Bear is not elk; it’s not even deer. Its flavor are richer, and it is much harder to cook correctly than many home chefs realize. This is a dense piece of meat high in collagen. Prepare it with care and it rewards; fail to do so and it punishes.
Try to grill your bear shoulder roast as if it were a filet mignon steak and what you’ll find on your plate wont resemble a steak at all (it will be tough), like chewing shoe leather. And this is where most folks go wrong: from the very beginning. You can see the cuts in the visual guide (above). The main cuts divides between heavy-worked muscles of the neck and limbs, and those on the spine which are more lean. Knowing a bit about animal alters your approach to cooking it.
How to Cook Bear Meat Safely and Well
Tenderloin and backstraps is superior. Located on the back side, these muscle fibers is fine-grained and take well to grilling. But what about hindquarters or shoulders? Forget what you learned. These are hard-working muscles. When bear was alive, they were moving around. There’s a lot of connective tissue in there. With low, slow heat, that tissue dissolve into gelatin. This isn’t a question of taste; it’s a matter of chemistry.
When dealing with bear meat, there is one thing more important than anything else: SAFETY. Bear meat has a greater potential to be infected with the parasitic roundworm called trichinosis then venison, which many folks cook rare. The roundworms (called Trichinella spiralis) lurk within muscle fibers and are killed when the interior temperature reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. No wiggle room here. A mistake will make you sick.
Cooking it to 160 degrees Fahrenheit eliminates them. Nope. This is another hunter camp myth. Freezing wont guarantee elimination. Use an instant read thermometer. And calibrate it. Poke several locations, including near the bone. It takes a while, but it will keep you from the ER. Every second matter for your safety.
Flavor depends greatly on seasonality as well. Bears harvested in spring will be darker and leaner. The flavor is mild, but it is likely also dry. They haven’t had time to build up enough fat to baste themselves while cooking. Bears harvested in the fall are a whole other story. They’ve spent the summer gorging themselfs on nuts and berries. They develops large fat deposits that insulate the meat to keep it from drying out.
This seasonality helps because if you harvest a spring bear, you may need some pork fat to grind into it. If you harvest one in fall, you’ll have enough richness to make it into a rich roast all by itself. Knowing this prevents you from wasting your ground sausage batch or dry burger.
Once the bear is down, paying close attention to detail are essential to processing it right away. Because of high level of unsaturated fat in bear fat, it will go rancid very quickly. Immediately following field dressing, remove all external fat. Don’t save this for back home. Remove the skin quickly in the field as well, this traps body heat, causing it to spoil quickly.
Render bear fat into lard promptly if you wish to preserve it. Bear lard has a very high smoke point. Its mild taste makes it an excellent choice for making pies or frying. It is a free bonus treat if done properly.
For some of those more difficult pieces (neck meat, shanks), braising is the way to go. First sear the meat to form a crust. Submerge it into a liquid (wine or even stock). Simmer until it’s tender when poked with a fork. Collagen melts into the liquid as it cooks. This not only thickens the liquid naturaly but gives it a depth that no store-bought broth will have.
For ribs, smoke them, but don’t let the temperature get too high. You want to render off the fat while keeping the lean meat moist. At the end of it all, however, eating bear meat is as much a test of perseverance as it is a treat. For those willing to put in the work, it’s worth learning about bear-safe practices. It is also worth mastering some basic culinary science. Finally, you should of take the time to trim your meat, dry-age it a bit, and cook it correctly.
Done well, the experience is very rewarding, the taste of sweetness and earth reminds you that you’re connected to the land; a package off the supermarket shelf will never do that for you. This is, after all, wild food at its purest form.