# Safe ways to prepare Bear?



## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

So with the threat of Trichinosis being found in bear meat that is not cooked to 165 for several minutes is it safe to make Jerky, Sausage, Salami type items? 

With these products, the meat is typically smoked at low temperature rather than cooked to a minimum of 165. Maybe not for the sausage but definitely for the salami or summer sausage as well as the Jerky.

Thanks for the input, looking for ways to eat this recent harvest other than chili and stew.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Freezing also kills parasites. So.... you could freeze it for a week, then do the slow cook.

-DallanC


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I was not aware that simply freezing the meat would potentially kill any parasites. The meat has been frozen for several days already and I likely will not get to cooking any for another week at the earliest.

I'll have to research this further, thank you.


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

The following is a direct statement from the Mayo Clinic. Not sure why freezing would work in some meat but not other.. I provided the link as well, I'm sure it will go over that.

"Irradiation will kill parasites in wild-animal meat, and deep-freezing for three weeks kills trichinella in some meats. However, trichinella in bear meat does not die by freezing, even over a long period. Neither irradiation nor freezing is necessary if you ensure that the meat is thoroughly cooked"

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trichinosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20378583


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I was just about to post the same thing Ray.

_Have wild-animal meat frozen or irradiated. Irradiation will kill parasites in wild-animal meat, and deep-freezing for three weeks kills trichinella in some meats. *However, trichinella in bear meat does not die by freezing, even over a long period.* Neither irradiation nor freezing is necessary if you ensure that the meat is thoroughly cooked._

https://www.drugs.com/mcd/trichinosis


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

This one is straight from Hank Shaw, odd that it prevents them from "attaching to you".

"Note that freezing will not kill them, but it will prevent the wee beasties from attaching to you. Keep in mind that the 20 days start when the core of the meat reaches 5°F, which can actually take several days in most freezers. That’s why I freeze for at least a month with bear or wild boar I plan on making into salami, just to be sure. All of this applies to T. murrelli, too."


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

Some people I know flash heat bear jerky to temp- place it in a 450 degree oven for a short time. But I always decline bear jerky when it is offered so I don't know how it is. I do remember this story though--

https://www.monstermuleys.info/xf/threads/lesson-learned.82879/

Definitely need to be careful.


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

I’d honestly just sausage the entire thing and cook it thoroughly


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Thanks all for the clarification on trichinella specifically in bear meat. I haven't heard that specifically called out before. Very good to know. I wonder what is different about Bear meat that causes a different reaction when its frozen to not kill the parasites.

We've been freezing flour for a while now, it completely kills weevil eggs.

-DallanC


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

Obviously I don't know much about it but would hate to see all this meat go to waste due to uncertainty and mistrust in the meat. 

I think for now I will just stick to the plan of making stews and chili type recipes out of it. That way it's for sure well cooked.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

There are multiple subspecies of the trichenella parasites, and some are very freeze resistant. Basically, all trich parasites in Alaska are not killed by freezing. Frequently enough the types found in bears in the L48 are freeze resistant, making it the recommendation to cook it thoroughly. You do not however have to cook it to 165F as all strains of trichenella are killed at 137F. 

That being said, bear makes such tasty sausages, burgers, and pulled pork style slow cooked roasts that reaching a +150 temp when I cook it is basically guaranteed any way.


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

I’m in the same boat at you, Dallan, I had to google it 😂


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Every May back in the 70s my buddies and I went to Ontario Canada on the Spring bear hunt....A non-res bear tag back then was $40 and you got a wolf tag to go along with it. When we came home some of the bears were hung in a cooler whole, others were quartered n froze, some were cut up and wrapped or ground up for sausage.

One or two bear cookouts were held after the hunt....Memorial Day or Father's Day usually. A friend of mine and me had a couple hog cookers so we had the "honor" of cooking the bears on a spit each year....It was a lot of fun...and work....required huge amounts of beer and reckless abandon. 

There was always a bachelor party fish fry the night before, crappies, walleye and turtle. I supplied the fish and the turtle meat and did the cooking. There was gambling.....guitars, cigars and weed.

For cutup bear meat we froze it at 0° for 30 days to kill Trich, just like pork. It was before the internet, Google and dumb outdoor forums. If we did use a meat thermometer it was not too accurate. A whole bear is hard to cook. The meat is really red, like horse meat, so it looks like it's not done so you cook it some more and dry it out.

The bear was wrapped with chicken wire and cooked on the spit for 4 hours or so...about 4 beers. Then the wire was tightened up and the bear was wrapped in 2 or 3 layers of aluminum foil. A funnel was placed in a hole in the foil and BBQ (Goob's homemade BBQ Secret sauce of course) was poured in the hole. An aluminum foil plug was put in the hole and the bear was cooked for 6 hours or so....another 4 beers and maybe a short nap. The foil was removed and the chicken wire was tightened up as needed. The bear was basted with BBQ sauce and finished with the cooker lid open for all the guests to admire.....about 2 hours...uh...6 cups of black coffee.

The fat just doesn't taste good and I can eat anything. Trim it off or cook it off.

No one ever got sick that I knew of.

Those were the days....the stories I could tell.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I cook my bear summer sausage to 160°, 8° more than normal. There's enough Morton's Tenderquick (sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite) in it to kill most anything.

I fed some to UWN members *.45* and *sawsman* on a fishing trip to the South Slope some years back. Far as I know both of them are still alive.
.


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> I cook my bear summer sausage to 160°, 8° more than normal. There's enough Morton's Tenderquick (sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite) in it to kill most anything.
> 
> I fed some to UWN members *.45* and *sawsman* on a fishing trip to the South Slope some years back. Far as I know both of them are still alive.
> .


We're still alive, but I've had bad guts ever since. :grin:

Excellent stuff it was! had some good pepper jack cheese with it.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

There was always a bachelor party fish fry the night before, crappies, walleye and turtle. I supplied the fish and the turtle meat and did the cooking. There was gambling.....guitars, cigars and weed.


Now that is a great time!!! I remember those kinds of outings.... Oh, where does the time go!!


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

wyogoob said:


> The fat just doesn't taste good and I can eat anything. Trim it off or cook it off.


Wow, it has to be bad if Goob won't eat it. Now I kinda want to try some.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

When I was processing wild game we cut quite a few bears, saved all the fat and sold it. Also had one fellow want all salami out of his bear, so we boned it out on the hooks, That whole skeleton hanging there looked very human like--eerie.
**O**


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Dunkem said:


> When I was processing wild game we cut quite a few bears, saved all the fat and sold it. Also had one fellow want all salami out of his bear, so we boned it out on the hooks, That whole skeleton hanging there looked very human like--eerie.
> **O**


Cool.

Yeah, some of us rubbed bear fat on our boots and baseball gloves. Great preservative, a little stinky. I think we should have rendered it first.
.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Bear hunting story:

We hunted bear in Canada out of baited stands. Dead bear had to be hauled back to camp whole, not field dressed. A gut pile attracted wolves, ruining the stand for the next week's hunter. 

Man o Man, you oughtta try getting a 400lb bear, guts n all, in a canoe!
.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

If the bear doesn't stink, I've always found the fat to be quite tasty. When you render it down the lard is awesome to make pastries with or fry things in, especially from a fall bear that has been gorging on berries for weeks


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

This bear didn't stink at all. I didn't know what to expect since it was my first experience but I'd argue that it smelled a lot better than deer and elk while skinning.

We left the carcass in hopes that it would attract a wolf, bear or cougar because we had tags for all those. I feel cats are a bit more selective so that was a long shot.

After a day something had almost licked it clean but nothing showed during daylight hours.

Sent from my SM-N976U using Tapatalk


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## BigT (Mar 11, 2011)

I know I am late to this thread 

I harvested a bear off the LaSal unit in 2015. I have a good friend that does game processing and he's quite good at it. We had the entire bear ground into mild Italian sausage... It was amazing. Enough so I would do it again!

We just made sure it was cooked all the way through quite well. Mostly used it for spaghetti that the kids later dubbed bearghetti. Always made for great conversations when the kids had friends over around dinner time.


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