A while back my neighbor gifted us a leg from a bear he had gotten this year. Having never cooked bear before, I did some research, and consulted a coworker who cooks bear regularly. I decided to smoke it similarly to a pork butt.
For my preparation, I was instructed to cut off as much fat as possible before freezing, so these were very lean pieces already. I got them out, cleaned them, and dry brined them overnight. The next day I started with PBC's Beef & Game Rub, but only got one of the four pieces coated and ran out. My family had gotten me some dry rubs for Christmas this year from a relatively new, local company called Shenandoah Spice Co., so I used their Memphis Rub. I was sort of shooting in the dark as far as using a dry rub - nobody told me specifically to, I just wanted to. Turned out to be a good decision.
I used the PBC, with a little oak for my smoke flavoring. Kept the temp around 280 most of the time. As the pieces were different sizes, they came off smallest to largest as they hit the finish temp, and the biggest one took 2 hrs 45 mins to cook. Knowing the risks associated with eating bear, I made sure that every piece went to 165F before pulling it off (and I speared it in multiple places to make sure the whole piece had made it up to temp).
At that point, the outsides looked dry, so I was worried that I'd overcooked them by leaving them on in order to kill all the bacteria, but when I pulled the first one off and cut into it, the inside was moist and looked great. These were definitely cooked to "well done", but they still tasted good.
I tasted the first piece, felt it was safe and tasted okay, so I invited the family to try it as well. I sliced it really thin, and served it with Columbia Gold mustard. My family stood around the plate, grabbing a piece, dipping, and eating it, and in no time at all, the entire piece was gone. We repeated this again when the third piece came off.
(the mustard pictured is just plain mustard - we had given our Columbia Gold to the neighbor and were trying plain mustard - the kids complained that this mustard wasn't good at all, compared to our homemade stuff)
I took a piece from the first piece over to the neighbor who'd given us the bear and he liked it, so the second piece that came off, I took him and his wife, and gave them the rest of the Columbia Gold mustard we had on hand. He said later how much they'd enjoyed it, and wanted the recipe for the mustard.
The Memphis Rub from Shenandoah Spice Company was great, so thumbs up to a new, local spice company! I'll definitely be checking out more of what they have to offer...
I was worried about whether I'd be able to fully cook this to a safe point without overcooking it, and I think I was able to stop it at just the right time to make it work out well. I was also worried about it tasting "gamey" and the family not enjoying it, but they really liked it, and so did the neighbors, so I think we have a repeatable process for the future if anyone else gives me some bear.
For my preparation, I was instructed to cut off as much fat as possible before freezing, so these were very lean pieces already. I got them out, cleaned them, and dry brined them overnight. The next day I started with PBC's Beef & Game Rub, but only got one of the four pieces coated and ran out. My family had gotten me some dry rubs for Christmas this year from a relatively new, local company called Shenandoah Spice Co., so I used their Memphis Rub. I was sort of shooting in the dark as far as using a dry rub - nobody told me specifically to, I just wanted to. Turned out to be a good decision.
I used the PBC, with a little oak for my smoke flavoring. Kept the temp around 280 most of the time. As the pieces were different sizes, they came off smallest to largest as they hit the finish temp, and the biggest one took 2 hrs 45 mins to cook. Knowing the risks associated with eating bear, I made sure that every piece went to 165F before pulling it off (and I speared it in multiple places to make sure the whole piece had made it up to temp).
At that point, the outsides looked dry, so I was worried that I'd overcooked them by leaving them on in order to kill all the bacteria, but when I pulled the first one off and cut into it, the inside was moist and looked great. These were definitely cooked to "well done", but they still tasted good.
I tasted the first piece, felt it was safe and tasted okay, so I invited the family to try it as well. I sliced it really thin, and served it with Columbia Gold mustard. My family stood around the plate, grabbing a piece, dipping, and eating it, and in no time at all, the entire piece was gone. We repeated this again when the third piece came off.
(the mustard pictured is just plain mustard - we had given our Columbia Gold to the neighbor and were trying plain mustard - the kids complained that this mustard wasn't good at all, compared to our homemade stuff)
I took a piece from the first piece over to the neighbor who'd given us the bear and he liked it, so the second piece that came off, I took him and his wife, and gave them the rest of the Columbia Gold mustard we had on hand. He said later how much they'd enjoyed it, and wanted the recipe for the mustard.
The Memphis Rub from Shenandoah Spice Company was great, so thumbs up to a new, local spice company! I'll definitely be checking out more of what they have to offer...
I was worried about whether I'd be able to fully cook this to a safe point without overcooking it, and I think I was able to stop it at just the right time to make it work out well. I was also worried about it tasting "gamey" and the family not enjoying it, but they really liked it, and so did the neighbors, so I think we have a repeatable process for the future if anyone else gives me some bear.
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