Eating Bear????
#11
RE: Eating Bear????
I've eaten a lot of bear meat over the years. Usually in some sort of grind. Burger, peperoni, jerky, breakfast sausage, summer sausage, choriso, etc. Because of it's "greasy" nature, it tends to lend itself well to the grinder. You get a sticky ground meat that takes little addition of pork fat to make it any stickier.
As far as taste, it ranks up there with elk and venison.
As far as taste, it ranks up there with elk and venison.
#12
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Baytown, Texas
Posts: 415
RE: Eating Bear????
ORIGINAL: trouthunter
I've eaten a lot of bear meat over the years. Usually in some sort of grind. Burger, peperoni, jerky, breakfast sausage, summer sausage, choriso, etc. Because of it's "greasy" nature, it tends to lend itself well to the grinder. You get a sticky ground meat that takes little addition of pork fat to make it any stickier.
As far as taste, it ranks up there with elk and venison.
I've eaten a lot of bear meat over the years. Usually in some sort of grind. Burger, peperoni, jerky, breakfast sausage, summer sausage, choriso, etc. Because of it's "greasy" nature, it tends to lend itself well to the grinder. You get a sticky ground meat that takes little addition of pork fat to make it any stickier.
As far as taste, it ranks up there with elk and venison.
#14
RE: Eating Bear????
i have tried it more than once and it always tasted the same to me. My wife wants me to shoot one for but No Thanks I can not stand the taste of bear. Anything I would not eat I leave alone and let someone else shoot them. I know a quite of fews folks that like them and quite a few folks like me that says no way. Tried them and that is to much for me.
#15
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Skowhegan, Maine
Posts: 19
RE: Eating Bear????
Bear meat only tastes bad when its not properly taken care of. The key is to clean and cool the bear immediately. Many peoplewant to drive around town with the animal in the back of the truck to show it off, or feel they should hang the bear for a few days to "get the game taste out of it". This practice is what makes the meat taste bad. A bear needs to be properly field dressed, cleaned with cool water and the hide needs to be removed asap. If you can't get the hide off then pack the cavity with bags of ice until you can.
Once you taste a bear roast from an animal that has been properly field dressed and cooled you will be craving it as much as venison, I know I do!
Once you taste a bear roast from an animal that has been properly field dressed and cooled you will be craving it as much as venison, I know I do!
#16
RE: Eating Bear????
Wow, never heard so many people bash bear meat before, If it is taken care of quick and properly it is as good as venison, elk, mule deer etc,etc,. Bear has gotten a bad rap over the years, we have all heard it," they eat garbage and rotten animals" well I personally love bear meat and so have alot of my coworkers and friends that thought they were eating venison or elk or whatever else I told them it was and then I tell them what it really is and they love it...Bear steaks are very good but demanding, as said before clean the meat well, get the hide off as quick as possible, make sureyou bleed the bear as well as possible, most people dont do that they drive around with their bear for a couple days to show off to thier buddies instead of taking care of the meat, think about it their hide is thick and needs to be taken off, and get the meat cleaned up and you will be happily surprised..Just remember for most of the year a bear eats berries and bugs, nothing wrong with that...Good luck and good chewing...
#17
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Washington State
Posts: 127
RE: Eating Bear????
Bear meat is some of the best eating wild game. Those that don't like it most likely did not take care of it properly or it wasn't cooked right.
I love backstrap roasts, and I also can it for french dip and shredded tacos.
Here is a post of mine from another thread on some bear pepperoni that I made last week.
We did a little meat grinding this weekend. My father made 30 lbs of burger and 30 lbs of Polish Sausage. I did 50 lbs of breakfast sausage (two types and some as patties and links) and since I had a fairly successful season I decided to try my hand at making homemade pepperoni. I chose Eastman Outdoors snack stick kit.
This kit comes with the spices, cure and casings. There are two types of spices (Hickory and Spicey) and it does 15 lbs of meat (or so it says). There were not enough casings in my kit and we had over 3 lbs of meat that we could not stuff. I used two thirds bear meat and one third pork shoulder butt roast.
I forgot to take pictures while grinding and stuffing, but I did manage to take some near the end of the smoking phase.
Normally when smoking I use a double burner hot plate but as we have had high temps below freezing I am using my propane burner. I smoked the meat for a couple hours and then just heat for 6 more hours for a total of about 8 hrs at 160 degrees. I just took it out for the evening and may have to cook a small batch of the thicker pieces for an additional couple of hours.
Overall, right now, I think that I would use this kit again, if I found additional sheep casings. In the next few days I will know for sure...depends on the taste...LOL
In the first pic you can see the hot plate underneath the burner. I put the shelf in about halfway through the proccess to disperse the heat better.
This is how it hung for most of the time. I did rotate the batches up and down as well as from front to back to help it cook evenly.
For the last hour and a half the meat laid on racks to help cook the meat where it hung over the sticks. Again I rotated the batches.
I love backstrap roasts, and I also can it for french dip and shredded tacos.
Here is a post of mine from another thread on some bear pepperoni that I made last week.
We did a little meat grinding this weekend. My father made 30 lbs of burger and 30 lbs of Polish Sausage. I did 50 lbs of breakfast sausage (two types and some as patties and links) and since I had a fairly successful season I decided to try my hand at making homemade pepperoni. I chose Eastman Outdoors snack stick kit.
This kit comes with the spices, cure and casings. There are two types of spices (Hickory and Spicey) and it does 15 lbs of meat (or so it says). There were not enough casings in my kit and we had over 3 lbs of meat that we could not stuff. I used two thirds bear meat and one third pork shoulder butt roast.
I forgot to take pictures while grinding and stuffing, but I did manage to take some near the end of the smoking phase.
Normally when smoking I use a double burner hot plate but as we have had high temps below freezing I am using my propane burner. I smoked the meat for a couple hours and then just heat for 6 more hours for a total of about 8 hrs at 160 degrees. I just took it out for the evening and may have to cook a small batch of the thicker pieces for an additional couple of hours.
Overall, right now, I think that I would use this kit again, if I found additional sheep casings. In the next few days I will know for sure...depends on the taste...LOL
In the first pic you can see the hot plate underneath the burner. I put the shelf in about halfway through the proccess to disperse the heat better.
This is how it hung for most of the time. I did rotate the batches up and down as well as from front to back to help it cook evenly.
For the last hour and a half the meat laid on racks to help cook the meat where it hung over the sticks. Again I rotated the batches.