Because Bear season is just around the corner .....

[Mikey]

Heres some recipes ....

[Mikey]

Older bear meat can be prepared as follows:

Flour
Salt and pepper
Thyme
1 cup sliced onions
4 tbsp. bacon fat
Bear steak, 3" thick
1 1/2 cups broth
1 cup red wine
2 tbsp. tomato paste

Pound the flour and dry seasonings into the steak with the edge of a plate or a meat pounder. Brown the onions in the bacon fat and add the meat. Brown meat well on all sides. Add part of the broth and wine and bring to a boil. Cook briskly for 5 minutes. Turn steak, reduce heat, and cover the pan. Simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours, adding more liquid if necessary. When steak is tender, remove it to a hot platter. Add the tomato paste and additional liquid, if needed, to the pan juices to make a smooth sauce. Taste for seasoning and pour over the steak. Surround with boiled potatoes, garnish with parsley, and serve with sauteed mushrooms.

[Mikey]

1 1/2 lbs. bear steak
1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 large onions, cut into 1/2" slices, rings
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (4 oz.) can sliced mushrooms
drain & reserve liquid
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
3 cups hot cooked rice

Cut steak into thin strips. In a large skillet (oven-proof, if desired), brown meat in oil, using high heat. Add onions. Saute until tender crisp. Blend soup, sherry, liquid from mushrooms, and garlic salt. Pour over steak. Add mushrooms. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1 hour or until steak is tender. (Or cover and bake at 350 degrees.) Serve over beds of fluffy rice. Makes 6 servings.

[Mikey]

Marinate bear stew meat in buttermilk and a tenderizer overnight. Wash thoroughly.
Bear Stew Meat
Carrots
Onions
Celery
Garlic
Salt and pepper

Dice bear meat into fork size portions. Brown quickly in a small amount of oil. Put bear meat, vegetables, seasonings and enough water to cover meat in a pot. Cover pot tightly and simmer until tender over low heat. Blend vegetables to thicken gravy and simmer, if necessary to thicken, or add water if needed.

[Mikey]

2 lbs. ground bear meat
1 tsp. garlic 1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tsp. salt
One half tsp. pepper

Mix. Form into balls. Brown in oil in frying pan. Deglaze pan, Add 2 tbsp. flour and water to make gravy, cover and simmer for 1 hour.



I like adding a favorite BBQ sauce while simering ....

[Mikey]

Ingredients
7 pounds pre-frozen or certified pork butt, cubed, fat included
3 pounds lean bear chuck, round or shank, cubed
5 tablespoons curing salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoons crushed anise seed
1 teaspoon garlic, very finely minced
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid
1 teaspoon saltpeter
6 feet small (1/2-inch diameter) hog casings


Grind the pork and bear through the coarse disk separately. Mix the meats together with the remaining ingredients. Spread the mixture out in a large pan, cover loosely with waxed paper, and cure in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours.

Prepare the casings (see instructions below). Stuff the sausage into the casings and twist off into then-inch links. Using cotton twine, tie two separate knots between every other link, and one knot at the beginning and another at the end of the stuffed casing. Cut between the double knots. This results in pairs of ten-inch links. The pepperoni are hung by a string tied to the center of each pair.

Hang the pepperoni to dry for six to eight weeks. Once dried, the pepperoni will keep, wrapped, in the refrigerator for several months.

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Preparing the Casing
Snip off about four feet of casing. (Better too much than too little because any extra can be repacked in salt and used later.) Rinse the casing under cool running water to remove any salt clinging to it. Place it in a bowl of cool water and let it soak for about half an hour. While you're waiting for the casing to soak, you can begin preparing the meat as detailed below. After soaking, rinse the casing under cool running water. Slip one end of the casing over the faucet nozzle. Hold the casing firmly on the nozzle, and then turn on the cold water, gently at first, and then more forcefully. This procedure will flush out any salt in the casing and pinpoint any breaks. Should you find a break, simply snip out a small section of the casing. Place the casing in a bowl of water and add a splash of white vinegar. A tablespoon of vinegar per cup of water is sufficient. The vinegar softens the casing a bit more and makes it more transparent, which in turn makes your sausage more pleasing to the eye. Leave the casing in the water/vinegar solution until you are ready to use it. Rinse it well and drain before stuffing.

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*Warning *
Illudes to what Chef Ment in the Bears season thread

The Trichinosis Problem
Several cases of trichinosis are reported in the United States every year. The number of cases each year is declining, but the possibility of trichinosis contamination is still a real possibility. Trichinosis is a disease caused by a parasitic roundworm, Trichinella spiralis, or, in English, trichina. The worm, found in some pork and bear meat, can be transmitted to humans if the meat is eaten raw or untreated. Trichinae mature in a person's intestines and are usually killed by the body's defenses. Some, however, can survive in the form of cysts in various muscles for years. Trichinosis, however, need not be a problem for the home sausage maker. In the case of fresh pork not used for sausage, the meat need only be cooked to an internal temperature of 137 degrees F(not even boiling point and less than what a home smoker cooks at ). Pork to be consumed raw, as in dried sausage, can be made completely safe and free of trichinae by freezing it to -200 degrees F. for six to twelve days, -100 degrees F. for ten to twenty days or 5 degrees F for twenty to thirty days. An accurate freezer thermometer is a must if you intend to prepare pork for dried sausage. These guidelines have been set by the USDA for commercial packers and are perfectly safe if followed by the home sausage maker. Never taste raw pork and never sample sausage if it contains raw pork that hasn't been treated as we have described.