High Wire Ranch at Telluride Farmers’ Market

31 Jul High Wire Ranch at Telluride Farmers’ Market

[click “Play” to hear Susan’s conversation with Sue Whittlesey]

High Wire Ranch is one of about 40 vendors who travel up to a 100 miles to sell their products every Friday, June – October, 10:30a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Telluride Farmers’ Market.

High Wire is located 53 miles southeast of Grand Junction on Redlands Mesa, where owners Dave and Sue Whittlesey oversee a head of over 200 bison and elk.

Eating Well magazine featured High Wire Ranch in its March/April 2007. Sunset covered the ranch in its February 2008 issue, as did a PBS series on America’s heartland.  (The article and video is available online at the America’s Heartland website.)

Studies (NIH-AARP, 1995 is one) show that eating red meat from mass produced beef and pork can boost your risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. One of the culprits is saturated fat. Elk, on the other hand, is lean, with only 22 percent of the meat energy derived from fat, as compared with 35  – 47 percent for lamb and 33 percent for beef. Venison is also low in cholesterol and the ratio of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids is higher than in conventional red meats. It appears elk has the best attributes of red meat without the perceived health risk.
Buffalo, too, is a sweet, tender meat, and not at all gamey. It is exceptionally high in protein and minerals, and low in fat, calories and cholesterol. Buffalo can be prepared just like beef, including burgers, roasts, steaks, stews and much more.

The Whittleseys sum up the advantages of natural pasture raised buffalo and elk meat as follows:
    •    Less fat
    •    Fewer calories
    •    More omega-3 fatty acids
    •    Higher congulated linoleic acid (cancer fighting agent)
    •    More beta-carotene
    •    Better flavor
    •    Lower risk of e. coli.

If the facts don’t tempt you, the following recipe should.

Slow Roasted Buffalo Roast with Chipotle Roasted Garlic Jus
by Chef Robert Margolis of Denver

3 lb. Buffalo Roast
3 each Dried Chipotle Peppers

4 cloves of Roasted Garlic

2 lb. each Onions, Carrots, Celery
2 cups Brandy
3 cups water to dilute the Beef Base
4-5 oz Beef Base

White Pepper and Salt

Place the buffalo roast in a roasting pan on top of all the vegetables listed above, except the chipotles and garlic, add the diluted beef base to the roasting pan; place this into a preheated 240 F oven and allow to roast for 2 1/2 hours or until the roast reaches an internal temperature of 125 F. Remove the roast from the oven. Allow it to rest, take the roasting pan and strain off the juice, place the juice in a sauce pot and add the roasted garlic, chipotle peppers, and brandy. Be careful here and flame off the brandy. Allow the pot to simmer (do not break up or chop the chipotles unless you like it REAL hot) at this point allow the sauce to reduce by 1/3, then strain it carefully, carefully removing all the garlic and the chipotle peppers so you have just a light sauce similar to Au Jus. Finish it off with a little salt and white pepper as needed and serve with the buffalo roast and vegetables.

This recipe was a big hit for High Wire at this year’s Best of the West Food Fest in Montrose.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to Sue Whittlesey talk about their life’s work.