Bear sausage ....Smoke or Summer???

[rhjbarney]

mikeihuntr i had a friend give me some bear meat . I never had it before but heard that it was greasy so i decided what better to do with greasey meat than to make a batch of smoked pepperoni snack STICKS. Turned out delicious. Gave my friend some and he told me if he gets another one next year we where going to make it all pepperoni sticks. Still waiting for the bear.

[ramt600]

mikeihuntr I have made lots of bear summer sausage. One of our favorites. Always mixed 30% pork butt in. Seems to be a great fat/meat mix. Also our family loves bear burgers, 10% pork fat mixed in. Have also mixed bear with elk and deer with great results.

[Big Game]

Bears can differ, and you could cook up a bit and see how it tastes to you. Definitely get off all the bear fat. I got a good, tasty bear, and made a great batch of summer sausage, using pork fatback.

[Jonathon]

Big Game that’s a good profile pic you have there!

[Big Game]

Jonathon Hey thanks! I am not yet a bear hunter, but I do hunt bear. We are overrun in California with black bears, and very few people hunt them. Contrary to widespread belief, bear meat can be delicious.

[Jonathon]

Big Game Yeah, when I was in our CS department I used to talk to a guy from Michigan all the time who said that bear sausage was his favorite thing to make and I’ve heard others say it as well. I also talked to a well known hunting TV personality who said his all-time favorite meat was Mountain Lion! He has some reserved for me the next time her goes.

[Big Game]

I was chatting with a guy in the Upper Peninsula, who was quite surprised to be talking with a Californian who hunts. Like me, he had recently taken a bear. He shared the meat with his friends, and they all went and bought bear tags. In discussing the bad reputation that bear meat has, he pointed out that back in the old days the local dumps were not fenced, and so the bears in the area were of course all eating at the dump. For anyone who is “on the fence” about eating bear, I would recommend this very balanced post by Hank Shaw. https://honest-food.net/pelmeni-and-the-eating-of-bears/

[Jonathon]

Big Game Yeah, I’ve heard Steve Rinella talk about what a bear is eating is a huge factor in how they taste. It makes sense, grass-fed vs corn fed beef makes a difference (I prefer corn fed) but it sounds like it matters even more with bears and maybe other predators as well.

[processhead]

Anyone have firsthand knowledge on the prevalence of trichinosis in bear meat and how to handle it while processing?

[Big Game]

I am just a hunter, but this is what I have understood. There was a study many years ago that estimated that 13% of black bears in California carry the parasite. For that matter, wild pigs can carry trich too. It is not something to be messed with. I did bear summer sausage last year, and cooked to IT of 160. Unless you do anything other than cook the meat to 160 degrees per CDC guidelines, you could have some risk. Do your own research, I would not take anyone’s word that their process is safe.

Here is the CDC on trich. https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/trichinellosis/hunters.html#:~:text=How can I prevent trichinellosis,of doneness for game meat

Steve Rinella and his crew got it on a black bear hunt. He talks about it on a MeatEater video, which is on YouTube. Hank Shaw also has a great blog post: https://honest-food.net/on-trichinosis-in-wild-game/

As for uncooked bear meat products like salami, is more complicated and I don’t yet understand how/if that could be done safely.

[processhead]

Thanks for sharing the links. They are both good articles for anyone considering processing their own bear or wild hog.

[Mike Sample]

I have eaten several back bear. I simply cook everything to an IT of 160. For me, anything less is just not worth the possibilities, BUT… As Rinella talks about on his show, getting trich is not that “bad” (I know, define bad). It just needs treated, then you’re a lifetime carrier. He stated he has no lasting side effects.

[Jonathon]

mike SAMPLE Its a good way to prevent being a victim to cannibalism I guess? For Monty Python fans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ZLNBXLcOQ

[Mike Sample]

Jonathon So true, Rinella brings that up, saying something like, really, the only ones negatively affected by his contracting would be zombies that ultimately feast on him during the apocalypses.
Love the Monty Python reference, who can’t use a little Monty in their everyday life!

[deanlorensen]

Dang, If I wasn’t so busy last night I would have taken pictures. A buddy killed a monster black bear (539lb hanging/10+ ft long) in September and took it to a locker to be processed. the butcher cut deboned the back legs and netted them. My buddy brought them over to have me make pastrami out of them. I did it but I wasn’t overly impressed with the final product. The meat didn’t seem to take the flavor like I wanted and the butcher didn’t do the greatest job on the cutting. I’m sure the butcher was thinking he was gonna crock pot the roasts and it wouldn’t matter; tons of tendons left and a little odd piece of meat that just fell apart when I un-netted to slice.

[Big Game]

That sucks. What an amazing bear he got. I killed a bear and didn’t have a local butcher so I went to Yelp. Initially the guy insisted that he could only give me cooked product because of trich danger. I told him to give it back fresh and put a sticker on it, like you get on every package of meat you ever buy. I wasn’t impressed with his Italian sausage. I wish I had butchered it and made sausage myself. Lesson learned, never again.

[Jonathon]

Big Game Where are you located? If you want to try again I’d be happy to ask our commercial salesmen if they know a place in your area that could do a good job?

[Big Game]

Thanks Jonathon. I was actually in Redding CA which is 8 hours north. Weather was hot, bear was huge, and it was all I could do get it chunked up and run into town and get sausage made. There are some decent butchers in that area but many of them will not handle bear, so I didn’t have much choice. That is actually what spurred me to take up sausage making, I figured I could do better than that butcher, and it turned out I can!

[Jonathon]

So, somewhere, on a podcast or a livestream or something I told a story about how I was sure I saw a Mountain Lion in suburban Wichita one day as I was walking my dogs. I talked myself out of it and even said I was crazy…well well well who is crazy NOW? https://www.ksn.com/news/local/caught-on-camera-a-mountain-lion-in-the-middle-of-wichita/

Me, it’s me, I am crazy

Credit goes to Tex_77 for finding this

[processhead]

Jonathon said in Bear sausage ....Smoke or Summer???:

So, somewhere, on a podcast or a livestream or something I told a story about how I was sure I saw a Mountain Lion in suburban Wichita one day as I was walking my dogs. I talked myself out of it and even said I was crazy…well well well who is crazy NOW? https://www.ksn.com/news/local/caught-on-camera-a-mountain-lion-in-the-middle-of-wichita/

Me, it’s me, I am crazy

Credit goes to Tex_77 for finding this

Speaking of lion, a friend of mine shot a lion in Colorado a few years ago and we grilled some of the loin.
It was amazing. Light pink like pork and very non-game like in flavor and texture.
Here kitty, kitty, kitty.