Bear meat!!

[ohio boy]

Do you guys eat bear meat. I went to Quebec last yr and got a black bear. My outfitter said not to eat the meat because of parisites in the meat. He said you have to cook meat at over 450 degrees for x-amount of hrs to even try to kill the parisites. Anyone ever heard of this? Im one that believes in eating everything i kill.

[Indian Summer]

Can't help you there but I do know that normally you can verify the presence of parasites such as tapeworm larvae with a simple visual inspection. Did he say whether he thought they were present or is just playing it safe? Seems like it would have been nice of him to have a look and tell you for sure one way or another.

And no biggy Ohio but we have a forum called the Doc's Office for non-elk subjects.

I'm glad to hear you eat what you kill. I gave up hunting lots of different critters because I wasn't interested in eating them anymore.

[ohio boy]

My bad on writing this in wrong forum. But yea the outfitter said nobody has ever taken there bear meat home. He couldnt believe that I wanted to. He said all the bears have parasites. But i didnt seen anything visual like worms.

[Huntrgathr]

Had bear sausage for breakfast this morning and i put bear fat in my pemmican. By most estimates, about 5% of black bears contain the parasite responsible for Trichinosis ( the same thing you supposedly get from undercooked pork). This parasite is easily killed by cooking the meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Maybe Canadian bears have something worse - or maybe the guides just don't want to deal with the meat...

[ohio boy]

Thanks for info. Next bear i get im going to eat!!!

[Huntrgathr]

Full disclosure though - there are a lot of different strains of Trichinella (and probably other parasites) that vary geographically with bear. Do your own research too. But I know quite a few guys that eat bear without problems. I have only eaten a few bears and all were wild foraging bears ( not baited). I wouldn't be as keen on eating fed bears...

If you do decide to eat one, don't miss out on the fat. Trim it off the meat. Render it down like lard and cook with it. It helped me to think of bear like a dark meat pig or boar. I made a bunch of BBQ Bear ( like pulled pork) in a pressure cooker and it was Fan-Tastic ! Froze it in single portion vac bags. Makes great hot lunch on the Mtn. and gives you Strength of Bear

[ohio boy]

Yea we did hunt over bait but all we used was dog food with vanilla extract dripped on it. But like you said i shouldve done research before hand. I actually never guessed i wouldnt be bringing home meat if i got one. Definitely wanna try it one day.

[Elkonthebrain]

Joe Rogan has a pod cast interview with Stephen Rinella. (The guy from the show meateater). It's #450 on the Joe Rogan experience app. He talks about how he contracted trichinella from under cooked bear meat. From what I recall he said you could send a sample of your bear in to get tested. He also did say a high percentage of bears have trichinella in certain areas. Definitely a good listen. Check it out. I took from the interview if you cook the meat to the correct temperature you should be fine to eat it.

[pointysticks]

Rinella said 90% of the nations trichinosis cases ARE from bear meat. If you think about how few cases there are, it must mean that most bear meat is tainted.

I've eaten two bears. One was awful. The other is the best game meat I ever had. One was killed near a city dump. Easy math. .

I slow cook all of it.

Funny now Steve rinella is tainted. Anyone cannibalizes him better cook him well. His catching the bug taught me everything I know about the parasite. Crazy how only stomach acids cab breach the cyst.

[slim9300]

My partner canned the black bear I killed this year. It's the best slow cooked meat I have ever had including beef. (And I have eaten dozens of different elk and most species of deer) I didn't even want to eat the thing, but now I have reconsidered my opinion on bear. The nice thing about using a pressure cooker is that you can regulate the temp and cook time. Thus, there is zero chance of not killing the prions.

[wawhitey]

Bear meat is my favorite, no question. A young mountain bear tastes fantastic, but i dont know that i would want to eat a coastal bear, or one that lived where it could get into garbage or anything weird. I eat bear steaks and stew meat, i dont grind it. Better than elk or deer as far as im concerned. Also the lard is great for biscuits and pie crusts, or you can go all fight club and make soap out of it. this stuff is from last years bear.

[Huntrgathr]

Nice work on the soap Whitey ! I haven't tried biscuits yet. Do you have a recipe that you like ? I bake biscuits with butter regularly but have heard that baked goods with bear fat are way better. I know that in some circles, the bear fat is the most prized of all fats for cooking...

I actually started eating bear after reading "Meat Eater" by Steve Rinella. He speaks of it very fondly. Bummer he got worms but like he said, COOK IT WELL and you will have no problems.... I either pressure cook it or cook it looooong and slow to ensure it's safety.

[wawhitey]

Nice work on the soap Whitey ! .

Oh i cant take the credit. I killed the bear and carved off the fat, that was the extent of my involvement in the process. My mom has been making all kinds of soap, not just bear ass soap, for quite a while. I give her the nice clean bear fat and she renders it and makes the soap for me.

[wawhitey]

[quote="Huntrgathr"I haven't tried biscuits yet. Do you have a recipe that you like.[/quote]

I will dig up the biscuit recipe i like and pm it to you later np. But your statement about using rendered bear lard for baked goods in general is about right. Ever have a bear meat pot pie with a nice flaky crust made with the rendered fat? Delicious.

[six]

Only had 1 bear so far. It was delicious. Best wild game I have ever eaten. It had been foraging on berries in my area and was killed in the fall. Everyone at work said I must have marinated the steaks before grilling, but they were straight out of the freezer.

[elkmtngear]

I had given up on bear meat, until I went to Southeast Alaska in 2011 for a Moose hunt. One of the locals in Gustavus invited us to dinner, and his wife was a Native American...she made a Stroganoff that was out of this world. The secret was simply canning the bear meat (with just salt and water). Most of the spices and herbs she used were wild and hand-picked. Changed my mind for sure about bear meat.