Bear meat

[Rustyt1953]

After reading jspick's thread;

http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/617971-social-distancing-wyoming.html

I got really curious. I have always had an adventuresome, inquisitive palate and have tried many exotic/unusual foods and found that I could consume things that a lot of folks won't give a chance.

I have never had bear meat and hope someday to try some.

Describing how something tastes is not always easy to put into word so, for those of you who eat it, what does it compare to and what are the best ways to cook it?

Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[s&wchad]

I've never shot one, but I've had bear pot roast a few times. It's a dark meat and a lot like beef when prepared right. It has a nice silky texture because of the fat content. It does need to be thoroughly cooked, because of possible trichinosis.

 

[df06]

I've arrowed a few bears. The first one, I baited and used quite a bit of fish for bait. Wife put a roast from it in oven. It stunk up the whole house. Really smelled bad. We ate none of it and wife said "don't you ever bring any of that in the house again"
I haven't.

 

[STCM(SW)]

Made sausage out of the few bear's we got. Always ground up with pork.
Also stew. Not that bad.

 

[Onomea]

Well, Rusty, no experience here, but just in case someone drops off some bear meat at your place, found this on the Internet:

Bear Roast Recipe

Ingredients

1 Medium Onion
2 TBSP Brown Sugar (I usually substitute with honey)
1 TBSP Paprika
1 TSP Salt
1/2 TSP Black Pepper
3 LB Bear Roast
6 TBSP Cider Vinegar
1 CUP Chicken Broth
2 TSP Worcestershire Sauce
Red Pepper Flakes to taste
1 TSP Sugar (honey works too)
1 TSP Dry Mustard
1/2 TSP Cayenne Pepper

Directions: Place onion in a slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper. Mixing thoroughly. Rub the mixture on the meat, coating evenly. Place the roast in the slow cooker. In a medium bowl, combine the vinegar, chicken broth, worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard and cayenne pepper. Mixing thoroughly.

Add to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
Remove the meat and discard the fat. (Bear fat sucks.)

That's it. It's a super simple recipe that always turns out great. This is a good one for a Sunday afternoon.

Bear Roast Recipe that is Hard to Screw Up >> Outdoors International

 

[Rustyt1953]

Ar!o, that recipe looks like it would make a brogan taste good.

 

[Mule Packer]

When I lived in northern California, close to the Oregon border, we had a lot of black bears in the area and I've eaten it several times.

Here's just my personal take, for what it's worth. I like bear roasts, especially from a young bear. To me, it tastes kinda like a cross between beef and pork. The older bears can taste pretty stout.

When the bears are up high, dining on berries and mast, the meat can be quite flavorful. I prefer the roasts to the steaks, but again, that's just my personal preference.

Now...once the bears drop down out of the mountains in late fall and start feeding on salmon down in the rivers...ugh...that's a whole different story. The taste is awful.

 

[bigolddave]

Shot a young black bear in Ontario years ago. Another hunter did not want the meat from his, so had two to have made into sausage and jerky. It was excellent. I took some to church one Sunday, and six ushers ate about four pounds of sausage and a pound of jerky after taking and counting the offering. Obviously they loved it. My wife took some sausage to school, and put it out in the teachers' lounge. Now teachers are notorious for eating anything free. It wasn't til they had gobbled it all down that someone asked about what it was. When told it was bear, about half turned green, and the others asked if she would bring more!

 

[Rudi]

I have never bagged a bruin either. Have had sausage, kind of a sharp taste. Would not hunt them if I still hunted.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Did get some from old Buddy Milt who dropped one up at Dulce, NM.
Got out my Game Cookbook, let's see, Bar, Bare, there it is, Bear.
Bear sauerbraten! That'll work.
Got that marination goodness going, in the frig overnight.
The next day My Son and I had it.
He's an asthmatic and his back broke out like a developing Polaroid picture.
Turns out he was allergic to the Sulfites in the Port Wine I put in the Marinate.
That's my only Bear Meat Adventure.

 

[Injunbro]

To me it's like pork only greasier. Boil a bear roast, dump the water then roast it as if it was pork. Delicious!

 

[federali]

One serving

I once had a sampling of bear meat and ostrich. It was at a hotel at a function sponsored by some nature group. Attendance was several hundred. As I recall, the bear tasted like pork but the ostrich: I would have rather eaten my boots.

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...they make a great hat when you're done eatin' 'em...

 

[LoboGunLeather]

My one and only experience with bear was in Georgia as a very young man. I baited a bear and killed it with a shotgun slug. Then the work started! Smelliest, nastiest, filthiest critters in the woods! Bear musk makes skunks smell better.

On to the kitchen. Roasts, steaks, chops, stew meat, ground meat, it is all very strongly flavored and leaves a greasy residue in the mouth and throat for hours. I gave away meat to friends, but no one ever wanted more. The family dog wasn't even interested in leftovers.

Never again. I leave the bears alone and wish them well as they clean up all the garbage in the woods.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Been known to tell folks that I have been to the ZI, PI, DI and the UP.
Went Deer Hunting up in the UP near Escanaba. Michigan that is.
I wore my warmest coat which was an AF Parka.
When my Buddy's Dad and Uncle saw that fur around the hood, they had a fit!
You look like a Bear! Apparently the Bears up that way are Green.
They absolutely would not let me leave the cabin in my Parka.
They loaned me a non -fur trimmed jacket.

 

[ladder13]

My one and only experience with bear was in Georgia as a very young man. I baited a bear and killed it with a shotgun slug. Then the work started! Smelliest, nastiest, filthiest critters in the woods! Bear musk makes skunks smell better.

On to the kitchen. Roasts, steaks, chops, stew meat, ground meat, it is all very strongly flavored and leaves a greasy residue in the mouth and throat for hours. I gave away meat to friends, but no one ever wanted more. The family dog wasn't even interested in leftovers.

Never again. I leave the bears alone and wish them well as they clean up all the garbage in the woods.

All of the above. I saw one in the Catskills many years ago and just let him walk. Too much work.

Saw a guy bag one a couple years later on the same mountain, he had to borrow the landowners front end loader to get it down to the lodge. No idea what he did with it then, as we headed back home and he was still there.

 

[Onomea]

I bet that folks who have had really bad experience with bear meat did not have a bear that had been properly dressed and whose meat had been maintained carefully.

Here's one guy's description of how to do it:

How to Properly Field Dress a Bear by Dr. Ken Nordberg

(Not that I have any intention of trying that myself!)

 

[Tubbsy]

Thats my experience with most game meats.... it amazes me how many hunters don't know how to properly process an animal.

 

[spricks]

I bagged 5 black bear so far, 3 with the .308 rifle and 2 with bow and arrow. We consider the meat excellent and would consider it dark pork. It is very good as roasts and the loins make excellent steaks. It makes some of the best sausage and would consider it premium.