cooking bear meat

Unknown

what is the best way to cook bear meat. what temp and internal temp.

djm5x9

maddawg:[p]What type of cut and how thick is it? Is it fat or lean?

Char-Woody

djm5x9, do you suppose it mean's meat with no skin or bone on it? :-) You know...bare meat???
Seriously...I gave a fellow a recipe waaaaaaay back when for bear meat..and they recommended to remove all "fat" as the fat gave a off wild taste to it. Then treat it like beef. Dunno if I can find it agin..!
C~W

Smokin' Todd

maddawg,
Be careful cooking that bear because only you can prevent forrest fires...only YOU.

YB

maddawg,
Here is a couple of bear recipes.[p]Larry
[ul][li]Bear[/ul]

Char-Woody

maddawg, JJ says good morning and go to this website. Its one of my old favorite in the sock wild game recipe sources also. I have a recipe book if you want to get specific on the cut your cooking..The paws take special treatment :-)
C~W

[ul][li]Bearing the Bear! Bear Market??[/ul]

MAC

Char-Woody,
Its still too cold to cook bear.

DTM

maddawg,
You need to cook bear meat to at least 170 to kill any trichina nematodes that may be present. The game & fish people here in Montana did a study and found over 35% of the bears sampled had trichinosis. Basically treat it as old days pork. A spring killed bear will have very little fat, it was all consumed during hibernation. A fall killed bear will have a 3 inch or thicker layer of fat under the skin and a lot of interstitial fat as well. That said cook it like a pork butt. We used to have the hindquarters cured and smoked into hams. I did the front shoulders like pork butt and once I cured and smoked the loin trying for Canadian bacon. That was good but not quite right. Age can really matter. I shot a bear that from a tooth sample was aged at 14 years old. Did the ham thing etc. The meat was so tough that the dogs ended up with chew toys that lasted months. Lard rendered from the fat is excellent for baking and does not contribute a gamey taste like venison fat. I don't hunt bears any longer. I prefer to just watch them now. By the way a skinned bear carcass has a really eerie man-like appearance. Sorry for the rambling.
DTM

Char-Woody

DTM, good post. Now thats some dead serious fact's. :-) Thanks for taking the time to fill us in on stuff you cannot find in a recipe book. Only experience!
C~W

Char-Woody

MAC, I cannot "bear" the thought anyway..:-)
C~W

Nature Boy

DTM,
I, too, enjoyed reading your post. Wish I were out there in big sky country right now sitting by the fire listening to you tell that story!!
Thanks
NB