Buffalo Soup
WESTERN AUTHOR STEPHEN BLY’S
BOISTEROUS BUFFALO SOUP
Buffalo Soup Ingredients:
- 2 – 3 pounds of buffalo meat (nope, they are not an endangered species.)
- 2 tablespoons (more or less) of vegetable oil
- 1 15 ounce jar of chunky salsa (medium, if you must; hot, if you dare)
- 1 16 ounce can of tomato sauce (don’t buy cheap tomato sauce)
- 1 package of dry onion soup mix
- 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar (yes, it’s okay if you use Splenda.)
- a tad (more or less) of paprika
- 2 tads of ground black pepper
- ½ tad of garlic powder
- 5 pieces of cooked and crumbled crisp bacon (NO, you may not use artificial bacon bits)
- 4 cans of beef broth
- 2 16 ounce packages of mixed veggies
- your trusty big container of Montreal Steak Seasoning
- it goes without saying: red Tabasco sauce
Buffalo Soup Directions:
— 2 lbs of ground buffalo meat will be enough, although a small buffalo roast or steaks slow-cooked overnight in the crockpot works fine too. Now, you say, where do you get buffalo meat? From my buddy up in Weippe who raises them. Around our area many of the markets carry buffalo as well. So, brown your buffalo in a little oil. Buffalo is very lean meat. In fact, a buffalo burger usually has beef fat added to hold it together.
— Fry your bacon crisp, then sponge off the excess oil with paper towels and crumble (that means grab it in your hand and maul it like a 2-year-old).
— Get out your really big buffalo soup type kettle and toss in the veggies (even frozen ones work here), garlic powder, black pepper, paprika (it’s that red looking stuff that is normally only used on deviled eggs at church pot-lucks, but don’t get me started on deviled eggs at church), sugar, onion soup mix, tomato sauce, chunky salsa, mauled bacon, AND the browned buffalo meat.
— Add 4 cans of beef broth, (you’ll need the extra liquid because of the buffalo’s leanness).
— As you stir it all together, sprinkle generous portions of Montreal Steak Seasoning. Now, sit that on the big burner and toss in another chunk of wood, cause you want to bring it up to a boil. As soon as that happens, turn it down, sort of cover the kettle, and let it simmer until the pastor and his wife finish showing you the digital pics of their last trip to the Holy Land. (A couple hours of simmering is nice.) All the while, you can take a sip or two of the simmering buffalo soup to determine just how much Tabasco you need. Add enough to bring out the “boisterous” in it.
— Serves? Well, that depends on how much other food is on the table. By itself, buffalo soup goes well with homemade sourdough bread and a green salad with jalapenos. You should be able to serve about 16, unless your worthless, greedy brother-in-law shows up.
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Peter was quite shocked in Acts 10 when the Lord instructed him in a dream that it was okay to eat all sorts of animals, snakes, and birds (Acts 10:14-15).
“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (NIV) The Lord shook Peter out of his preconceptions.
Personally, I believe rattlesnake bar-b-ques up into tasty tidbits, but I don’t reckon that sits well with everyone’s appetite. The point of the passage, of course, is to teach Peter to welcome all people into the kingdom . . . even Gentiles like Cornelius the Centurion.
We sometimes condemn Peter’s narrowness, while only witnessing to “our own kind.” That’s too bad. We miss out on many a blessing for not seeing the wideness of God’s grace, just like some miss out on culinary delights such as buffalo soup, because of the narrowness of their menu.
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About Western Author Stephen Bly
When not writing books, Stephen Bly (1944-2011) spent his time with ridin’, ropin’’, rodeo and building a false front town next to his place that he called Broken Arrow Crossing. Most folks know him for his western novels like The Stuart Brannon Series, Code of the West Series, and The Fortunes of the Black Hills Series , but he wrote contemporary novels as well. The Austin-Stoner Files and The Hidden West Series (that he co-authored with his wife, Janni-Rae) were several of his favorites.
And his contemporary novel, Paperback Writer, caught most of his readers by surprise. “It’s so different!” some exclaimed.
Yep. As different as Boisterous Buffalo Soup is from your normal Sunday after-church fare. Check out the website bookstore to discover more Bly Books. And find out more about the Blys at www.blybooks.com/blog/ or http://www.blybooks.blogspot.com/
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