.

  2. Serve with toasted bread, wild mushrooms, and wild rice.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Bison + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Fennel + coriandertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together426 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Carrot + fenneltop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together330 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bison
Long, slow braising breaks down connective tissue, making the meat tender and moist.
Veal stock
Supplies the liquid and body that becomes the savory base of the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked with butter into a roux.
Butter
Carries flavor and forms the fat base of the roux, which helps thicken the sauce smoothly.
Dry white wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky texture to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Stir in reserved sauce until thickened.. Flour thickens when it is heated in liquid, but adding the sauce gradually while stirring keeps the roux smooth and prevents lumps from forming.

Flavor stand-ins for the fennel

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bison, onion, celery, carrot, pepper, garlic, coriander):

  1. Cuminbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  3. Thymebetter flavor fit
  4. Fennelthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bison, onion, celery, carrot, pepper, garlic, coriander. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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