Trad Gang

Is bear meat fit to eat??? I've always heard that it isn't. If it is then could anyone tell me their recipes?  I might be going bear hunting sometime so just pm me if you can tell me anything.   Thanks

Bear has been some of the best and some of the worst meat I've ever had. It's vital to remove ALL fat and connective tissue. Keep the fat for projects, like patch lube and leather treating. I'm sure those way more knowledgeable than I will give you more and better info here shortly.

the bear needs to be dressed out and cooled down and, processed and frozen as quickly as possible with as close to sterile conditions as possible. Bear fat makes great lard. Bear that has been left too long or handled inproperly will be 9 times or more out of 10 the bad bear meat.

When I killed mine (362# boar) the guides left it until the next day.  It was close to freezing though.  They said that they never field dress them!  I was worried.  We gutted and cleaned it the next day.  It went into the freezer in quarters about 18 hours after the kill.  I got it home half frozen and cleaned it up and cut it into steaks, roasts, and stew like I do most of my venison.  It was as good as any wild game I have ever had.  It was awesome any way I chose to cook it.  One of my favorites for sure!

It depends on what they have been eating, some of the bears I have killed from way up high have been eating nothing but berry's and I think the meat is some of the best meat on the planet.
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Angus beef would taste off if poorly handled after harvest. Bear is just as tasty as good beef if properly handled and prepared.

I would recommend you try one of the old dutch oven stew recipes that uses cubed bear meat. I go through a bunch of bear meat each year making dutch oven stew and have never had a bad batch and have never had a single complaint.

Daddy Bear

MMMmmmm. Bear stew. Do a search and you'll get a couple good threads on some of the best eating there is.

Just had this conversation with Stripstrike1 today. One of the best meals that I ever had was a smoked black bear shoulder. I didn't kill or prepare it myself but, it sure was some fine eatin!

Now if they'd just let us start huntin them here in the People's Republic of New Jersey again. I had 19 daylight sightings in my yard last year. Who knows how many came by during the night.

Ron

Bear Stew is very good, Bear steaks are good, If you have someone make Breakfast sausage out of your Bear. I think you will agree that it will be the best sausage you have ever eaten! Good Luck

Thanks guys  What do you put in the stew?(vegetables,spices,ect)

The best campfire meal I've ever had was at bear camp last year.  We took the fresh ribs of a my bear and slow roasted them over the fire while adding bbq sauce and seasoned salt while they cooked.  They were delicious!  I've had a lot of bear stew and sausage and have never heard a complaint.

Vig

Bear meat is a lot better the i thought great tasting.butter, onion, salt, pepper cooked real slow on stove .

anybody have a recipe for brining bear for ham?

Sharpster, I see bears almost every time I hunt in NJ. Too bad Komisar Korzine goes along with the rest of the many ignorants in that state. Any way, If the bear is eating well, he taste good. If he eats trash.... Well you are what you eat.

This will start you off on the correct foot:

4 to 5 lbs bear meat cut in 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup flour
1 tbs italian seasoning
4 tbs butter
2 tbs vegetable or corn oil
1 large onion diced
1 8 oz. tin beef broth
4 bay leaves (do not eat)
2 lb small. potatoes
1 lb fresh mushrooms if button size do not slice
5 carrots sliced
1 turnip cubed
5 parsnip sliced (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 Deg.. put flour with seasonings in plastic bag and shake until bear meat coated, combine oil and butter in skillet and brown meat and drain off grease from meat.
In a large dutch oven add 2 or 3 qts. of water and all ingredients. Cook approx. 2 to 3 hours adding water if necessary checking every 30 minutes.
Serve with fresh rolls or italian bread.

later,
Daddy Bear

I have had it good and bad - but I htink the bad stuff was due to the meat being handled incorrectly. When the meat is odne proper i tis some of the best.

J

That's exactly right J-dog.  Handled correctly I think it is a wonderful meat.  Heck, my wife is pretty fussy about what she will eat, and she personally would eat bear over deer!  I think it has a somewhat "sweet" taste to it.  Very tasty!

cook it slow.... take the backstrapes and smoke them for 3 hours.... Take one of them and cut it up to make stew with, The other slice them up and finish cooking them. Now You have 2 meals from 2 back strapes....


Note: take off as much fat as you can....Cook it slow....really slow....

We have "cornfield' bears here in Eastern NC, would like to try "mountain berry" bears!

J

We got a PA black bear several years ago.  It was handled correctly (field dressed and cooled ASAP).  We marinated one of the bear steaks overnight and cooked it on the grill.  We also prepared a beef steak for those who were scrunching up their noses at the bear steak.  Well the bear steak was so good, that is was even better than the beef steak.  And this opinion was from them who swore they would not like the bear steak.

We were told to treat it like pork and make sure it is thoroughly cooked.

i cure and smoke the hams from bear, and like that a lot.
out here in the fall, you don't have much time to get all the leaf fat off, gut , and cool. it will bone sour really quick.
i don't hunt or eat spring bear. they smell bad to me, and a bear seems to taste like they smell when you dress them out.
the brine i mix for all meat is, all the salt the water will absorb and then another sack.
protein will only absorb a liitle salt if the brine is maximum strength. if the brine is weak, meat will absorb all the salt in the brine.
after the meat is out of the brine, i cold smoke and then bring the meat up to temp.

Wow thanks for all the posts guys.

Bears taken here in the mountains in September when their diet is primarily berries are excellent...some of the best wild game anywhere.   :goldtooth:  

However, those bears that are feasting on fish are not quite as tasty.    

Bear is very good if properly cared for and depending on its diet.  If you shoot one off of a stream where it has been living off of fish for weeks it will smell and taste like canned cat food!    :scared:   but a berry bear is as good as eating gets    :thumbsup:   Joseph

Have any of you heard how bear from TN taste?

Remember to cook it well done, like pork, because bears have a chance of carrying Trichinellosis.

Ya'll got me hungry!I believe I could eat a big ol bait of that right now  :bigsmyl:

Me 2

If you treat the bear like you're going to eat it from the time you kill it.It is very good.I killed a #244 bear here in Pa. in 2000 ,we had 6" of snow and the bear was field dressed,placed in the bed of my truck that was filled with snow,left in the truck overnight with bags of ice inside the chest cavity.I took it to be skinned and cut up first thing the next morning.Alot of people told me it wasn't fit to eat but I wanted to try it.Honestly it was good everyway I tried it.I had some smoked and it was very good too.I am going on an elk and bear hunt this fall and will definitely not waste the bear meat.

My father-in-law is a big bear hunter and has hunted them for years so his wife knows how to cook them good . The best way she cooked it to me was like country style steak and gravy with home made bickets . Boy you talk about good eatting .

Mike

My 14 yr. old got one this past season with his bow. One of the most exciting moments of his and my life. It was a 175 lb. boar. The meat is gone from our freezer. We cooked it similar to beef but at least medium to medium well. Always marinated and on my charcoal grill. Some of the best meat that I've eaten.

Kyle

Ive had some good'ns and some bad'ns. I havent had a bad tasting bow-killed bear!

My favorite recipe for any wild game that is either tough or is particularily gamey tasting is this...

Roll thin steaks in flour, salt and pepper. Sear one side, flip, and add coarse cut onions. Once second side is seared pour in a can of Coke(not Pepsi) till steaks are just covered. Cover and simmer for forty five minute to an hour.

I like to take the steaks and put them and some of the onions on buttered rolls. You can also remove steaks and onions from the pan when done, and mix up half a package of beef gravy mix and add to pan. Scrape all the goodies off bottom of pan(deglaze the pan) and pour gravy over steaks and some spuds.

That sounds mighty like some mighty fine eatin'.Does it have a wild/gamey taste to it?

QuoteOriginally posted by Gene Roberts:
That sounds mighty like some mighty fine eatin'.Does it have a wild/gamey taste to it?

As others have stated, if the meat is properly cared for from field dressing to freezer, it's generally as good as any cut of beef. Ive had big ole bucks late in the rut that were pretty gamey but even they make good table fare if prepared creatively. The only other gamey meat came from adrenaline when a moose was one lunged and over-stressed before being dispatched.

The Coke recipe both breaks down the fibers to make it very tender, but also gives it a light sweet taste that even made an old mountain goat edible. Now thats somethin'!!!!!

Out of all the wild game that i`ve taking- bear meat is my wifes #1 choice. Its also 1st gone at my summer company  party (only if they new;)  :biglaugh: