Quail and Rabbit in France, Bison in the US

I had my first taste of bison meat at Christmas time. My sister ordered a bison steak and I had a bite. It was delicious.

If I think of those big, wiry-haired creatures munching grass on the plains and it's hard to imagine that they taste good.  But the meat is quite tasty when prepared properly.  My sister makes bison spaghetti sauce which she says is great and her family loves it. 

I was in Whole Foods yesterday morning.  It's one of the few places I know that carries bison so I decided to give it a try. Luckily it was early and the butcher was talkative.  He walked me through the different cuts of meat, where they originate anatomically and how to cook them.  I settled on ground bison meat and decided to make a meat loaf. 

I didn't think too much more about it until it was time to actually prepare the bison.   I opened the package and looked at it.  It was very red.  I later read up on bison and found out that it is redder than beef because it is leaner.  The ground bison is guaranteed to be 10% fat or less. 

With the normal recipe I use for turkey meatloaf (loaded with fresh veggies) I prepared the bison and popped it in the oven.  We loved it and now I'm hooked.  I wonder if it's available in France? I can't imagine bison grazing in Burgundy next to a vineyard but it could happen I guess. 

I have my go-to lean favorites in France too.  Quail and rabbit are equally delicious and healthy.  Just like the bison in the US, I have to get these treats at a butcher although I've seen rabbit and quail packaged on the store shelves it makes me a little nervous to buy them this way.  The first time I made quail, I didn't know that you have to ask the butcher to cut off their little heads (feathers, eyes and all).  The feet, thankfully were off.  So, I had to decapitate them before cooking them.  It didn't sour me on the experience because they were magnificent. 

Rabbit is an acquired taste in my family.  We used to eat it when we were kids, I think because it was inexpensive.  Terry declined several times when I offered to cook it for him.  Finally we were surprised by French friends who cooked a rabbit for us.  Terry thought it was chicken, luckily he didn't compliment the meal by name.  It still took some work to get him to try it.  I researched recipes, found the perfect one.  We went to the butcher, found the perfect rabbit and had it cut up to my specifications.  Terry is sold on rabbit now.

So we have our options for healthy, low-fat, high protein meat.  It's hard (but not impossible) to get rabbit and quail here.  Almost impossible to get it fresh (not frozen).   I have no idea about bison in France, it would probably be frozen too.