Alaskan Brown Bear Stroganoff Recipe | A Tasty Way To Prepare Bear (2024)

FAQs

How should bear be cooked? ›

Cooking bear meat: Like pork, the proper cooking time and temperature for bear meat is 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes per pound.

The best steaks come from the loin (aka backstraps). You can cut several large roasts from the front and hind quarters and reserve the rest for stew meat and/or grind into burger.

Place bear roast directly on the grill and cook for 1 hour. Remove roast from grill and place in a large dutch oven with garlic, orange juice, lime juice, bone broth and chipotle chilies. Cover and place back on the grill. Cook for 3-4 hours or until fork tender.

No matter the season or where the bear was harvested, bear meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to 165-degree internal temperature. This is due to the diseases it could carry.

Remember that bears often carry nasty parasites, but you will be fine if you always make sure to cook the meat to an internal temperature of 165℉. I often go higher than that just to make sure it's safe for consumption.

Trichinellosis, also called trichinosis, is a disease that people can get by eating raw or undercooked meat from animals infected with the microscopic parasite, Trichinella. Persons with trichinellosis may initially experience gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting.

Sous vide the steak for three to five hours at 140–144 degrees Fahrenheit (the longer you cook it, the more tender it will be). Take it out, season it, and reverse-sear. In my humble opinion, that's the best way to enjoy the rich, robust, and unique flavors bear meat has to offer.

Some game meat has received a bad reputation for palatability. For example, many hunters shun bear meat. However, most hunters who do eat black and brown/grizzly bear say the meat is usually good or very good, unless the animal has been feeding on fish.

Bear meat contains fewer calories per 100 grams of meat than even lean beef does. Bear meat is a great source of protein and many other essential nutrients. Hunting provides a recreational activity that boosts mental and physical health.

In fact, bear resembles a stronger, lean tasting beef more than anything to me. The texture is a bit more dense than beef, but overall, it's pretty similar. One of the reasons behind my findings might be because I don't keep the fat on the bear at all.

How to avoid trichinosis in bear meat? ›

Simply put, it's all bad stuff. Luckily, however, all this scary stuff is very easy to avoid. Killing trichinosis in the meat is as simple as cooking to the right temperature. 160 is more than ample temperature to kill all forms of trichinosis that may be living in the muscle tissue.

In Hulu's show, The Bear, they use Inside Top Round to make an Italian beef sandwich. But he claims to have gotten a bone-in variety which required an extra 2-hours of cooking because it needed to be braised.

Bear meat isn't tough, but it isn't good for steaks

Cooking bear so that it's well-done brings me to another point. A lot of people think bear meat is tough because they've had well-done bear seaks. If you ask me, no steak is good well done. It's tough, rubbery and dry.

Dark and rich like beef, subcutaneous fat like pork. Cook low and slow. I brought a roast to a church wild game dinner, just cooked it like a beef brisket in a smoker, I had old ladies coming up to me saying “I would have never thought I'd have ever ate a bear and especially enjoy it, but that was GREAT!”

Although it cooks much like pork in terms of fat content, bear has a very unique taste, which when prepared properly is absolutely flavorful.

Another major misconception about bear meat is that you must consume it well-done. As with poultry and fish, this isn't always the case. It does depend on the dish, but I recommend cooking bear meat sous vide style. This pasteurizes the meat but maintains the tenderness of a rare or medium-rare finish.

As omnivores, bears often carry the larvae of a nasty parasite, Trichina spiralis. Eating undercooked bear meat can cause trichinosis, which can cause severe sickness or even death in humans. That's why bear is most often cooked in stews, chilis, braises, or in well-cooked sausage. Skip the medium-rare bear steak.

There is no benefit to aging bear meat longer than 24 hours. It is very important to thoroughly cook bear meat until gray in color but do not cook in a microwave. Trichinosis is a common disease found in some bears, and this parasite can cause serious problems in humans.