Bear roast - safe temp?

[joemfbrown]

Hiya!

Buddy of mine gave me a bear roast to play around with. It's from the hindquarters, and I was thinking of smoking it like a brisket. I know that this meat is often full of parasites, and I'm sure that taking the meat to 203-4 would knock em out. But I wonder if it isn't fatty enough to get to withstand such a high temp. Does anyone here have experience with this?

Thanks!
J

[MBMorgan]

Never tried it myself but here's a couple of links to reference material that might help with everything from safety to recipes:

http://www.mountainviewdrifter.com/Bear-Meat-Recipes-Cookbook.pdf

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/bear_recipeguide.pdf

[Henrik]

Since bear meat is wild game, I would advice against cooking it to such a high temp. It sounds like you have gotten a ham (or similar), and just like a ham on a pig or a cow it is too lean to cook to such high temps. How large is that hunk o' meat? Do you have pics? Just trying to figure out more specifically what you're going to cook. I wouldn't go higher than 160° F either way.

[EdF]

Yeah, but the problem is that bear, unlike modern pork, has been known to have trichinosis. So it's going to be a fine balancing act.

[Henrik]

I agree, food safety comes first.

[Meathead]

Right. Ther is a Youtube video from a popular outdoor TV show where the host shoots a bear and eats it medium rare and gets very bad case of trich.

[DWCowles]

Welcome joemfbrown

[Huskee]

Welcome!

[joemfbrown]

I just checked it out, and it's wrapped in saran and I'm at work and need to get it home on the subway. But, as a description: It's about 2 - 3 pounds, seems pretty marbled, but not like a pork butt. I wonder if pastrami isn't the answer here? Brine it for a week or so to kill the gamey flavor, and then smoke it to 175?

(Oh, and thanks for the welcome. I lurk a lot, but I've been a PMC member for a good spell.)

[troymeister]

You need to take bear to 160 and hold it there for 3 minutes to be safe. Here are some bear kebobs I made a few months ago.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/wild-game/266378-bear-kebobs

[kmhfive]

Nice to meet you! I've eaten bear sausage but never cooked it. Seems like an IT of 175 would get rid of trichinosis concerns, though.

[joemfbrown]

OK here's the bear. I think I'm just gonna marinate it in beer, garlic, olive oil, worchestershire sauce, and thyme overnight—with lots of salt in there. And then dry rub it tomorrow and smoke it till it stays at 160 for 5-ish mins. It's frozen, which is why it looks like a torpedo.

[kmhfive]

Seems like a solid plan. Can't wait to see the results!

[joemfbrown]

Thanks so much for all the guidance. The bear came out surprisingly delicious. I smoked it over cherry (and charcoal) for about 3 hours at 225. Interestingly, this itty bitty torpedo of bear-ass stalled like a big ol' brisket. It hung between 151 and 153 for about 45 minutes. I was going to crutch it, but the meat was so greasy I wanted to keep it unwrapped to encourage a bark.

In retrospect, I would not do anything differently, because the meat was firm but juicy, almost with the texture of a good pastrami (I credit the brine). It exhibited no gameyness at all, and we all preferred it sliced thin.

In summary:

(Sorry for the lack of measurements—I tend to operate by taste.)

BRINED 16 hours in beer, salt, Worcestershire, apple cider vinegar, garlic, garlic powder, thyme, black pepper, and olive oil. I'd probably skip the olive oil next time, because I had trouble getting it to emulsify—even using dried mustard as a binding agent.

RUBBED salt, pepper, granulated garlic, brown sugar, cayenne, thyme, cumin.

SMOKED over cherry, using the charcoal snake in a Weber Summit Charcoal + BBQ Guru for three hours at 225 (or thereabouts), until internal temperature reached 165 for three minutes. (In my experience, the Guru runs 5 degrees hot, so I was endeavoring to hold at 160 3 minutes.)

SLICED thin—like lunch meat—and served with spicy mustard.

Here are some photos—thanks again for all the support.

[Meathead]

According to USDA article on trichinosis in pork, which should be tru for bear: Commercial preparation of pork products by cooking requires that meat be heated to internal temperatures which have been shown to inactivate trichinae. For example, Trichinella spiralis is killed in 47 minutes at 52C (125.6F), in 6 minutes at 55C (131F), and in < 1 minute at 60C (140F). It should be noted that these times and temperatures apply only when the product reaches and maintains temperatures evenly distributed throughout the meat.

[Meathead]

So 140F will kill trich, 145 to be safe. That said, we don't know what bacterial issues it might have, so I would still go to 165, instant kill temp for all bacteria.

[kmhfive]

It sure looks good!

[HawkerXP]

Congrats on your cook!