Had our First Bear Meat.

[dverna]

Yesterday we had a bear "net" roast. For those who do not know, that is seasoned cubed bear meat that is stuffed into netting.

Cooked it in a slow cooker with olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, honey, chicken broth and pinch of ground ginger.

Man was it GOOD. Meat came form a smallish 146 lb bear my buddy shot this year. Made a bit of gravy from the liquid in the slow cooker and added a bit of teriyaki and Worcestershire sauce. Baked potatoes and corn rounded it out.

[merlin101]

That sounds good! Does cubing it tenderize it? Or is to speed up cooking or what?

[Lloyd Smale]

cubing does a few things. It allows you to take a rougher piece of meat and first trim it down better. then it allows the heat to work on breaking down the toughness a bit better but mostly it allows more of your meat to be in contact with the spices. I used to do it a lot but not much anymore. I get enough wild game that I can use the tougher cuts for burger and my roasts are pretty much pure red meat and because its just the wife and I they don't have to be all that big to begin with.

[lightman]

That sounds delicious! The only bear that I ever had was done like a beef stew.

[Markopolo]

My mother was and is the best bear cook.. and my favorite was Corned bear... she would corn the large roasts, and we would eat corned Bear meat sandwiches on her home made bread with mustard... I am drooling at 0400 am.....

[sukivel]

My mother was and is the best bear cook.. and my favorite was Corned bear... she would corn the large roasts, and we would eat corned Bear meat sandwiches on her home made bread with mustard... I am drooling at 0400 am.....

I’m drooling right now...


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[jdfoxinc]

My buddy harvested a bear 2 seasons ago. He said it tasted like *** no matter what way it was cooked. Even mixed with other meats.

[Wheelguns 1961]

My buddy harvested a bear 2 seasons ago. He said it tasted like *** no matter what way it was cooked. Even mixed with other meats.

I heard the same thing. With all the positive posts here maybe some are not cleaning or preparing correctly. No bear in my state, but there is just north of me. I have an aquaintenance that shot a smallish black bear on an out of state hunt. I will ask him about the meat next time I talk to him.

[Minerat]

Bear meat is and aquired taste. One I never got. I won't shoot one just so I don't have to eat it and if a friend does, I refuse to take any just to they can enjoy the entire thing.

[Lloyd Smale]

Some may laugh at me. I eat all kinds of wild game and have eaten bear many times but am not a big fan. Its not that it tastes bad its that when I grew up and was a teenager we had an open dump outside of town that we use to go to to shoot varmints. Place was lousy with bear in the evening and I watched them eating and rolling in maggots and trash and just consider them a very dirty animal. I know a wild bear in the woods is a bit cleaner in its habbits but they still will eat maggot infested meat if they find a carcass and are much more prone to parasites then most wild game. For the most part when I shoot one I either make sausage with it using a cure or give it away. When I worked I had a partner that just loved bear meat. he had standing offer to me that if I gave him my bear he would give me two butchered deer after deer season. He got a lot of them. I made out because I got more meat and didn't even have to butcher it. He made out because he did taxidermy on the side and could sell the bear rugs he made and his family like bear meat more then they did deer.
Bear meat is and aquired taste. One I never got. I won't shoot one just so I don't have to eat it and if a friend does, I refuse to take any just to they can enjoy the entire thing.

[MaryB]

Black bear is meh... had brown bear in AK at my nephews. Wow! Is that tasty stuff!

[Bazoo]

I had bear steak and roast at a wild game banquet I went to earlier this year. First time for bear, and it was good. The roast was not as good. Dunno if it was just the way it was cooked or the way it had been stored. The steak was amazing though. Flavor and texture was great.

I might add, it was black bear, and the taste of the steak was very similar to beef. Where as the roast was about halfway between beef and elk in my estimation.

[Dieselhorses]

Are you all happy now? Sitting here, mouth watering, hungry again! Gotta head for kitchen!

[Lloyd Smale]

bear does have a flavor (or lack of flavor) closer to beef then venison. You could feed someone a bear roast claiming it was beef and easily fool them. Mostly because bear fat is palatable and venison isn't.
I had bear steak and roast at a wild game banquet I went to earlier this year. First time for bear, and it was good. The roast was not as good. Dunno if it was just the way it was cooked or the way it had been stored. The steak was amazing though. Flavor and texture was great.

I might add, it was black bear, and the taste of the steak was very similar to beef. Where as the roast was about halfway between beef and elk in my estimation.

[snowwolfe]

I have tried eating black bear meat from every one I killed or someone in our party killed. All I can say is yuck, lol. Spring bear, fall bear that been eating berries, they were all disgusting.
I am glad the OP found a good tasting one. They have to be pretty rare.

[ShooterAZ]

One thing about eating bear, don't cook it rare! Those rascals carry more parasites than any pig ever did. My dad hunted them and liked eating them... So, I have eaten it before, and it wasn't anything that I'd write home about. I would like to try some that someone's mother, or great aunt cooked that was really good eating. I think sometimes there's an art to cooking certain things. Bear must be one of them.

[Hickok]

Bear meat is and aquired taste. One I never got. I won't shoot one just so I don't have to eat it and if a friend does, I refuse to take any just to they can enjoy the entire thing.My feelings exactly. I have tried bear meat every way it could be cooked, made into jerky, roasted, etc., and I just can't keep it in my mouth long enough to swallow it!. The more I chew it, the bigger it gets! Spit and sputter and out it goes.

I wont hunt them as I can't stand to gut them, clean them or eat them.

[azrednek]

In the late 60's one of our customers, a retired multi millionaire used to travel around different states and hunt. He brought us some bear jerky that was gross tasting. I gave my portion to my dog. On another occasion he brought us his home made sausage made with bear and elk meat that was delicious.

[dk17hmr]

I don’t have time to hunt them so I have to rely on my buddies to supply meat. I make summer sausage and smoked hams out of it. Everyone that has tried it seems to like it.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/dk17hmr/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG-0919_zpsylxsr4wn.jpg (http://s48.photobucket.com/user/dk17hmr/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG-0919_zpsylxsr4wn.jpg.html)

[Spooksar]

The time of year and how you handle it makes a big difference in the taste. Bears first out of the den in the spring are horrible, give them 3 weeks of eating clover they are great. Get one that’s been in a Huckleberry patch for a while, it’s to die for.

[Smoke4320]

I just wonder if there is a alien somewhere typing .. don't eat the humans coming out of Walmart only the ones from whole foods!

[dverna]

One thing...bear meat can spoil quickly.

Another thing...a bear hanging after being field dressed and skinned looks a lot like a human...and that can play in people’s heads.

Bear fat is disgusting and you must get it off the meat. One of my neighbors does bear ribs. He cuts as much fat off as possible and then boils them for 90 minutes to get more fat out. Then in the grill...and they are good. Most people just throw bear ribs out but they can be good IF done properly.

[wildwilly501]

I can't make myself like bear meat I've tried it many times many ways and I don't like it and I'm not a picky eater.

[Lloyd Smale]

Id rather gut and cut up 20 deer then one 200lb bear. there greasy smelly and nasty. I remember one my dad shot at camp back when you could shoot one with your deer license. He skinned it hung it out front of camp and not a sole in camp would eat it. It looked just like a 4 foot muscle builder would look like if you skinned and hung him. Dad cooked some venison steak and a batch of bear steak for the crew one morning without them knowing it. they licked up both plates. there was one piece of bear left when my dad admitted what he did and not a single one of his buddys would eat it!!
My feelings exactly. I have tried bear meat every way it could be cooked, made into jerky, roasted, etc., and I just can't keep it in my mouth long enough to swallow it!. The more I chew it, the bigger it gets! Spit and sputter and out it goes.

I wont hunt them as I can't stand to gut them, clean them or eat them.

[AllanD]

I've been told that the absolute best tasting bear meat comes from a late summer bear that you have personally killed while it was trying to kill and eat you, apparently the claim is that the "revenge" improves the flavor, I have no personal experience, so I'll leave it there...

[Traffer]

Never had bear but from what I have heard, It depends a lot on when you shoot them and where they feed.

[GregLaROCHE]

To be good first it’s got to be black bear and a young one, even better if it’s a good blueberry year. The worst meat I’ve ever tried to eat was an old grizzly that had been eating salmon.

I never cook it like steaks. Always like beef stew with plenty of garlic and some tomato. You need to cook down for quite a while. Season it the way you like. I like a bit of hot pepper in most things.

Other way is to marinate it in red wine and herbs for twenty four hours. Then cook down smaller pieces or roast bigger one basting with olive oil.

Believe it or not bears are very closely related to pigs. That’s why they are called bores and sows. Unfortunately, they can also get trichinoses too. Be sure it’s cooked well.

If you like wild hog you should also like bear. Cook bear with herbs and spices the same as wild hog and you will have a difficult time telling them apart.

I’ve never made it, but have eaten a lot bear sausage. I think you trim off all the bear fat and add pig fat.

Don’t forget the nice rug they can make.

Finally, you can render down some fat and it’s great for leather boots.

Have I forgotten anything? Maybe a necklace of bear claws too!

[snowwolfe]

Thank Mr Google for this:

Bears are not part of the pig family. Bears come from the Ursidae family, while pigs are part of the Suidae family. Both bears and pigs have the same infraclass, Theria, which includes all mammals the have placentas such as tigers and horses.

Although bears and pigs do not share the same family, they do have a few similarities. For instance, they both have broad molars used to crush food, and they both use mud to maintain their body temperatures. Scientists classify the males as boars and the females as sows.

Bears or the Ursidae family are close relatives of dogs, seals and skunks because they are all in the Carnivora order. The Ursidae family consists of five genera, including Ailuropoda, Helarctos, Tremarctos, Melursus and Ursus. The four species in the Ursus genus include American black bear, brown bear, polar bear and Asiatic black bear.

Pigs or the Suidae are more closely related to other even-toed hoofed animals, such as deer, camels, cattle and giraffes, because they are all in the Artiodactyla order. The Suidae family is broken into the Babyrousa, Hylochoerus, Phacochoerus, Potamochoerus and Sus genera. Warthogs belong to the Phacochoerus genus, while boars and pigs belong to the Sus genus.

[GregLaROCHE]

Always good to know the real facts. Good job on that research.