Taco night is the best night of the week for many. While tables are often adorned with ground beef tacos or the occasional seasoned chicken filling, we reckon that you never would have thought to try out a protein as unique as bison for your next taco night.
But, that’s just what Andrew Zimmern, host of “Andrew Zimmern’s Wild Game Kitchen” on Tastemade, does with his tacos on Season 4 of the show. Instead of using a basic protein, he opts for a bison skirt steak rendition, topped with charred onion and a punchy salsa with toasted peanuts and served alongside borracho beans. But it’s not just the toppings and the protein that make this taco dinner unique; Zimmern also uses a marinade made with tamarind puree and roasted vegetables, which highlights and enhances the flavor of the bison and makes every bite more complex. We had a chance to sit down with Zimmern and ask him about this marinade and why it makes a perfect match for the meaty, savory profile of the protein.
He adds tamarind to the marinade to contrast the meat
Tamarind is overlooked by many, but it can actually be the secret to a more flavorful marinade. The pods are derived from a tree which grows in Asia and Africa. The fruit itself has a flavor that some people think is akin to brown sugar, but with the tart, biting flavor of lime. It’s no surprise that tamarind paste is an essential ingredient in many Thai recipes, including the takeout classic pad Thai.
Andrew Zimmern explains that the sour flavor of the tamarind is a great pairing for grilled meats. “The sour component cuts through the rich qualities of the other elements,” he notes. Creating this contrast in the dish is important, and it’s one of the reasons why this marinade is so fitting for a protein like bison. This protein has a similar taste to beef, though many note that it has sweeter, gamier undertones that crave something tart and refreshing. So, tamarind just fits the bill.
The vegetables are charred for extra flavor
Another essential addition to Andrew Zimmern’s bison marinade is charred vegetables. The chef and host utilizes three ingredients in this marinade, aside from the tamarind puree and chipotles in adobo — garlic, onions, and Roma tomatoes. Before these veggies make their way into the marinade, though, Zimmern gives them all a good char on the grill. He chars the onion enough that there’s still some raw allium flavor left and continues to cook the tomatoes until he starts to see the juices dripping down into the grill grates and the flesh starting to char. Zimmern shares that Roma tomatoes are a staple for this dish because “they have a larger meat to seed/juice ratio.” This means that you get more of the tomato flavor and flesh in your marinade.
Although “Wild Game Kitchen” takes place in the great outdoors, over a roaring grill, Zimmern explains that there are ways to modify this recipe to make it inside. He recommends roasting, broiling, or charring the veggies on the stovetop before adding them to the marinade. “I am trying to create layers of flavor, so the process is important, but can be done a dozen ways,” he says.
