Bear meat

You have hopefully been involved in perhaps shooting a bear yourself, or been part of a hunting team that managed to hunt a bear. When that phase is completed, you should of course prepare your bear meat in the best way.

Let me first give a brief introduction to how you should think when cooking your bear meat. Trichinella test the meat before you eat it, in Sweden some of the bears that are shot every autumn have trichinae in their meat.

Also keep in mind that bear meat is fatty meat, which means that you should not leave it in the freezer for too long.

The first thing I would recommend is to try to get you an idea of the age of the bear. It is no secret that bears can be up to 30 years old, and you should also keep in mind that old bears are tough and firm in the flesh. My main rule is usually that the older the animal, the thinner the slices.

Preparation in frying pan

If the bear is an older individual, (about 7-8 years and up) then I would give the piece of meat to be prepared a quick fry in butter in a cast iron pot and then put the cast iron pot in the oven at 110 degrees. In it I would put ½ onion, 1 glass of water and salt and pepper and butter. Let stand in the oven for 1-3 hours depending on the size of the piece of meat, but make sure it is fairly well cooked.

Leave the bear meat in the pot and cool. Slice the meat into thin slices across the fibers (the thinner the better). Strain the sky and pour it back into the cast iron pot and pour in 3-5 dl cream depending on the size of the piece of meat and add 1-2.5 dl creme fraiche. ½ meat broth dice and a little soy. If you have yellow chanterelles, fry them in butter and add to the sauce. I would serve mashed potatoes and black currant jelly for the bear meat.

 

Preparation in a frying pan

I generally think that preparation in a frying pan is suitable for smaller pieces of meat and younger animals as it does not feel as necessary that there will be a little (pulled pork) need for younger animals. Fry the bear meat bitten in a frying pan on all sides. Lower the heat and let the piece of meat be cooked through (takes about 10-60 minutes depending on thickness).

When the meat is cooked through, take out the piece of meat and add ½ yellow onion and fry it (preferably with yellow chanterelles or mushrooms). 2.5 -5 dl cream and 1-2.5 dl creme fraiche are placed in the pan and boiled together with ½ meat bouillon cubes and a little soy. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes. The piece of meat is cut into thin slices across the fibers and placed back in the sauce in the pan. I would probably serve potato croquettes and jelly to the bear meat.

  

Sega pieces of bear meat

Less tender pieces of meat and things you normally make cooked meat and minced meat, I would hand in and make beer sausages at one of the slaughterhouses that exist. As far as I know, the Moviken slaughterhouse in Delsbo and Karelius in Lima make very good beer sausages from bear meat.

Minced

I have on several occasions tried to make meatballs and pan steak on minced pork but on those occasions I got a

product after frying that has become a bit rubbery in texture and not so fun. I have tried to mix the minced meat with moose to get a leaner product and have probably succeeded a little better then but would probably still say that beer sausages were much more fun.

Hope I gave you a chance to experience a good dinner!

/ Rasmus