And I will say that you likely sip your chai tea with your pinky upraised...... And haven't spent any significant time in northern Canada.......
Grizzly vs Black Bear Taste
- Thread starter TrevorMack
- Start date
And I will say that you likely sip your chai tea with your pinky upraised...... And haven't spent any significant time in northern Canada.......
CreamySmooth
CGN frequent flyer
Spent a lot of time there. I'm talking past the tree line. Not the pretty forested part you consider north. Once people get over National Geographic telling them that snow desert and rock are "beautiful"... it's not.... And then get over the astronomical crime there.... you can get over the Arctic north pretty fast. But the bear is friggin delicious!!
Off for some black tea.... Don't like Chai... That's more an Ontario thing I think. ��
If you shoot a fish bear, for trophy or out of desperation you can make it palatable in the same way as a seaduck.
No, not boiling it with a rock in a pot, remove all the exterior fat and brine the meat. If this fails (it won't unless you can't remove the fat) grind it and mix with pork leg or soak it in buttermilk.
Another way is to make city hams from the primal cuts. I plan on making ham's and back bacons from a blacky this year if I can connect. I will double smoke them with oak and cherry and then cook them with reduced Dr.Pepper. Now I am hungry.
No, not boiling it with a rock in a pot, remove all the exterior fat and brine the meat. If this fails (it won't unless you can't remove the fat) grind it and mix with pork leg or soak it in buttermilk.
Another way is to make city hams from the primal cuts. I plan on making ham's and back bacons from a blacky this year if I can connect. I will double smoke them with oak and cherry and then cook them with reduced Dr.Pepper. Now I am hungry.
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Hmm, that sounds really interesting. Never heard of the Dr. Pepper cooking method.
Ardent hunts grizzly on the coast IIRC. Not the best tasting bears, but you can make it work if you want/need to. For an eating bear, I prefer away from salmon spawning areas. We were hunting grizzly near Bella Coolla and the river was full of spawners, every creature from crabs to eagles had shown up to feed on the fish (It's interesting to understand just how important salmon runs are for coastal ecosystems, almost every animal and plant relies on healthy salmon runs, but I digress...)
Anyway, the grizzly we got smelled and tasted like a rotten fish. Interior grizzly and black are much different. Of course, the reason the coastal bears get so big is short hibernation times and lots of protein.
If you ever get a chance to hunt (or even visit) the BC coast- especially central/north coast, do it. It's one of the most unique parts of Canada, even the world. I was fortunate to spend much of my childhood sailing and kayaking up and down the coast, it's very special.
Anyway, the grizzly we got smelled and tasted like a rotten fish. Interior grizzly and black are much different. Of course, the reason the coastal bears get so big is short hibernation times and lots of protein.
If you ever get a chance to hunt (or even visit) the BC coast- especially central/north coast, do it. It's one of the most unique parts of Canada, even the world. I was fortunate to spend much of my childhood sailing and kayaking up and down the coast, it's very special.
Quick recipe starting with the "Jambon Cuit d'Ours "
I will not go into details of curing and smoking* these techniques are largely personal, safety is obviously a priority when curing meats. A cooked ham is definitely the way to go with bear meat, if you want to do a controlled dry cure on game make excellent bunderfleisch/bresaola from naturally lean deer meat using cure no.2 and call it a day.
My suggestion; a wet brine for an appropriate period, using 1 tbsp per gallon of water of cure no.1. Salt and sugar to taste**. In my experience, using a lot of salt and then soaking and drying before smoking makes for a hammier ham.
I would suggest making noix de jambon or little boneless hams, most will bone game anyways. I would still inject cure into these with a marinade needle. They will not only take the cure more easily, but will come up to a safe temperature more quickly (though this is not as much a concern as with uncured meat).
Smoking at a relatively low temperature but not true cold smoking is the name of the game. You can start at low temps (true cold smoking) and work your way up. Or cold smoke it and oven it. I plan on gradually bumping the temp on mine until they are at 180-190 degrees internally. I will then cool them and reheat them in a variety of traditional ham ways or just slice it. Don't take it too high while smoking, you don't want to alter the texture, its ham not pulled bear.
Use a mild smoke, because even the small hams will smoke for quite some time. I like to use a fruit wood and oak. Beech is good if you can get it. Used properly cured wood only, barkless etc. I may be using some maple wood as well this year. I apply smoke for the entire cooking period to form a good pellicle, but it has to be mild and thin for this to make a palatable ham.
* I failed in this respect
** not literally FFS
TL/DR
So to address the Dr.Pepper/Cola thing just reduce it until it on the verge of being syrup and use it to baste the ham. It goes well with strong smokey hams.
I will not go into details of curing and smoking* these techniques are largely personal, safety is obviously a priority when curing meats. A cooked ham is definitely the way to go with bear meat, if you want to do a controlled dry cure on game make excellent bunderfleisch/bresaola from naturally lean deer meat using cure no.2 and call it a day.
My suggestion; a wet brine for an appropriate period, using 1 tbsp per gallon of water of cure no.1. Salt and sugar to taste**. In my experience, using a lot of salt and then soaking and drying before smoking makes for a hammier ham.
I would suggest making noix de jambon or little boneless hams, most will bone game anyways. I would still inject cure into these with a marinade needle. They will not only take the cure more easily, but will come up to a safe temperature more quickly (though this is not as much a concern as with uncured meat).
Smoking at a relatively low temperature but not true cold smoking is the name of the game. You can start at low temps (true cold smoking) and work your way up. Or cold smoke it and oven it. I plan on gradually bumping the temp on mine until they are at 180-190 degrees internally. I will then cool them and reheat them in a variety of traditional ham ways or just slice it. Don't take it too high while smoking, you don't want to alter the texture, its ham not pulled bear.
Use a mild smoke, because even the small hams will smoke for quite some time. I like to use a fruit wood and oak. Beech is good if you can get it. Used properly cured wood only, barkless etc. I may be using some maple wood as well this year. I apply smoke for the entire cooking period to form a good pellicle, but it has to be mild and thin for this to make a palatable ham.
* I failed in this respect
** not literally FFS
TL/DR
So to address the Dr.Pepper/Cola thing just reduce it until it on the verge of being syrup and use it to baste the ham. It goes well with strong smokey hams.
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i do not know about eating everything even if i tried some stuff in Africa lol ...
grizzly or brown bear taste really certainly depend on diet they have ... the one BUM mentionned was a very old boar we boiled the skull at home and it had well worn teeth also ... but the meat was really good and others that try it will say the same. as Ted said he was not even to feed on fish.
my wife didnt shoot a small boar that was feeding on fish so cant tell on the fishy taste. and she had a 270 win lol ....
on the meat or taste side i ate for years grizzly or brown bear from Europe. my grand father had a license every year due to issues with his cows, sheeps and pigs. and all the family was feeding on them with no problems at all.
in the Yukon never ate one that was bad so far. i know two guys that didnt bring the meat of two grizzlies taken while eating for days on berry field ... what a waste.
funny that when we mention bears some do not want to hear about it but after tasting a gulasz, a bear bourguignon or even a meat bread they changed their mind.
one year at our annual banquet some grizzly meat was served in ham fashion way and it didnt last so i will say people are more open to try something new that we may think.
Phil
grizzly or brown bear taste really certainly depend on diet they have ... the one BUM mentionned was a very old boar we boiled the skull at home and it had well worn teeth also ... but the meat was really good and others that try it will say the same. as Ted said he was not even to feed on fish.
my wife didnt shoot a small boar that was feeding on fish so cant tell on the fishy taste. and she had a 270 win lol ....
on the meat or taste side i ate for years grizzly or brown bear from Europe. my grand father had a license every year due to issues with his cows, sheeps and pigs. and all the family was feeding on them with no problems at all.
in the Yukon never ate one that was bad so far. i know two guys that didnt bring the meat of two grizzlies taken while eating for days on berry field ... what a waste.
funny that when we mention bears some do not want to hear about it but after tasting a gulasz, a bear bourguignon or even a meat bread they changed their mind.
one year at our annual banquet some grizzly meat was served in ham fashion way and it didnt last so i will say people are more open to try something new that we may think.
Phil
Yes, curious as well! CreamySmooth has mentioned that these taste the best, but what is the general flavouring? I would guess from all the blubbery
animals that Polar bears eat, that it might be a rich but not strong flavour?
Got this guy not 100 yards where my uncle got his grizzly two days earlier. Both were eating grass and were quite good as nothing was running yet. Not as good though as other bears I've eaten taken in the interior.
Great shooting considering that you have no eyes...
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
They eat seals, seals, dead whales and more seals. You'll be begging for a salmon-fed brownie!
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The good stuff concentrates as you move up the food chain, like mercury.
Amundsen Gulf polar bears have the dubious distinction of "Now containing twice the mercury of competing populations". That is saying something in polar bears, seeing as they feed on already mercury poisoned cetaceans and seals. I'll try fish bear but heavy metals are where I'll draw the line, I suspect you'd have to look hard for a land mammal with higher mercury levels.
Amundsen Gulf polar bears have the dubious distinction of "Now containing twice the mercury of competing populations". That is saying something in polar bears, seeing as they feed on already mercury poisoned cetaceans and seals. I'll try fish bear but heavy metals are where I'll draw the line, I suspect you'd have to look hard for a land mammal with higher mercury levels.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
You have piqued my curiousity about what consitutes a lot of time in the circle? There are a few here with substantial circle time and a much different take, you have me curious what you were doing there and for how long to form such a different opinion. You're informing my career path as I've only done a couple jaunts far north.
