https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ancient-bison-stew-blue-babe-alaska * * Trips [aoa_logo_a] Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura! Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life. Visit Adventures Trips Highlight Oaxaca Mexico tamales Mexico * 7 days, 6 nights Flavors of Oaxaca: Markets, Mezcal, & Home-Cooked Meals from $3,990 USD Turkmenistan Gates of Hell Darvaza crater Turkmenistan * 10 days, 9 nights Turkmenistan and the Gates of Hell from $4,285 USD View all trips * Experiences Upcoming Experiences View All Experiences >> [blank-f2c3] Members only Monster of the Month w/ Colin Dickey: Arctic Ghosts [blank-f2c3] Members only Summer Camp: Reading the Skies, Befriending Birds, & Scary Films [blank-f2c3] Members only Antiques and Their Afterlives * Courses Upcoming Courses View All Courses >> [blank-f2c3] An Introduction to Sensory History With Carolyn Purnell [blank-f2c3] Thrills & Chills: Horror Story Writing With Nino Cipri [blank-f2c3] Wildcrafting With Weeds & Invasive Plants With Vanessa Chakour [blank-f2c3] Summer Camp: Reading the Skies, Befriending Birds, & Scary Films [blank-f2c3] Making Scents: Experimental Perfumery With Saskia Wilson-Brown * Places + Top Destinations + Latest Places + Most Popular Places + Random Place + Lists + Itineraries + ------------------------------------------------------------- Add a Place ------------------------------------------------------------- + Download the App Latest Places View All Places >> [blank-f2c3] Las Vegas, Nevada Golden Tiki 36.1261, -115.1923 Flaky roti canai comes with a rich curry sauce for dipping or drizzling. Katy, Texas Phat Eatery 29.7935, -95.7742 [blank-f2c3] Armero, Colombia Armero, Colombia 4.9655, -74.9043 Ninu's Cave Xaghra, Malta Ninu's Cave 36.0513, 14.2647 Top Destinations View All Destinations >> Countries + Australia + Canada + China + France + Germany + India + Italy + Japan Cities + Amsterdam + Barcelona + Beijing + Berlin + Boston + Budapest + Chicago + London + Los Angeles + Mexico City + Montreal + Moscow + New Orleans + New York City + Paris + Philadelphia + Rome + San Francisco + Seattle + Stockholm + Tokyo + Toronto + Vienna + Washington, D.C. * Foods Latest Places to Eat & Drink View All Places to Eat >> [blank-f2c3] Golden Tiki Flaky roti canai comes with a rich curry sauce for dipping or drizzling. Phat Eatery These flaky, savory pies are baked fresh daily. Ariston Fried Gulf seafood is the star of the show. Christie's Seafood & Steak Texas brisket is one of the many local fillings that have infiltrated kolaches. Kolache Shoppe * Stories + Recent Stories + All Stories + Puzzles + Video + Podcast Most Recent Stories View All Stories >> C. explodens is aptly named. These Ants Protect the Colony by Blowing Themselves Up Observing, reflecting upon, and writing about nature can be a powerful experience that awakens our wonder and curiosity. How to Reconnect With Nature Through Writing The Kutuk River in Alaska's Gates of the Arctic National Park is one of 75 orange-stained rivers found in the region. Dozens of Alaska Rivers are Turning an Eerie Orange Sharing tales over a campfire is one of the oldest forms of entertainment for our species. How to Tell a Great Campfire Story * Newsletters * Sign In Join * Explore Newsletters * Sign In ----------------------------------------------------------------- Join * Places near me Random place Wondrous food to explore and enjoy Gastro Obscura Intriguing stories served fresh daily The Dinner Party That Served Up 50,000-Year-Old Bison Stew When life gives you frozen bison, make dinner. by Paula Mejia August 21, 2019 The Dinner Party That Served Up 50,000-Year-Old Bison Stew Copy Link Facebook Twitter Reddit Flipboard Pocket Blue Babe, in all its glory. Blue Babe, in all its glory. UA Museum of the North [YXJnZS0yLn] Chill Week August 19-23 See More One night in 1984, a handful of lucky guests gathered at the Alaska home of paleontologist Dale Guthrie to eat stew crafted from a once-in-a-lifetime delicacy: the neck meat of an ancient, recently-discovered bison nicknamed Blue Babe. The dinner party fit Alaska tradition: Since state law bans the buying, bartering, and selling of game meats, you can't find local favorites such as caribou stew at restaurants. Those dishes are enjoyed when hunters host a gathering. But their meat source is usually the moose population--not a preserved piece of biological history. Blue Babe had been discovered just five years earlier by gold miners, who noticed that a hydraulic mining hose melted part of the gunk that had kept the bison frozen. They reported their findings to the nearby University of Alaska Fairbanks. Concerned that it would decompose, Guthrie--then a professor and researcher at the university--opted to dig out Blue Babe immediately. But the icy, impenetrable surroundings made that challenging. So he cut off what he could, refroze it, and waited for the head and neck to thaw. Archaeology curator Josh Reuther and University of Arizona's Francois B. Lanoe draw a sample from Blue Babe for the ongoing redating project.Archaeology curator Josh Reuther and University of Arizona's Francois B. Lanoe draw a sample from Blue Babe for the ongoing redating project. UA Museum of the North Soon, Guthrie and his team had Blue Babe on campus and started learning more about the ancient animal. They knew that it had perished about 36,000 years ago, thanks to radiocarbon dating. (Though new research shows that Blue Babe is at least 50,000 years old, according to the university's Curator of Archaeology, Josh Reuther.) Tooth marks and claw marks also suggested that the bison was killed by an ancestor of the lion, the Panthera leoatrox. Blue Babe froze rapidly following its death--perhaps the result of a wintertime demise. Researchers were amazed to find that Blue Babe had frozen so well that its muscle tissue retained a texture not unlike beef jerky. Its fatty skin and bone marrow remained intact, too, even after thousands of years. So why not try eating part of it? It had been done before. "All of us working on this thing had heard the tales of the Russians [who] excavated things like bison and mammoth in the Far North [that] were frozen enough to eat," Guthrie says of several infamous meals. "So we decided, 'You know what we can do? Make a meal using this bison.'" Guthrie decided to host the special dinner when taxidermist Eirik Granqvist completed his work on Blue Babe and the late Bjorn Kurten was in town to give a guest lecture. "Making neck steak didn't sound like a very good idea," Guthrie recalls. "But you know, what we could do is put a lot of vegetables and spices, and it wouldn't be too bad." Eirik Granqvist working on the taxidermy of Blue Babe.Eirik Granqvist working on the taxidermy of Blue Babe. UA Museum of the North To make the stew for roughly eight people, Guthrie cut off a small part of the bison's neck, where the meat had frozen while fresh. "When it thawed, it gave off an unmistakable beef aroma, not unpleasantly mixed with a faint smell of the earth in which it was found, with a touch of mushroom," he once wrote. They then added a generous amount of garlic and onions, along with carrots and potatoes, to the aged meat. Couple that with wine, and it became a full-fledged dinner. Guthrie, who is a hunter, says he wasn't deterred by the thousands of years the bison had aged, nor the prospect of getting sick. "That would take a very special kind of microorganism [to make me sick]," he says. "And I eat frozen meat all the time, of animals that I kill or my neighbors kill. And they do get kind of old after three years in the freezer." Blue Babe on display at University of Alaska Museum of the North.Blue Babe on display at University of Alaska Museum of the North. Patricia Fisher Photography Thankfully, everyone present lived to tell the tale (and the bison remains on display at the University of Alaska Museum of the North). The Blue Babe stew wasn't unpalatable, either, according to Guthrie. "It tasted a little bit like what I would have expected, with a little bit of wring of mud," he says. "But it wasn't that bad. Not so bad that we couldn't each have a bowl." He can't remember if anyone present had seconds, though. This story originally ran on January 26, 2018. Gastro Obscura covers the world's most wondrous food and drink. Sign up for our email, delivered twice a week. Next in series Ancient Mesoamericans Calmed Down and Hooked Up in Sweaty Steam Baths Temazcales helped indigenous people let off steam, until colonialism came along. [blank-f2c3] chill weekstewmeatancientfood Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member. Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member. Using an ad blocker? We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world's hidden wonders. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Continue Using Ad-Block Support Us Keep Exploring At Fritz's Railroad Restaurant in Kansas City, call in your order from your table's telephone and watch it be delivered by train. railroads Missouri's One-Of-A-Kind Restaurants Offer Delicious Cuisine and a Dose of History Ribs inside a railcar, filets in a Civil War hospital and wings in an airport hangar - the Show-Me State is full of unique culinary experiences. Sponsored by Visit Missouri The original maple bacon doughnut is derived from a variation of the rectangular "Long John." food Meat-Filled Desserts From Around the World Have you tried any of these literal sweetmeats? Andrew Coletti April 22, 2024 Maria points to a mysterious symbolic representation of an early chemistry experiment. ancient The Ancient Female Alchemist Whose Name Is in Your Kitchen Who put the Marie in "bain-Marie"? Andrew Coletti April 8, 2024 Grilled eel and all the sides. food Go Beyond the Beef at Korean Barbecue Enjoy sizzling shellfish and duck over charcoal. Caroline Shin March 25, 2024 [NzA5MTggdj] Video * Gastro Obscura The Secret to China's Bounciest Meatballs 3:47 [dGlsbCAwMS] Video * Wonder From Home Show & Tell: Inside a House of Hot Sauce With Vic Clinco 13:16 [anBn] Video * Gastro Obscura The Beautiful World of Microscopic Food 3:04 [cGc] Video * Gastro Obscura Eating Lunch 14,000 Feet Below Sea Level 3:07 [dG9fMDEuan] Video Gastro Obscura Tries: Olive Oil Coffee 5:56 Sponsored by Starbucks [Zw] Video The Little Slice of France and Spain in Nevada 4:12 Sponsored by Travel Nevada [V29uZGVyLm] Video All Roads Lead to Texas: Big Wonder 05:24 Sponsored by Travel Texas [IGVtb2ppXS] Video Why Your Michelin Star Meal Is Dog 8:02 More Food & Drink [blank-f2c3] Las Vegas, Nevada Golden Tiki Keen eyes can find the Disney influences throughout this treasure trove of a tiki bar. [blank-f2c3] Katy, Texas Phat Eatery Venture from downtown Houston to the suburb of Katy for stellar Malaysian food. [blank-f2c3] Athens, Greece Ariston The Lobotesis family has been baking some of the best savory pies in Athens since 1910. [blank-f2c3] Houston, Texas Christie's Seafood & Steak At Houston's longest-running restaurant, find a classic oyster stew beloved by a former U.S. President. [blank-f2c3] Houston, Texas Kolache Shoppe Originally brought to Texas by Czech settlers, these sweet and savory pastries are an essential local breakfast staple. Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member. From Around the Web ATLAS OBSCURA BOOKS A Visual Odyssey Through the Marvels of Life Venture into Nature's Unseen Realms with Our New Book Atlas Obscura: Wild Life Pre-Order Now Gastro Obscura Book See Fewer Ads Become an Atlas Obscura member and experience far fewer ads and no pop-ups. Learn More Get Our Email Newsletter [ ] Thanks for subscribing! View all newsletters >> [Submit] Follow Us * * * * * * Get the app Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play Download the App Places * All Places * Latest Places * Most Popular * Places to Eat * Random * Nearby * Add a Place Editorial * Stories * Food & Drink * Itineraries * Lists * Puzzles * Video * Podcast * Newsletters Trips * All Trips * Trips Blog * Art & Culture Trips * Food Trips * Hidden City Trips * History Trips * Wildlife & Nature Trips * FAQ Experiences * Experiences * Online Courses * Online Experience FAQ * Online Course FAQ * Eclipse Festival 2024 Community * Membership * Feedback & Ideas * Community Guidelines * Product Blog * Unique Gifts * Work With Us Company * About * Contact Us * FAQ * Invest In Us * Advertise With Us * Advertising Guidelines * Privacy Policy * Cookie Policy * Terms of Use (c) 2024 Atlas Obscura. All rights reserved. Questions or Feedback? Contact Us Thanks for sharing! Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Wild Life Cover Pre-Order Atlas Obscura: Wild Life Today! Venture into nature's unseen realms with our new book Wild Life. Explore hidden ecosystems & discover incredible species. Free luggage tag with every pre-order. Pre-Order Now! Wild Life Cover Add Some Wonder to Your Inbox Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. [ ] Subscribe No Thanks We'd Like You to Like Us Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. No Thanks [p] Quantcast ***