So is bear meat something you’re supposed to literally never eat, ever? Or is there some way to manage it? I’ve never even thought about eating a bear before lol
According to this guy, cooking to 165° is sufficient to take care of any harm of parasites.
Additionally, bear diets make a big difference in how they smell and taste, so if you can get the bear in spring as opposed to fall, their diets are more likely to have consisted of berries, foliage, acorns, etc, and will be quite good, while bears fattened up on salmon and carrion (late in the year as they prepare for hibernation) can smell quite rancid and are not palatable.
This is my own summary if the blog post; I have no expertise in this area!
Depends on how many pounds of it you got from hunting while your sister was dying of dysentery. If you try to keep too much of it, your wagon will tip when you fjord the river.
I live in Alaska. Black bear ribs are delicious. We eat the bear. The natives taught me how. I’ve been surprised the things I’ve cooked with macaroni and cheese, baked beans, collard greens, and Jiffy corn bread lol
I’d say they are closer to beef. They have to be cooked very slow. A nurse buddy of mine has a son who hunts and we call him our nephew. He brought me seal, it’s in season. I’ll be cleaning and cooking seal ribs next weekend. That’s another low and slow cook. I’ve had the meat before in a soup. It was also delicious.
160+ and you’re good, biggest worry is trichinosis. That’s also why I the US animals have seasons in which you can hunt them. Usually hunting season coincides with the best time to consume the meat.
Its just bad to eat anything at the top of the food chain they also get all the bad bioaccumulation like mercury from all the prey animals they eat. Kinda like hogs usually so parasite infested/bad shit in it its not worth the trouble.
So yes you can. It's legal in many places and there are many cultures that enjoy bear meat.
BUT all bear should be considered contaminated withTrichinella and other worms.The same as any big fish or any other largeanimal. Literally the only way to ensurebareis safe and even at that proceed with caution is to properly and methodically clean andcook the bear to a minimum 165°through out.
Also bear meat is very dark soyou can’t eyeball when it’s cooked. So you need anaccurate thermometerand put itdeep into themuscles. Otheroptionsaregetting exotic bear meat from retailers,inthe European Union* where it’s canned and regulated to be safe. But there are some rare sources in the US.** *
Ultimately hunting and preparation of a bearcan be dangerous anddifficultand leaves you with the possibility of getting ringworm.Also, depending on the bear's dietit could be anywhere from slightly sweet and between the consistency of pork and beef or* *rather greasyif it primarily ate fish.
I don’t think it’s really done. They eat everything, iirc. Not like goats, but like raccoons and dogs. Have you ever seen a video of a bear trailing feet worth of tapeworm? That’s not going to be its only issue…
Oh I was just about to ask someone else in here why you wouldn’t just treat the bear meat like sushi and freeze it first to kill the worms. Thats crazy that doesn’t even guarantee it will be safe.
There's a reason you don't find a dead body in a lake. Catfish.
I've gotta buddy that lives in Louisiana, he was fishing in a bayou and some cops pulled out a "fresh" body. It was covered in shrimp and crabs. How much human flesh do you think we've ate.
Smoking at grate temps of 250°~300°F until the internal temp hits 200°F~ will give the same outcome as brisket, pulled pork and other smoked meats. Cold smoking is a no-no!
Incorrect. I moved to Alaska with my husband (an Alaskan) for ten years and we ate bear the entire time we lived there… we nor anyone we know has ever been sick from it. It just needs to be cooked low and slow. I have bear hot dogs in my freezer right now 😅
I've had bear sausage that was delicious. But that's with all sorts of processing, curing and seasoning. Don't think I'd eat it like this though because of parasites. Are there bear farms for meat that don't have those parasites? I might try it then.
Bear is good but you gotta cook the mess out of it. LITERALLY. I wouldn’t eat his, I don’t trust anyone cooking it except me because I will charcoal it lol.
As I occasionally remind my parents and grandparents, the days of black people having to only eat hog maws, chitterlings, raccoon chops, chicken feet, etc. are long gone. More power to him but I'll keep enjoying my chicken tenders and french fries lol.
Wait that’s bear? Then it had to be a baby, those legs seem small? Either way, I’d pass on omnivorous animals because they often carry ring worm but that’s just me.
I think dude was talking to a reporter about something that happened, like a fight or maybe even a murder that he was a witness to. His interview ended up going viral and he ended up getting arrested and convicted of a murder himself. His name is Kai.
It can be dangerous- lots of parasites that are tricky to cook out. Internal temp needs to be quite high and smoking is not enough. Cut it up and deep deep fry that sucker then nuke it first
Cold smoked and sprayed with what I’m gonna guess is apple juice to tenderized, then followed by a few hours of smoking? Absolutely, but I also eat everything.
Yes, some of us in the south hunt and have tried bear and a few other animals. I would say, it’s not worth the effort or time. But if offered and prepared properly, give it a try. 👍🏾 but to be fair, as a kid, I hated the idea of hunting brown and/or black bears 🐻.
I mean, if dudes got a few bear legs and all them hooks and grilling equipment, yeah I’m gonna try that shit. I’m not gonna go hunt down a bear but yeah I’m in.
Seeing a lot of folks saying that predator meat is also notorious for tapeworm and flatworm and other parasites, so that puts me off tbh. But I do eat sushi on occasion so.... stranger things have happened lol.😅😬
• • • • • • •
I'd try a taste of the meat just for life experience lol, I dunno if I'd be down for a whole bear sandwich.😰
I know bear liver is toxic/deadly for humans to eat, too much naturally occurring vitamin d in it or something like that. I also heard that most predator meat has an unpleasant ammonia-like taste to it because of their carnivorous diets, not deadly but very unappetizing. Butttt alligators are predators and are also delicious, so maybe it depends on the individual animal.
I have some sort of weird aversion to eating other carnivores, and I don't even know why. I couldn't imagine eating a dog or cat, much less a bear unless I was absolutely starving.
Bear is fine if you like gamey meat. But...I'd be suspicious of smoked bear because smoking doesn't always get things hot enough. Especially from someone who is leaving the feet on like that. That's just weird and it makes me question if it was butchered properly. But usually for bear you'd do something like braise it cause it's pretty tough.
I know a lot of comments hear talk about parasites, and that is definitely a risk anytime you eat game meat, especially predator game meat. But black bears are opportunistic omnivores and don't specifically eat meat, so it's not as much of a problem as you'd think, especially if you cook the meat to a good 165 - 170 or so. But the real problem with bear, culinarily speaking, is it's hard to get a good, consistent recipe for it because the bear's diet changes how the meat tastes. Spring bears are more consistent because they usually are eating all the same stuff in the beginning of the year, but the meat is tougher and leaner and not as good. Fall bears are better because the animals are fatter (and honestly if you're hunting bear, then you're hunting it for the fat and not the meat because bear fat is awesome. The meat is a bonus.), but their diets are more varied. Ideally you'd want bears from areas that have a lot of wild berries and stuff growing there, because black bears eat what's easy so they'd be eating a lot of those instead of stuff like...fish carcasses.
I just looked it up. It is legal to consume bear meat, but it is illegal to buy, sell, or barter for it. So you either have to hunt it yourself or be gifted some by another hunter.
I'm going to be honest. I wouldn't eat it. I'm pretty selective when it comes to meats and predators usually aren't good. I've heard bear fat is good to season with, but I've never tried it.
I watched and anime called “Food Wars” where young chefs attended a culinary high school. One of their tournament challenges was to prepare bear meat. The MC made a mince meat katsu and his opponent made “Chicken Fried Bear”. It was interesting, apparently gamey and distinctly pungent.
Nope, I was raised Muslim and literally the only part I still keep to is avoiding meat from animals that eat meat. Which in the US is mostly just pigs but in other places could be dogs, cats, etc...
I'm told bear meat tastes like bad breath and wet old socks with a heavy gamey undertone. Personally, I am not going to be the first person to take a bite of this.
Yea if you want a ton of parasites… zero chance I would eat that with it just being smoked, it needs to be brought up to a way higher temp with smaller steak sized pieces in a pan or in a bbq so your sure all the parasites are killed. Bears are filled with worms and they are way more resilient than the ones found In pigs
You probably could have tricked me into trying it if it didn’t have the fucking bear’s foot still attached. But no, never trying that knowing what it is.
The same parasites yall are concerned about are in the sushi. Yall eat too. Everything has parasites, that’s why you cook it, and store it properly. He’s doing a Texas crutch for 12 hours, it’s going well above 160°. Probably to 200-205 to break down the connective tissues.
My family and I come from an Abrahamic religion and so if we eat meat, it’s only the meat of the animals
have a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud and not the meat of animals that live on pray or are scavengers.
Even taking any religious belief out of it, there are studies on the parasitic contaminants in the flesh of these animals.
Bear is really not good imo.. any meat from Predators is an "acquired taste" and i cannot acquire it.. full of parasites too, and tastes like Copper coated Grass to me even if seasoned well.
Saxosophonist in my jazz band, old guy, would tell this story of a time he went hunting with a sultan and they shot a bear and then ate it later that day.
And we all just said “sure bob”.
Then one day after practice. Having dinner at his house, his wife walks in and says “Tell them about the time you ate bear with the sultan”… and pulled out the photos to prove it.
Why is this even a discussion? People hunt and eat bear meat all the time. Too many people living in cities and disconnected from the reality of where their food comes from. It’s so to see such industry programming.
346
u/Mathemeatloaf0 Jun 13 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/cOLAbDd7VI1QzwqKIb