Bear Meat is delicious.

[d3ntalbliss]

Tried my first bit of bear meat yesterday, it was delicious. Grilled a chunk of backstrap and made a ham.

The ham was a lot of work. Brined for about 9 days. Smoked it for about 7.5 hours and did an apricot maple glaze.
The backstrap was great despite being medium well to ensure no trichinosis. The ham was beautiful, but a touch too salty. Likely brined it too long or didn't rinse enough before smoking. I ended up trussing it after trimming fat and silver skin.

This just makes me want to go bear hunting more.

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[d3ntalbliss]

Missed the backstrap picture

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[Laramie]

I have heard some say it is great, others not so much. I personally have no interest but I'm guessing prep has a lot to do with the end result. Glad you are using the meat well.

 

[rclouse79]

Looks amazing. I highly recommend slow cooking the entire front quarter in a cast iron pot for 7 hours at 225. Might be the best thing I have ever eaten.

 

[d3ntalbliss]

Looks amazing. I highly recommend slow cooking the entire front quarter in a cast iron pot for 7 hours at 225. Might be the best thing I have ever eaten. View attachment 195082

Did you do bone in? Did you sear the meat prior? Looks great.

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[Tmac]

It can be great and it can be nearly inedible imo. Depends on time of year taken I suspect and probably more importantly what they are eating. I’ve had both...

 

[rclouse79]

Did you do bone in? Did you sear the meat prior? Looks great.

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I left the bone in. I had to saw off the bone connected to the leg, and trim the meat back from the top of the shoulder blade and saw it off so it would fit in the bottom of the Dutch oven. I salt and peppered it and seared it on all sides in bear fat. In addition to what you can see I added a cup of red wine and a cup of beef broth, cloves, bay leaves and garlic. When you pull it out the meat literally falls off the bone. This is the dish that changed my wife’s mind about eating bear.

 

[Marmots]

I love bear meat.

I just roasted up a hindquarter for a get together and folks are it down to the bone. I seared it in a dutch oven for ten minutes, then roasted it at 325 for four hours in a sweet and sour sauce made of lemon juice, brown sugar, honey, and cloves.

Another kinda kooky recipe is spiced backstrap or tenderloin. I rub thin chops in a paste mix of cinammon, cloves, and allspice, then grill them well done. I have no idea why a spice mix that usually belongs on French toast tastes so good on bear meat, but it works.

 

[Bärenjäger]

Looks amazing. I highly recommend slow cooking the entire front quarter in a cast iron pot for 7 hours at 225. Might be the best thing I have ever eaten. View attachment 195082

Second that!

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[kcm2]

Find a beef burgundy recipe and substitute bear meat. One of the best meals I've ever eaten....

 

[AndySee]

Tried my first bit of bear meat yesterday, it was delicious. Grilled a chunk of backstrap and made a ham.

The ham was a lot of work. Brined for about 9 days. Smoked it for about 7.5 hours and did an apricot maple glaze.
The backstrap was great despite being medium well to ensure no trichinosis. The ham was beautiful, but a touch too salty. Likely brined it too long or didn't rinse enough before smoking. I ended up trussing it after trimming fat and silver skin.

This just makes me want to go bear hunting more.

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Damn this looks like corned beef! Getting hungry for August

 

[TheGDog]

I love bear meat.

I just roasted up a hindquarter for a get together and folks are it down to the bone. I seared it in a dutch oven for ten minutes, then roasted it at 325 for four hours in a sweet and sour sauce made of lemon juice, brown sugar, honey, and cloves.

Another kinda kooky recipe is spiced backstrap or tenderloin. I rub thin chops in a paste mix of cinammon, cloves, and allspice, then grill them well done. I have no idea why a spice mix that usually belongs on French toast tastes so good on bear meat, but it works.

The cloves and allspice would work well.

I wonder how Cardamom and Mint + a little Chicken Bouillion, in Olive Oil.. as a brush-on for a low Broil would work? That's a delicious one for Pork Loin, so I bet it'd be good here too!

 

[TheGDog]

You can make anything taste good if you know the techniques. Definitely meticulously remove all silver skin, tendons and clear viscera! They are what hold on to those icky smells and tastes. (Pro tip, Dogs loves those tissues even though they smell horrible to us) And then, let the meat soak in multiple water changes to pull out the blood within the meat. But only do this with the piece you're about to cook that day. That blood is also what can give stuff the "gamey" scent/taste.

Also let your nose guide you in terms of picking your spices. As a general rule, I match strong with strong, dark with dark, light with light, in terms of herbs and spices for a cut of a particular meat.

I most typically just do everything as a Low Broil, with an Olive Oil brush-on where I add the spices and herbs I choose into the minor amount of Olive Oil and mix it all up and brush it on with a Silicone BBQ brush. Then lightly salt with Lawry's Seasoned Salt to help hold the brushed on oil in place. The herbs you use help to hold the Olive Oil against the meat. The Olive Oil acts sorta like both a conduit to let the flavor get into the meat, and as a protection against drying out during the broil.

The thickness of the cut of meat, and amount of time spent in the broil is what determines how long it takes for a through and through the cooking of the flesh. You end up eventually finding a thickness of cut which lets you cook the meat juuuust to that point of being safely cooked all the way thru, without the outside getting too dry. That's where the Olive Oil brush-on really shines.

If you want to attempt cooking a thick piece whole, for presentation purposes, then I'd go the route you do with like a Pork Loin. Doing a pan-sear all along the outside with the oil with herbs/spices. Then re-apply the Brush-On, then tent with aluminum foil and do an oven scenario, for however long it takes to be juuust cooked thru and thru. I always think Low and Slow. There are very few cases where low and slow isn't the way. Like.. Scallops comes to mind as being an exception. As an example.

Anyway.. thank you soo much for presenting those delicious looking photos! A Black Bear is one of my goals, so seeing this pics helps keep me motivated for that.

 

[Hogyotedeer]

Looks amazing. I highly recommend slow cooking the entire front quarter in a cast iron pot for 7 hours at 225. Might be the best thing I have ever eaten. View attachment 195082

My wife would like to know how to made this, Could you please PM me ? I still have some bear meat in the freezer.

 

[Rob5589]

Looks amazing. I highly recommend slow cooking the entire front quarter in a cast iron pot for 7 hours at 225. Might be the best thing I have ever eaten. View attachment 195082

I do the same with deer front shoulders and they come out fantastic. I usually make gravy with the juice, also amazing. My wife isn't a deer venison fan and even she loves it.

 

[Nick Muche]

If your ham was too salty, try soaking it in just water for a day after the brine and after you rinse it off. That has helped me out a lot when making a bear ham.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

We ground green chile into some meat off a bear that was eating mostly acorn and yucca. It makes unreal burgers. The steaks were great, but damn.. I haven't eaten a burger that compares to that in a long time.

 

[TheGDog]

We ground green chile into some meat off a bear that was eating mostly acorn and yucca. It makes unreal burgers. The steaks were great, but damn.. I haven't eaten a burger that compares to that in a long time.

They know to eat Yucca Huh? The root, right?

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

They know to eat Yucca Huh? The root, right?

The ones I've watched eat the fruit out of the middle.

 

[Mark86]

Agree, bear meat is delicious and it makes me want to hunt them more