Food Lovers' Guide: Local Meats

Meat Up: These Farmers are Home on the Range

Keira and Brian Farmer have a home where the buffalo roam in Warner, and their homegrown bison meat is the main course at their Yankee Farmer's Market.

The couple began raising the iconic ungulates about 20 years ago. "We decided to go into farming at a time when everybody was saying the family farm was dying so we knew we had to do something a little different," says Brian, who grew up in New Boston.

The couple settled on buffalo. "It's a meat that is ingrained in our American tradition, but at the time very few people had ever tasted it. It's one of the healthiest meats you can eat, low in fat and cholesterol and high in omega-3s. And it's a way you can eat healthier and still eat meat without having to go overboard on an all-lettuce diet," he says. The couple began with a few head of the cattle: "We figured the worst case scenario was we'd eat them."

But they needn't have worried. Customers began knocking on their door before they even began marketing the meats and taking their to the farmers markets and the Deerfield Fair, selling from the back of what they call the "chuck wagon."

They now have just about 100 buffalo on their farm in Warner and Hillsborough. The local food movement has been a boon to the couple. "I think after 9/11 people became afraid they might be cut off from their food supplies and began looking for local alternatives," he says.

Yankee Farmer's Market also sells naturally raised chicken, turkeys, lamb, elk and ostrich from other farms, but buffalo is their mainstay.

The couple welcomes visitors to both the store and the farm. "We really believe that our farm is part of a community. We're one of the few places where people can go to a store and buy a piece of meat and visit the farm that day, " he says. "Most farms aren't built to deal with the general public, but we are."

Yankee Farmer's Market
360 Rte. 103 East, Warner
(603) 456-2833
yankeefarmersmarket.com

Cooking Tip: If you've never cooked buffalo meat, Brian Farmer suggests you try the same cut as the beef you are accustomed to. "If you usually have a steak, try steak, if you usually have a burger, try a burger," he says. He warns that buffalo meat cooks faster than beef because there is no fat to act as an insulator. "You don't need to cook it quite as hard as some of the fattier foods and not at as high a temperature, slow and low is the key," he says.

Roasts should be cooked in an oven preheated to 275-325 degrees and the meat should be cooked to rare to medium to an internal temperatures of 135-155 degrees Fahrenheit.

Butcher Shops

Mr. Steer Meats
27 Buttrick Rd.
Londonderry
(603) 434-1444
mrsteermeats.com

The Meat House
Various locations in NH
themeathouse.com

Joe's Meat Shoppe
229 Atlantic Ave.
North Hampton
(603) 964-6152
joesmeatshoppe.com

Prime Butcher
Windham, Hampstead
primebutcher.com

Wine'ing Butcher
Gilford and Meredith
thewineingbutcher.com

Paul's Choice
815 Court St.
Keene
(603) 352-0334

Bull Run Beef & Specialty Shoppe
1100 Hooksett Rd.
Hooksett
(603) 669-0891

Concord Beef and Seafood
75 S. Main St.
Concord
(603) 226-3474
concordbeefandseafood.com

Brother's Butcher
8 Spit Brook Rd.
Nashua
(603) 809-4180
brothers-butcher.com

Shellie's Neighborhood Butcher
38 Crystal Ave.
Derry
(603) 505-4558
shelliesbutcher.com

Tuckaway Tavern and Butchery
58 Rte. 27
Raymond
(603) 244-2431
thetuckaway.com

Farm Stores

Riverslea Farm
Leicester sheep, lamb brood stock, custom butchering and freezer orders.
362 North River Rd.
Epping
(603) 679-2629
riversleafarm.com

Mack Hill Farm
Saxony ducks, Toulouse geese, Midget White turkeys, Icelandic chickens, meat pastured chickens.
Marlow
(603) 446-6261
mackhillfarm.com

PT Farm
Beef and pork
15 Petticoat Ln.
North Haverhill
(603) 787-2248
newenglandmeat.com

Miles Smith Farm
Meats from Scottish Highlander cattle known for their long hair outside and low fat content inside.
56 Whitehouse Rd.
Loudon
(603) 783-5159
Milessmithfarm.com

Healthy Buffalo
Ostrich, alligator, buffalo, elk and other exotic meats.
250 Dover Rd.
Chichester
(603) 369-3611
healthybuffalo.com

Steve Normanton Farm
Grass-fed beef and chicken.
Rte. 3A
Litchfield
(603) 320-1169
stevenormanton.com

Walpole Valley Farms
Grass fed beef, pasture raised poultry and eggs.
663 Wentworth Rd.
Walpole
(603) 756-2805
walpolevalleyfarms.com

Bonnie Brae Farms
Venison
601 Daniel Webster Hwy.
Plymouth
(603) 536-3880
bonniebraefarms.com

Velvet Pastures
Elk Ranch
Raises elk with no growth hormones or antibiotics and grass-fed animals.
Lee
(603) 659-6972
velvetpastures.com